# Who decides if we print currency as opposed to minting coins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593 "2015-06-04T00:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/1 "2015-06-04T00:30:40Z")
After traveling to England & Canada, I love that they have have coins for the 1/2 pounds/dollars. One reason dollar coins in the US never took off was that we still pring the $1 greenback. So would it be Congress? the President? the Secretary of the Treasury? someone else? who could decide to stop printing low denomination bills and mint coins instead? ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/2 "2015-06-04T01:14:25Z")
For the USA, it’s the Department of Treasury that prints notes and mints coins so I’d imagine it would ultimately be up to the Secretary of that Department to decide whether to stop printing one dollar currency notes or not, although I’m sure it wouldn’t be an executive decision and other departments would be consulted. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/3 "2015-06-04T01:21:51Z")
In Canada and the United Kingdom, it would be a decision of the national government, and for a decision of that importance and public interest, I imagine it would be either the [Cabinet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_%28government%29) making the final decision, or the Parliament passing appropriate legislation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/4 "2015-06-04T02:44:00Z")
Congress makes the final decisions. Obama started a study in [2013](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/eliminate-the-penny_n_4965908.html) to decide what actions to take on currency. I don’t know what has happened since, although it seems from that article that some word should be coming along this year. But: > [@](#): > > As the administration official noted, if it was ultimately determined that the penny had outlived its usefulness, the president could slow down production. But he couldn’t simply remove it from circulation. To do that requires an act of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/5 "2015-06-04T02:55:17Z")
The US Mint (under the direction of the US Congress) has (as of 2011) minted over $1 Billion in dollar coins which are sitting around in storage due to lack of demand. > **[$1 Billion In Coins That Nobody Wants](https://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants)** > > A joint inquiry by NPR's Planet Money and Investigations teams found that more than $1 billion of unused dollar coins are the wasteful byproducts of another failed congressional effort to replace the dollar bill in everyday commerce. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/6 "2015-06-04T03:27:23Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > The US Mint (under the direction of the US Congress) has (as of 2011) minted over $1 Billion in dollar coins which are sitting around in storage due to lack of demand. > > [The Federal Reserve Stores $1 Billion In Dollar Coins That No One Wants : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants) Because we still print the dollar bill. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/7 "2015-06-04T05:21:03Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > The US Mint (under the direction of the US Congress) has (as of 2011) minted over $1 Billion in dollar coins which are sitting around in storage due to lack of demand. No store and no bank has ever offered me a dollar coin. Has anyone here been offered one? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/8 "2015-06-04T05:40:58Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > No store and no bank has ever offered me a dollar coin. Stores and banks would be the ones doing the demanding, especially stores since they’re the way consumers get almost everything worth less than $20. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/9 "2015-06-04T06:09:23Z")
In the UK the decision was made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (think Secretary of the Treasury on US terms) at the time (1984). See this [report](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_2518000/2518637.stm)from the BBC. The pound coin had been brought in the year before and I don’t remember it being too unpopular - by the mid-eighties pound notes were always scruffy and dirty. Of course in the UK - and most other countries - we have been used to notes and coins changing regularly. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/10 "2015-06-04T06:10:45Z")
As pointed out by others - the dollar coin is in “circulation”. So is the $2.00 bill and 50 cent piece. Not many ask for these from bank (stores and the like) and therefore they don’t get into circulation easily. Of course it makes sense to stop printing the dollar bill, but if Obama was to try it - geeze can you imagine the conspiracy theories? People seem to like the status quo. I was at a convention once in Europe and there were about 20 people sitting around talking in a bar - about half were American and half European (mostly UK/German). We were talking about the sizes of currency (the US being all the same and the Sterling/Euro being of different sizes. EVERY SINGLE PERSON liked the way his/her country did theirs. The Americans all thought having the same size was preferable - while the Europeans felt the notes should all be different sizes. Not the same exact thing, but you get the idea. In the end - it is pretty much deman that decides these things (in the US) for all practical purposes. I’m not sure what the estimates are for saving money, but I’m guessing it’s pretty low compared to our other problems. It’s pretty much a guaranteed political loser - so no sane politician will take this on. If memory serves the transportation secretary (May have been energy or someone else) put something out telling the public that if every American simply made sure their tires were the correct pressure - we could save $X million or whatever a year in fuel. The republicans wasted little time ridiculing this and putting out tire gauges with the words “Obama’s Energy Plan” on them (or something like it). Having common sense ideas might make sense to many of us, but it doesn’t seem to get much traction. I always thought it was a shame how much Ross Perot got criticized for his graphs - I think we’d be a lot better off if more politicians used (factual of course) spreadsheets/graphs. I’d rather watch a 20 minute power point from each candidate than hearing them spew the same “teachers, children, god, soldiers, your going to die, I can save you” bull shit. But they’d probably just put that stuff in the spreadsheets. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/11 "2015-06-04T06:36:38Z")
On a recent trip to NYC, my colleague got $4.00 change in dollar coins from the MetroCard ticket machine. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/12 "2015-06-04T07:12:31Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Of course it makes sense to stop printing the dollar bill, but if Obama was to try it - geeze can you imagine the conspiracy theories? We’d have to put the pyramid with the eye on a different bill. It’s the only way it would satisfy Them. > [@JpnDude](#): > > On a recent trip to NYC, my colleague got $4.00 change in dollar coins from the MetroCard ticket machine. Mass transit ticket and stamp vending machines are the main ways dollar coins get into circulation. Half dollar coins mainly circulate out of casinos. When I go to the bank, I usually see that the tellers have dollar coins in their change trays. I never buy them. If I get dollar coins, I usually just spend them at the grocery store, which means they just go back to a bank in the night’s deposit. On the other hand, I do buy $2 bills, which I give in tips. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/13 "2015-06-04T14:01:33Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > People seem to like the status quo. I was at a convention once in Europe and there were about 20 people sitting around talking in a bar - about half were American and half European (mostly UK/German). We were talking about the sizes of currency (the US being all the same and the Sterling/Euro being of different sizes. > > EVERY SINGLE PERSON liked the way his/her country did theirs. The Americans all thought having the same size was preferable - while the Europeans felt the notes should all be different sizes. Exactly. Most people like the status quo just fine. The only significant group that really wants dollar coins is the vending machine industry, because bill readers are flakey. The end result is that the dollar bill is quite safe for the forseeable future, altho a switch to polymer-based notes might not be out of the question. The penny, OTOH, could very easily be discontinued at any time. They’re so worthless that I suspect only a small fraction of Americans would care much. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/14 "2015-06-04T14:07:14Z")
ETA: Some people clain that the zinc industry is the main force keeping pennies in circulation, but really I doubt they have that kind of clout. Almost certainly, it’s mostly just inertia, plus the fact that, as worthless as pennies are, there’s no really compelling need to drop them RIGHT NOW! OMFG WHAT ARE ARE YOU WAITING FOR???!!!???!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/15 "2015-06-04T14:11:39Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > The US Mint (under the direction of the US Congress) has (as of 2011) minted over $1 Billion in dollar coins which are sitting around in storage due to lack of demand. > > [The Federal Reserve Stores $1 Billion In Dollar Coins That No One Wants : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants) I’ll take 'em. 🆒 > [@PastTense](#): > > No store and no bank has ever offered me a dollar coin. Has anyone here been offered one? Most of the vending machines I’ve used that take $20 bills give dollar coins as change. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decides-if-we-print-currency-as-opposed-to-minting-coins/721593/16 "2015-06-05T03:11:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’ll take 'em. 🆒 > Most of the vending machines I’ve used that take $20 bills give dollar coins as change. Most vending machines only give coins as change. It makes sense that they put the higher value coins in . Practicalities mean they drop lower value coins… with inflation there is less need for the 1,2,5 ,10 cent coins and more need to be able to give change for … $5 $10, $20 notes Or anyway, lower value notes tend to be the worst for being worn and torn…