I gotta say no, John. They arent hard to come by, but few people use them, as I see. Just look in any cash register drawer - - you wont see many in there. Of course, thats a general statement. There's always someone to tell you they've found scads of them.
What we need is a move by the mint to promote them - they are quite miffed at the popular "disgust or hoard" mentality surrounding the dollar coin, according to news reports.
Perhaps we should do as our Canuck neighbors to the north have done and simply do away with the paper dollars altogether. After all, the whole point of the dollar coins is that they last longer than the measly 18 MONTHS of the paper variety. Yes, they cost more to make mind, but they last ten times longer in circulation - if anyone used them, that is... The Paradox.
Americans are, on the whole, resistant to change of their currency and we havent had a "regular" dollar coin for 80+ years, the old "Morgan Dollar" or more correctly, the "Liberty Head with Rays" being the last...even then, those big 'ol cartwheels weren't widely circulated.
(Now, there were the bicentennial "Eisenhowers" and the laughable Susan B. Anthony's. However, being commemorative in nature, the former were never likely to be used in circulation and the latter...well, nice try. Susan B. WHO???)
I personally like the "Gold Dollar" or "Sac's", as the more numismatically inclined call them. I use them all the time, and get a kick out of the sneers and glares I get from cashiers whenever I hand one over. I'll let you know when I find one....
Rambling as always,
then the 2 from the childrens playground.