Ed Moy's Introductory Comments
Mr. Moy thanked everyone for attending, and gave an overview of upcoming coin programs including the Native American $1 coin series and the special 2009 Lincoln Cent commemoratives. He then provided a history of the Ultra-High Relief (UHR) Double Eagle coins that the Mint will issue for one year only, in 2009. Mr. Moy told the crowd, "This will be the coin that Saint-Gaudens and Teddy Roosevelt envisioned." (Ed: The UHR Double Eagles were designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the personal request of President Theodore Roosevelt. The 2009 Lincoln Cent commemorative program is a one-year, 4-coin penny series honoring the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Cent design.)Mr. Moy opened the floor to questions and discussion by asking the attendees what they liked and disliked about the U.S. Mint's coin programs.
Questions About Coin Production
Is the edge lettering on the Presidential Dollars going to change? Yes, it is. According the original legislation for the Presidential Dollars, (the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005,) there have been four legends on the edges of the Presidential Dollars: "In God We Trust," "E Pluribus Unum," the date of minting, and the mint mark. However, in 2008 Congress directed the U.S. Mint to return the motto "In God We Trust" back to the obverse or reverse of the coins. (Ed: This change will take place with the 2009-dated $1 coins. The Mint has previously indicated that the motto will be on the obverse (heads side), and that a series of stars will be added to the coin edges to take up the space left open by this change. The Sacagawea Dollar will also begin getting edge lettering in 2009, which will be identical to that which is placed on the Presidential Dollars.)What can you tell us about the Silver Eagle production? Is the Mint going to be able to keep up with this unprecedented demand? The problems in keeping up with the unusually high demand for Silver Eagles has been the result of shortages of the blanks we strike the coins on. Currently, the U.S. Mint has two vendors for the Silver Eagle blanks, both of which are capable of meeting the Mint's high level of volume within fabrication specifications. Efforts to expand the number of vendors hasn't been successful because it is hard to find vendors who can produce the highest-quality silver blanks, to our exacting specifications, while at the same time maintaining a high volume of output. (Ed: Follow the link for more about the Silver Eagle shortage.)
What is the Mint doing about the high cost of producing pennies and nickels now? Although we are currently producing pennies and nickels at a loss, the U.S. Mint overall is a profitable agency. Most of the coin denominations we strike have a built-in profit margin called "seigniorage," which is the difference between what the coin costs to make, and the actual monetary value of the coin. For example, if it costs about 10 cents to produce a quarter, the 15 cents per coin seigniorage is profit for the taxpayers. The Mint is always seeking to give taxpayers a maximum return, but we cannot act independently of legislation. The current legislation would require the Mint to make coins out of steel, rather than give the Mint the authority to determine which metal is the least costly overall. This legislation does not provide the Mint the flexibility it needs to work as cost-effectively as it possibly can. (Ed: Here is a recent breakdown of the costs to mint U.S. coins. The legislation Mr. Moy refers to is still pending as I write this; the Mint has formally objected to it for the reasons Mr. Moy cited.)
If we change the metallic composition of pennies and nickels, won't this mess up vending and coin-changing machines? The interests of the vending industry is only one of the many factors that the Mint needs to take into consideration when determining new metal compositions for coins. As for pennies, the vending industry doesn't use pennies in vending machines. (Ed: They could probably do away with using nickels in vending machines, too, without a lot of public impact. It has always bugged me that such a small business sector as the vending machine lobby has succeeded in holding our nation's coinage hostage for decades now!)
Has the Mint considered making the lowest denomination coins out of something besides metal? This suggestion comes up from time to time, but the U.S. Mint doesn't have authority to change the composition of the nation's coins without legislation.
Would the U.S. Mint ever consider making bi-metallic coins? The primary reason that other countries have changed to bi-metallic coins is to thwart counterfeiting. Since coin counterfeiting hasn't been a major problem in the U.S. in recent decades, there are no plans to produce bi-metallic coins. In any event, international coining trends are moving away from the bi-metallic coin types.
There are more questions on the next page covering topics such as the Ultra-High Relief Double Eagles, more on coin counterfeiting, how efficient the U.S. Mint is compared to the Tokyo Mint, whether most U.S. Eagle bullion coins end up overseas, and other interesting Q&A's with Ed Moy.
