[ldhough]

I was recently in El Salvador, which uses the USD as an official currency (alongside BTC lol). Despite using dollars, the $1 coins are used instead of notes almost exclusively for that denomination (mostly presidential dollars and some silver Susan B Anthony dollars). I was curious and did a bit of research, apparently the reason is that because day-to-day transactions are done almost entirely in small amounts of cash the paper notes have a very short lifespan (apparently <1yr) there, while coins will last decades.

[toast0]

Yeah, that makes sense. Coins are clearly more durable, and for denominations that are handled frequently in places without access to federal reserve replacement, durability wins over preference / aggregate weight and volume.

In mainland US, preference for paper $1s isn't unduly burdensome. As a merchant, deposit the worst of the $1s and use the rest as change, no big deal. As a consumer, if someone doesn't take your grimy, half torn $1, try it a couple more places and then take it to a bank (perhaps even your bank). But it's unsurprising that doesn't really work for El Salvador.

[el-salvador]

Yup. El Salvador started importing dollar coins around 2012 in order to reduce currency substitution costs.