The Coin Coalition is an organization supporting the elimination of pennies and dollar bills from U.S. currency. It is funded by vending machine companies, video arcade owners and the soft drink industry who have an interest in eliminating maintenance costs associated with dollar bill validators. The National Bulk Vendors Association supported the Coalition. Above: A variety of coins considered to be lower-value, including an Irish 2p piece and many US pennies. ... A bill validator is a component of electronic vending machines that accepts paper currency. ... The National Bulk Vendors Association is a nonprofit trade association of bulk vendors, founded in 1950. ...

According to Randy Chilton, manufacturers converted machines to accept the United States dollar coin at great expense, but the unwillingness of the U.S. government to phase out the dollar bill prevented the coin from becoming popular[1]. Although copper miners and other interest groups backed the Coin Coalition on this issue, they were unable to match the influence of Save the Greenback, a rival organization supporting continued dollar bill production. Dollar coins have been minted in the United States in both gold and silver versions. ... Save the Greenback is an organization of U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing employees and paper and ink suppliers opposed to phasing out the paper dollar[1]. The group formed to counter the influence of the Coin Coalition. ...

In 1995, Thomas M. Davis, introducing the Save the Greenback Act, warned that customers' pockets would be weighted down with heavy coins. However, a 1997 Wall Street Journal article refuted that notion by noting, "This argument ignores the vast number of quarters now required for parking meters, vending machines, buses and many other staples of life. For a lot of transactions, an attractive $1 coin would be a great convenience. And although we would all be walking around with a few $1 coins, they would be replacing several quarters"[2]. 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tom Davis Thomas M. Davis III (born January 5, 1949 in Minot, North Dakota), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1994, representing the Eleventh Congressional District of Virginia (map) in Northern Virginia from 1995. ... The Save the Greenback Act was legislation passed by the United States Congress circa 1995 forbidding the phaseout of the U.S. one dollar bill. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...

Eliminating the penny would entail rounding purchases to the nearest nickel. In advocating abolition of the penny, the Coin Coalition cites three penny-related costs that are passed on to consumers[3]: The United States five-cent coin, commonly called a nickel, is a unit of currency equaling one-twentieth, or five-hundredths, of a United States dollar. ...

• Wrapping charges (Stores pay about 60 cents for each roll of 50 pennies),
• Lost store productivity from penny users slowing the checkout line, and
• Lost wages paid to clerks counting pennies in the register on each shift.

The U.S. mint has an interest in continued penny production, since it spends 0.81 of a cent producing each penny, but sells them for a full cent apiece.

James C. Benfield, a partner with Bracy Williams & Co. (Washington, DC), led the Coalition since 1987 until his death[4].

Reference

• Barro, Robert J. and Stevenson, Betsey: [http://home.manhattan.edu/~fiona.maclachlan/mb/coin.htm Do You Want That

In Paper, or Metal?], Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6, 1997.

• $1 Coin Makes No "Cents" If $1 Bills Remain, Randy Chilton, Replay Magazine, March 2001.
• Should the penny go?, Annelena Lobb, CNN Money, Apr. 11, 2002.
• Sanford, Tim: Coin Coalition’s Benfield Gauges Progress Of ‘Golden Dollar’ On Eve Of Anniversary, Vending Times, 2001.