Q: When the government made state quarters, they were readily available. Now they are issuing the state park quarters and nobody seems to be able to get them, including the banks. Why is the distribution so poor?
—John McDonald, Canton
A: The economy drives demand for the coins. "When the economy runs slower, there are fewer coins made," Mike White, spokesman for the U.S. Mint, told Q&A on the News. The America the Beautiful Quarters Program, which began in 2010 and depicts national parks and other national sites, has fewer quarters in production compared to the state quarters program, which ran from 1999-2008. The average mintage was about 400 million per state coin, while production in the American the Beautiful Quarters Program is between 60 million and 70 million per coin. "It's just a much lower mintage that gets spread across the country," White said. The American the Beautiful Quarters Program will feature 56 sites, with new coins issued through 2021. Eleven have been issued so far. Five are planned for 2012, and the El Yunque National Forest coin has been issued already (Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, Acadia National Park in Maine, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska are still to come). Sets can be purchased from the U.S. Mint's website at www.usmint.gov.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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