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Annual Report to the Congress on the Presidential $1 Coin Program
2012

Slowing Growth of $1 Coin Inventories

Reserve Bank inventories of $1 coins continued to grow over the past year to more than $1.4 billion as of May 31, 2012, or about $1.3 billion more than the Reserve Banks held before the start of the Presidential $1 coin program. As a result of the Treasury’s decision to suspend minting of Presidential $1 coins for circulation, the growth rate of the $1 coin inventories has slowed considerably, as seen in Figure 1.

Reserve Bank inventory levels through the first five years of the program grew consistently at an average of 66 million pieces per quarter. In the first quarter following the Treasury’s decision to suspend minting $1 coins, Reserve Bank inventory levels grew by only 14 million pieces. The slowing inventory growth continued during the first two months of the second quarter of 2012 with inventory levels growing by only 2 million pieces over that period (see Table 1). We believe Reserve Bank inventories will begin decreasing as slower receipts of $1 coins from circulation are outpaced somewhat by normal payments to depository institutions to meet the modest demand of their customers. Given recent levels of payments to depository institutions, we estimate that Reserve Banks hold more than 40 years of $1 coin inventory, assuming continuation of current levels of demand.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Quarterly $1 Coin Inventories, Receipts, Payments, & Mint Orders. Line chart. For corresponding data, plus Reserve Bank beginning inventories for each quarter, see Table 1. Also, see note below figure.

Note: The United States Mint has indicated that it paid to circulation $47 million Native American $1 coins through its Direct Ship program in 2010, $40 million in 2011, and $1.8 million in 2012 (as of June 1). These data are not included in the above Reserve Bank payments to circulation.

Table 1: Quarterly $1 Coin Inventories, Mint Orders, Receipts, & Payments
($ millions)
Quarter 1
Beginning
RB Inventory		 2
Mint Orders		 3
Receipts from Circulation		 4
RB Payments to Circulation		 5
Ending RB Inventory 1+2+3-4
Q1/2007 67 301 47 250 165
Q2/2007 165 201 69 223 212
Q3/2007 212 171 87 178 292
Q4/2007 292 144 85 153 368
Q1/2008 368 119 87 153 421
Q2/2008 421 109 82 137 475
Q3/2008 475 96 93 138 526
Q4/2008 526 104 88 138 580
Q1/2009 580 96 92 119 649
Q2/2009 649 87 88 122 702
Q3/2009 702 85 118 117 788
Q4/2009 788 77 123 110 878
Q1/2010 878 89 108 120 954
Q2/2010 954 72 92 105 1,013
Q3/2010 1,013 88 96 123 1,074
Q4/2010 1,074 96 97 130 1,137
Q1/2011 1,137 86 101 116 1,208
Q2/2011 1,208 88 101 124 1,273
Q3/2011 1,273 92 129 129 1,365
Q4/2011 1,365 95 103 143 1,420
Q1/2012 1,420 0 86 72 1,434
Q2/2012(as of May) 1,434 0 60 58 1,436

Note: Reserve Bank payments to circulation do not include the $1 coins that the United States Mint has issued directly into circulation. See note to Figure 1. Return to table

Last update: August 12, 2013

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