The United States Mint has suspended production of the Presidential $1 coin (usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin) for circulation due to a surplus of inventory in the Federal Reserve Bank storage. Production, however, will continue for the coins that are offered annually in numismatic products sold directly by the United States Mint.
More than 76 million Ulysses S. Grant Presidential $1 Coin were produced this year by the United States Mint. Future dollar issues will be produced in amounts only to meet collector demand.
The news was circulated by the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday, December 13. The decision to suspend Presidential $1 coin production was promoted as a part of the Obama Administration's Campaign to Cut Government Waste.
"Nearly 1.4 billion surplus dollar coins are sitting in Federal Reserve vaults due to lack of demand for the coins", according a report issued by the U.S. Treasury Department "by halting this unnecessary production, the Administration will save taxpayers at least $50 million per year in production and storage costs."
It was estimated that the current surplus of circulating strikes will be enough to last for more than a decade. One reason for the substantial supply was the Presidential dollars, struck between 2007 and 2011, experienced initial demand from financial institutions upon each new coin design's release. But over time the dollars returned to Federal Reserve vaults because the American public continued to prefer $1 bills for most of their cash transactions.
Since the law that mandated the Presidential $1 coin production allows the amounts to equal demand, the United States Mint can still produce the coins for their annual sets and other numismatic issues.
In the report, the Treasury Department went on to say, "The next coin in the series, the President Chester A. Arthur $1 Coin, will be released in the Spring of 2012 and is expected to a have a dramatically lower production run, which will be set based on collector demand. Prices and shipping costs for future $1 Coins will be announced in the near future and will be set at a level that ensures that they do not result in a cost to taxpayers."
Another coin that is solely minted in quantities to cover collector demand is the Kennedy half dollar. They appeared in 1964, and in 2002 their annual mintage was reduced. The United States Mint stopped production for orders to the Federal Reserve Bank and began striking smaller amounts to satisfy orders from the public placed directly with the Mint. The United States Mint sells the circulation quality Kennedy half dollars in 200-coin bags and two-roll sets containing 40 coins.
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Obama could cut some waste by bring our troops home and stop sending the billions of dollars of our tax money to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Also start the Keystone Pipeline project.