The US administration said Tuesday it was ending routine production of one-dollar coins in the face of consumer resistance despite a decades-old campaign to replace the paper bill with more durable metal. Vice President Joe Biden said the US Mint would suspend the production of presidential dollar coins for circulation, noting that nearly 1.4 billion surplus dollar coins are sitting in Federal Reserve vaults due to lack of demand.
"They make hundreds of millions of these coins every year, 40 percent end up being returned to the Federal Reserve because nobody wants them," Biden said. "Today, the Mint was scheduled to make 1.6 billion additional dollar coins over the next five years. Well, no more. From now on, we're only going to make as many coins as collectors demand, and we're going to charge a premium, so it doesn't cost us a dime to make those dollar coins."
The Mint will still be required, by law, to continue to produce a relatively small number of the coins to be sold to collectors. But instead of producing 70-80 million coins per president, the Mint will now only produce as many as collectors order. Circulating demand for $1 coins will be met through the Federal Reserve's existing stockpile, which will be drawn down over time. Overall, officials said this step will save at least $50 million annually over the next several years.
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