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Manufacturers converted machines to accept the one dollar coin at great expense, but the unwillingness of the U.S. government to phase out the dollar bill has prevented dollar coins from becoming popular. $1 Coin Makes No "Cents" If $1 Bills Remain , Randy Chilton, Replay Magazine, March 2001 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 production of $1 bills.
In 1995, Tom Davis, introducing the Save the Greenback Act, warned that customers' pockets would be weighted down with heavy coins. However, a 1997 article in The Wall Street Journal disputed this 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".Barro, Robert J. and Stevenson, Betsey: Do You Want That In Paper, or Metal? , The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6, 1997
In advocating abolition of the penny, the Coin Coalition cites three penny-related costs that are passed on to consumers: Should the penny go?, Annelena Lobb, CNN Money, Apr. 11, 2002
James C. Benfield, a partner with Bracy Williams and Company (Washington, D.C.), led the Coalition from 1987 until his death in 2002. He testified in committee hearings on the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997.
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