Dumb question: Why does the Mint only produce 3.8 million half dollars for circulation?

Goldbully · March 16, 2010 8:11AM

Call me crazy, but when was the last time you got a half dollar in your everyday change?
I only get cents, dimes, nickels and quarters.
Presidential dollars.....never!(Well, there's always Light Rail change)
Halves....never!
Is it the success and sheer volume of the quarter program, that has doomed the half?

illini420 · March 16, 2010 8:15AM

i don't even think they produce any for circulation, are those just for collectors?

no one uses halves anymore except us coin nerds anyways

sinin1 · March 16, 2010 8:17AM

not enough spots in the cash register

clerks with inability for simple addition

I rarely see them in circulation

another question is does circulation justify 15-20 times as many dollar coins?

MsMorrisine · March 16, 2010 8:17AM

I believe they are only for sets, bags and rolls.

check their annual reports and they list what was shipped for circulation. The FY2009 (which stops in Oct. 2009) showed no half dollars shipped for circulation.

BaseballAbs · March 16, 2010 8:22AM

They don't fit in the soda machines or parking meters, etc. They produce them for collectors i guess. Or for the the tooth fairy. I use to get them under my pillow.

Cam40 · March 16, 2010 8:23AM

they should just put washington on the half and kennedy on the quarter.
that way we`d spend all our washington halves and save all our kennedy quarters

johnny9434 · March 16, 2010 8:25AM

i dont remember the last time i got one in change. usally i got to ask for them like at the gas station or convience stores

DrBuster · March 16, 2010 8:25AM

I spend fiddys and dollars every week. Honestly, the folks I give them to, ladies with young babies/kids, take every one and put them in the kids piggybanks. Been that way for 10 years or so far....so I try to contribute to this cause, but my seeds get rootblocked almost immediately.

BBN · March 16, 2010 9:05AM

we need our fractionals revamped. Eliminate the cent and nickel. Keep the dime and its size. Make a half dollar the size of a nickel and a coin dollar the size of a quarter.

Lewy · March 16, 2010 9:14AM

I think that you are correct Bully. They seem to serve no rational economic purpose that I can see. Between the quarter, the dollar coin, and the dollar bill, vending machines of all types are pretty well covered. They are a rather ungainly size as well. I know I attempt to avoid them.

LindeDad · March 16, 2010 9:20AM

I've never had one refused when I pay for my coffee.

Mercury10c · March 16, 2010 9:21AM

No halves are minted for circulation. They are minted for sale to collectors only.

LindeDad · March 16, 2010 9:28AM

<< <i>No halves are minted for circulation. They are minted for sale to collectors only. >>

And if you check the quality not many want to collect them is the reason I have been using them for coffee, best I could find out of two rolls. Both coins came back as 65's.

TwoSides2aCoin · March 16, 2010 9:33AM

<< <i>No halves are minted for circulation. They are minted for sale to collectors only. >>

3.8 million should be enough to satisfy collector demand. I know 3 people who collect them.

Steve27 · March 16, 2010 9:53AM

Half dollars are the only coins that circulate less than dollar coins.

Dumb question: Why does the Mint only produce 3.8 million half dollars for circulation?

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