The United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Program

On December 22, 2005, President George W. Bush signed into law the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 (Act) (Public Law 109-145), which commemorates the service of American Presidents by requiring the issuance of four Presidential $1 coins per year, in the order that they served, with the first coin to be issued in 2007. The George Washington $1 coin will be issued around President's Day, in February 2007. The obverse designs for the Presidential $1 coins will bear a likeness of the Presidents, while the reverse design will depict a bold and dramatic image of the Statue of Liberty, extending to the coin’s rim. The Presidential $1 coins will also feature edge-incused lettering for the inscriptions “In God We Trust,” “E Pluribus Unum,” the year of minting or issuance, and the mint mark.

The Act also requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to take steps to ensure that an adequate supply of $1 coins is available for commerce and collectors at such places and in such quantities as are appropriate. The Act provides that the Secretary and the Board of Governors shall consult with a coin users group no less frequently than annually, to accurately gauge demand for coins and to anticipate and eliminate obstacles to the easy and efficient distribution and circulation of $1 coins. The Act specifies the industry groups that may be consulted.

On June 8, 2006, officials from both the United States Mint and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System held a coin users group forum and invited a representative group of Federal agencies to the session. Attending were the United States Postal Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Commissary Agency and the Department of Education. This forum provided the United States Mint and the Federal Reserve System the opportunity not only to inform agencies about the new law, but also to receive invaluable feedback and insight from them on the actions and practices that may offer the most promising results in addressing barriers to the robust circulation of the $1 coin.

The event incorporated a series of briefings by United States Mint and Federal Reserve personnel to inform participants about the Act’s requirements and the Federal Reserve and United States Mint initiatives being undertaken to facilitate compliance with the Act. It also allowed participants an opportunity to suggest and discuss ways to help us learn how the use of $1 coins affects their businesses, agencies and organizations. The agenda included panel discussions by four specific coin user group representatives, followed by formal roundtable discussion groups. The roundtable discussions provided participants and presenters a small-group environment for discussing many of their concerns and questions with regard to the Act and facilitated exploration of participants’ ideas for how the United States Mint and the Federal Reserve might overcome barriers to public acceptance and improve the general circulation of $1 coins.

The most common observations by forum participants regarding barriers to circulation of the Presidential $1 coin included co-circulation of the dollar note, commingling with Susan B. Anthony dollar coins and Sacagawea Golden Dollars, same size and color as Sacagawea Golden Dollar, general awareness about $1 coins, and availability.

The roundtable discussions regarding fundamental barriers to circulation – those barriers which we do have some control over – confirmed that we must continue to explore creative options and implement aggressive measures to overcome those barriers. It will be important to have the retailers or end users engaged in this process so they can begin to more accurately estimate their orders, and the depository institutions will have a better gauge of their customers’ demand for the new Presidential $1 coins.

We continue to explore solutions or recommendations so that we may more accurately gauge demand for $1 coins and anticipate and eliminate barriers to the easy and efficient distribution and circulation of $1 coins. The coin users group forum attendees addressed the following issues and offered suggestions for consideration:

Issue: Create a better ordering process that involves no commingling of Presidential $1 Coins with others
Strategies Introduction of a pre-ordering period – two weeks prior and four weeks after the release of each $1 coin to allow depository institutions to order unmixed supplies of each new $1 coin

Issue: Create a distribution plan
Strategies

Results of Demand and Acceptance Study initiated by the United States Mint
Boxes of rolled $1 coins versus bags
Exploring idea of providing $10 rolls versus $25 rolls
Making boxed $1,000 increments available for ordering during the pre-order period

Issue: Develop a comprehensive, sustained communication strategy with educational value as the central focus, and continue to collaborate and communicate with stakeholders
Strategies

Formation of a $1 Coin working group consisting of representatives from the United States Mint, each Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), the Board of Governors, and the Federal Reserve Cash Product Office
Creation of a combined United States Mint and Federal Reserve Communication Sub-committee to coordinate all communication initiatives
Contracting with a public relations firm to implement a grassroots public information and awareness campaign
The Federal Reserve has assigned a Fed Liaison to the United States Mint to assist with communication
Planning another forum specifically for retailers
Providing a wide range of information, promotional and collateral materials
Implementing a business-to-business website for easy ordering capability
Expanding the United States Mint website to include information about the Presidential $1 Coin Act

Issue: Address storage constraints and handling costs
Strategies

Three weeks prior to the release date, the United States Mint will ship packaged coins to FRBs and FRB coin terminals.
Two weeks prior to the release date, FRBs and FRB coin terminals will begin shipping Presidential $1 coins to depository institutions that have ordered the coins. (FRBs and FRB coin terminals will only ship the coins to depository institutions.)
Depository institutions will be asked not to release coins to their customers until the official introduction date.

The event on June 8 was the first of many initiatives intended to promote, inform and educate our stakeholders about the Presidential $1 Coin program. The United States Mint and the Federal Reserve are committed to hosting additional coin users group forums, as well as conducting more collaborative outreach initiatives with other stakeholder groups. The United States Mint welcomes the opportunity that Public Law 109-145 represents to produce memorable and historic $1 coins. The United States Mint and the Federal Reserve will continue to work collaboratively to continuously improve our processes and communicate with stakeholders to ensure that the Presidential $1 Coin program is a success.