You ruin notes if you put them in your pocket. Coins you can just drop in the coin pocket on jeans. I wish the 1USD coin was more than a legal tender collector item. Maybe up to 2USD would be nice.

I carry my cash in a pocket on my pants. It doesn't get ruined.

Maybe it is because I put my hands in my pocket all the time or something if I am the only one with this problem ..

Definitely not the only one, an entire country decided that durability is important for the $1 denomination, I'll copy what I posted above:

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.

Maybe some notes, but $1 bills are pretty durable. And most places will take them in nearly any condition, although, I did have a merchant in Ocean City, NJ recently that wouldn't take a $1 with a small tear, and I hear merchants overseas do want pristine USD.

More andecdotes but I've had british pound coins that were minted in the early 60's still in passable condition; nearly every dollar bill I've had in the US has been grimy and darkened and felt like it was three seconds from falling apart.

(ok, hyperbole, but I've had a few like that)

The US note was printed after 2001, that's a considerable time difference.

Though your $20 notes are usually in excellent condition for some reason compared to the british equivalent.

> nearly every dollar bill I've had in the US has been grimy and darkened and felt like it was three seconds from falling apart.

Yeah, that's how they are, but feeling like they're going to fall apart and actually falling appart are two different things.

> Though your $20 notes are usually in excellent condition for some reason compared to the british equivalent.

$20 bills tend to get picked up at the bank, spent at a merchant, and deposited at a bank. Banks will send worn notes to be retired. Many businesses don't take bills larger than $20, so don't use $20s to make change. It's uncommon to pay vendors and employees in cash, so merchants end up with a surplus of $20s that need to be deposited.

$1 bills are used in change, so they tend to get exchanged frequently. Few consumers will deal with $1s at a bank, and many businesses won't ever deposit them, but may need to make withdrawls in $1s so they can make change. They tend to pass through many hands before they get back to a bank where their condition can be checked.

> More andecdotes but I've had british pound coins that were minted in the early 60's still in passable condition;

The sterling pound coin was introduced in 1983. The 60s were pre-decimalisation even.

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.

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.

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