These are among the locations where the United States Mint has sought to “connect America through coins” in recent years. All have served as sites for official launch ceremonies at which the Mint has introduced new entries in its series of presidential $1 coins.

Typically, the Mint has spent about $10,000 apiece to stage these ceremonies in towns where former presidents were born or had some other important tie. This money has covered the costs of sending Mint officials to conduct the coin launches, preparing and distributing press kits and giving new $1 coins to youngsters in attendance.

Evidently, the Mint has viewed this as money well spent, since it has enthusiastically described the launch ceremonies as an “exceptional form of outreach to a wide base of individuals.”

That outreach seems to have ended: The Mint announced recently that it will dispense with such ceremonies for future presidential $1 coins.

The decision makes a certain amount of sense, since there are no plans to strike the rest of the coins for circulation. Instead, the second half of the series—starting with the 2012 coin for President Chester Arthur—will be made exclusively for sale to collectors at prices above face value. The remaining presidential dollars will be non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) coins.

What doesn’t make sense is the federal government’s previous decision to stop producing the dollars as circulating coins. And what ultimately makes the least sense is the original vote by Congress to create the program in the first place.

I vividly recall a phone conversation I had in 2005 with Jay Johnson, who had served as Mint director under President Bill Clinton. Jay was about to testify before a congressional committee about then-pending legislation to authorize the presidential dollars, and he called to seek my input. I told him the same thing that I—and many others—had been saying all along: that no $1 coins, or series of $1 coins, would ever achieve meaningful circulation unless and until the government stopped issuing $1 bills.

Congress had no stomach for this necessary step, reasoning correctly that dropping paper dollars would trigger howls of protest from constituents. It authorized the $1 coins in December 2005 without provision for retiring dollar bills, thereby all but ensuring the premature death of the series at the very same time it was giving birth to the program.

By December 2011, with the vast majority of the presidential dollars taking up costly space in government storage, the Obama Administration had no second thoughts about eliminating the program, at least as part of the nation’s everyday commerce. It viewed the move, in fact, as a painless way to demonstrate its zealousness in cutting government waste.

On closer examination, though, the action resulted in plenty of negatives, too. First, it forced collectors forming complete sets to purchase the remaining coins at sizable markups, rather than obtaining them at face value from their banks.

Then, too, the second half of the series will honor some of the most popular U.S.presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Demand for these presidents’ coins figures to be much stronger than it was for lesser-known 19^th-century chief executives. That could jump-start interest in the series as a whole—if the series had not effectively been halved. There are downsides for the Mint, as well. For more than 30 years, the Mint has been touting the potential benefits of “mini-dollar” coins. In 2010, the Government Accountability Office estimated that complete replacement of dollar bills with longer-lasting dollar coins would yield savings totaling $5.6 billion over a 30-year period.

And what about the role the coins are supposed to be playing in educating Americans, especially young people, about their nation’s history? That connection appears to have been lost somewhere between Kinderhook, Moravia and Washington, D.C.

To mark the Andrew Johnson $1 coin’s release, the bureau will hold a ceremonial launch and coin exchange on the same day, at the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee.

The coin was designed entirely by United States Mint Artistic Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart. The obverse includes the inscriptions ANDREW JOHNSON, IN GOD WE TRUST, 17TH PRESIDENT and 1865-1869.

The coin’s reverse bears a rendition of the Statue of Liberty and the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  The year of minting or issuance, 2011, E PLURIBUS UNUM and the mint of origin are incused on the coin’s edge.

Presidential $1 Coins are produced for use in everyday cash transactions.  The coins last for decades, are 100 percent recyclable and can save the country hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

The Presidential $1 Coins will be shipped to banks and other financial institutions in rolls, unmixed with other $1 coins.  For each new design, banks may order and store the coins up to three weeks prior to the introduction so they will have supplies on hand on the release date.  The coins will be available in unmixed rolls for two weeks after the introduction of each design.  The special ordering process begins again when each new Presidential $1 Coin is released.

The ordering period for unmixed quantities of the Andrew Johnson Presidential $1 Coin began January 27.  To order boxes of wrapped rolls ($1,000 minimum order) of the Andrew Johnson Presidential $1 Coin, depository institutions can use FedLine Web® Access Solution.

In addition, local Federal Reserve Bank offices can handle special requests for $2,000 bags of unmixed Andrew Johnson Presidential $1 Coins, orders for $2,000 bags of mixed $1 coins and orders for Andrew Johnson Presidential $1 Coins after the special order period ends on March 3 (while supplies last).

Presidential $1 Coins can also be collected.  They are educational and fun with four new designs, each featuring an American President, issued each year.  The Andrew Johnson Presidential $1 Coin will be featured in collectible products available for purchase through the United States Mint’s Web site at http://www.usmint.gov/catalog or by calling 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).

In the past few years, I have noticed a number of comments in your magazine (and other publications) regarding the lack of use of coins currently produced by the U.S. Mint.

I feel it is important for someone, or some organization, to get with the Federal Reserve banks or other financial institutions regarding the lack of distribution of such coins to/by the local banks.

The local banks always request only a first-time delivery of new coins from the Federal Reserve, then drop the ball. I have missed out on new coins from my own bank because I was out of town when they received their only disbursement of new coins. They initially order a very limited supply and no more, regardless of how long you’ve been a customer.

I try to use the new dollars each day, but in a limited manner, as I know that no more will be readily available. I do like to use them for tipping.

What can be done about this problem?

Sincerely, Floyd E. Whiteman
Mission, Kansas