>Seems like a lot of countries are and/or have been going this way. The English pound is a coin and when I was there last summer they came out with a 2 pound coin remarkably similar to out toonie and have plans for a 5 pound coin. (For anyone confused, that's not the weight of the coin ;-)

The coins have a much greater lifespan than the paper, so after the higher initial outlay for them, they can save a lot of printing/circulating cost over time...that's the main reason the US is going to them. Actually, they tried before with the Susan B Anthony dollar, but they were very unpopular < s >

Eventually, they want to obsolete $1 bills completely, to force people to use the coins...if the public doesn't revolt, anyway :)