>I also got quite a bonus after the change - I had always shoved my change into a jar on arriving home, and with $1s in there I found over $800 where I might have normally come up with $75 or so!

Umm, don't they call that "hoarding"? :)

>I'm betting that your new 1$ coin will work out fine.

I think it will...for one thing, I'll bet the dollar coins are much easier to stick into vending machines than paper...