American consumers have shown about as much appetite for the $1 coin as kids do their spinach. They may not know what’s best for them either. Congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over the next 30 years.
Vending machine operators have long championed the use of $1 coins because they don’t jam the machines, cutting down on repair costs and lost sales. But most people don’t seem to like carrying them. In the past five years, the U.S. Mint has produced 2.4 billion Presidential $1 coins. Most are stored by the Federal Reserve, and production was suspended about a year ago.
The latest projection from the Government Accountability Office on the potential savings from switching to dollar coins entirely comes as lawmakers begin exploring new ways for the government to save money by changing the money itself.
The Mint is preparing a report for Congress showing how changes in the metal content of coins could save money.
Thanks to inflation, these common coins are about to disappear
The penny has run out of luck, both in Canada and in the United States. Back in March, the Royal Canadian Mint announced that they were phasing out the penny due to “low purchasing power and rising production costs,” according to CBC News.
Canada was pigeon-holed into this decision after the penny decreased to 1/20th of its original purchasing power, becoming an unnecessary “burden on the economy.”
The U.S. is following Canada’s footsteps regarding the production of pennies and nickels. According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Giethner, our U.S. Mint intends to remove the penny and nickel coins from circulation beginning early in January 2013.
The Mint currently spends about 4.8 cents per penny due to the rising costs of zinc and copper. A nickel valued at five cents now costs approximately 16.2 cents to make due to inflated nickel prices…