I can buy a bunch of TVs or microwaves or something, sit on them for 5 years, then sell them back to get dollars.
But you'll get fewer dollars back. Those things don't hold their value. And they are illiquid, you don't know what price you'll get for them and it's difficult to do.
Precious metals are highly liquid, hold their value in the long run better than any fiat currency, and consistent enough in the short run (well maybe on the last one).
If you can't use it to pay for anything, it's not money.
And that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it takes you two steps to buy something instead of one when both of the steps are super easy.
By contrast, making stores accept precious metals in addition to USD would waste a ton of time. Can you imagine cashiers trying to figure out how much gold something costs? Weighing your gold while you and other customers wait? You might waste more time in one or two transactions that it would take you to sell some gold at your brokerage account and transfer the dollars over to your checking account each month.
--
Congratulations to SuperNiceDog, Guru Winner, who was smart enough to pick
your 7 time champion, Link.