from NPR -this story about how the government is about to save $50 million:
The federal government will stop minting
unwanted $1 coins, the White House said Tuesday. The move will save an
estimated $50 million a year.
The Baltimore Bins/ NPR photo |
Earlier this year, we reported
on the mountain of $1 coins sitting unused in government vaults. The
pile-up — an estimated 1.4 billion coins — was caused by a 2005 law
that ordered the minting of coins honoring each U.S. president.
We
calculated that the unwanted coins had cost taxpayers some $300
million dollars to make. There were so many coins piling up that the
Federal Reserve was redesigning a vault in Texas to help hold them all.
We got to see a vault in Baltimore. It was the size of a soccer field, filled with bags of dollar coins.
You can see the presidents' faces on the coins. Andrew Jackson, John Adams, James Buchanan. The mint is only about half way through the presidents.
And the pile of coins has been growing. The mint makes enough of each new coin to meet initial demand. But about 40% of those coins get returned to the Fed, where they sit unused.
"As will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there," Vice President Biden joked on Tuesday, as he announced the new policy. "I don't mean to comment on his presidency, but it just is not very high."
The mint will continue to make a small number of the presidential coins, for collectors.
The Treasury department estimates it will take about 10 years for the economy to absorb the 1.4 billion $1 coins now in storage.
You can see the presidents' faces on the coins. Andrew Jackson, John Adams, James Buchanan. The mint is only about half way through the presidents.
And the pile of coins has been growing. The mint makes enough of each new coin to meet initial demand. But about 40% of those coins get returned to the Fed, where they sit unused.
"As will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there," Vice President Biden joked on Tuesday, as he announced the new policy. "I don't mean to comment on his presidency, but it just is not very high."
The mint will continue to make a small number of the presidential coins, for collectors.
The Treasury department estimates it will take about 10 years for the economy to absorb the 1.4 billion $1 coins now in storage.
Now, here is my question.
Exactly where in Baltimore is this soccer-field sized warehouse full of Chester Arthur dollars? I really really really want to see it.
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