Kinda based off of this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=642679 I searched the webz to reconciliate the wildly differing figures of the total number of coins. Along the way I found this wiki entry on yearly coin production, broken down by denomination.
One thing that struck me (heh) is the wildly fluctuating production numbers from year to year. I can understand the drop offs due to recession, but the ramping up of production is just mind blowing. Anyone know how the US Mint can do it? Do they have a large amount of machinery mostly idling, only to be put into full capacity as needed? Do they mint a steady amount of coins and put them in long term storage at a vault, only to be taken out of the vault by the Fed as needed? How can they keep production costs in line with this fluctuation? Do they give tours of their factory floors ?
Not sure what time period/denomination you’re focusing on, but they have incredible capacity. They didn’t use to run 24/7 30-60 years ago.
Yep. They have excess capacity. They only mint coins as needed, although sometimes they grossly overproduce as in the case of the State Quarters. But, the Congress mandated that they do that. They don’t mint a steady amount usually.
They really don’t care about production cost. If it costs five cents to produce a quarter, then the Mint can book a twenty cent profit for each quarter produced, no matter whether it is needed in circulation or sits on a pallet in a vault forever.
I do believe that all the mints have tours, but I don’t know how close to the floor you can get.
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