United States Mint 

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

(Dollars in thousands)

Budget Activity FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 Change FY10 to FY12

Actual Estimated Estimated $ Change % Change

 Manufacturing $3,602,988 $2,457,862 $2,515,589 ($1,087,399) (30.2%)

 Protection $43,979 $51,016 $0 ($43,979) (100.0%)

Total Cost of Operations $3,646,967 $2,508,878 $2,515,589 ($1,131,378) (31.0%)

Capital Investment $23,794 $30,830 $30,296 $6,502 27.3%

Total Resources $3,670,761 $2,539,708 $2,545,885 ($1,124,876) (30.6%)

Reimbursable FTE 1,778 1,873 1,873 95 5.3%

The Department of the Treasury is eliminating the Protection budget activity and consolidating it into the 

Manufacturing budget activity beginning in FY 2012.

Summary 

 

The United States Mint supports the 

Department of the Treasury’s strategic 

objective to promote trust and confidence in 

U.S. currency worldwide by enabling 

commerce through safe, secure U.S. notes and 

coins. 

Since FY 1996, the United States Mint has 

been operating under the United States Mint’s 

Public Enterprise Fund (PEF). As authorized 

by Public Law 104-52 (31 U.S.C. § 5136), the 

PEF eliminates the need for appropriations. 

Proceeds from the sales of circulating coins to 

the Federal Reserve Banks and numismatic 

items to the public are the source of funding 

for operations. Both operating expenses and 

capital investments are associated with the 

production of circulating and numismatic 

coins and coin-related products and protective 

services. The United States Mint provides 

security for assets, including the government’s 

reserves of gold bullion, silver bullion, coins 

and coinage metals. Revenues in excess of 

amounts required by the PEF are transferred to 

the United States Treasury General Fund. 

The United States Mint’s key priorities for FY 

2012 include: 

• Circulating - Efficiently and effectively 

produce and distribute approximately 9.6 

billion circulating coins in FY 2012 to 

meet the needs of commerce, an important 

strategic objective for the Department of 

the Treasury. Honor national parks and 

other national sites through effective 

administration of the United States Mint 

America the Beautiful Quarters Program in 

compliance with the America’s Beautiful 

National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 

2008. 

• Bullion - Prepare and distribute bullion 

coins while employing precious metal 

purchasing strategies that minimize or 

eliminate the financial risk that can arise 

from adverse market price fluctuations. 

• Numismatic - Prepare and distribute 

numismatic products in sufficient 

quantities to make them accessible, 

available, and affordable to people who 

choose to purchase them. Design, strike 

and prepare for presentation Congressional 

gold medals and commemorative coins, as 

required by law. 
• Protection - Continue to secure over $320 

billion in market value of the nation’s gold 

reserves, silver and other assets. 

FY 2012 United States Mint estimated total 

revenues are $2,745,700,000, total expenses 

are $2,515,589,000, capital investments are 

$30,296,000, and net results are $230,111,000 

in earnings. 

Mint FY 2012 Budget Highlights

(Dollars in thousands)

Budget Estimate Amount

FY 2010 Actual $3,646,967

FY 2011 Estimated $2,539,708

Changes to Base: 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs): $26,277

Maintain Current Levels $26,277

Efficiencies, Savings & Base Reductions: ($20,100)

Contract Savings – Procurement/IT ($7,200)

Postpone Low Priority Capital Projects ($12,900)

Subtotal FY 2012 Changes to Base $6,177

Total FY 2012 Base $2,545,885

Total FY 2012 Estimated $2,545,885

Totals include capital investments since a FY 2012 

savings proposal involves capital investment savings.

FY 2012 Budget Adjustments 

 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) 

Maintain Current Levels +$26,277,000 / +0 

FTE 

Funds are required for inflation adjustments in 

non-labor expenses such as rent adjustments, 

postage, raw materials and inventories, 

supplies and equipment, health benefits and 

the increase in Federal Employee Retirement 

System participation. No inflation adjustment 

is requested for pay in FY 2012. 

Efficiencies, Savings & Base Reductions 

Capital Projects Postponed to Out-years 

-$12,900,000 / +0 FTE 

The United States Mint reduced its FY 2012 

capital budget $12.9 million by delaying 

several capital projects to out-years. The 

agency’s capital plan includes funding for 

various equipment replacement, building 

maintenance and safety projects. The plans 

are developed based on factors such as 

equipment lifecycle, production needs and 

facility assessments. Careful consideration is 

given to each project and projects are then 

prioritized. 

Contract Savings – Procurement/IT 

-$7,200,000 / +0 FTE 

Procurement Savings: In FY 2010, the United 

States Mint achieved $47.6 million in nonmetal procurement savings through acquisition 

improvement plans. The United States Mint 

will continue efforts to achieve procurement 

savings by combining multiple contracts, 

renegotiating current contract terms and 

ensuring greater competition where possible 

through FY 2012. Through these efforts, the 

United States Mint expects to achieve an 

estimated $5.7 million in procurement savings 

in FY 2012.

Information Technology (IT) Savings: The 

United States Mint has employed several 

improved Information Technology strategies 

that have and are continuing to yield cost 

savings. IT consulting services/systems 

support services, IT maintenance contract 

consolidation, and IT telecommunications 

consolidation efforts are yielding continued 

budget savings. These initiatives are projected 

to save over $1.5 million in FY 2012. 

Explanation of Budget Activities 

 

Manufacturing ($2,515,589,000 from 

reimbursable programs, not including capital)

The United States Mint manufactures and sells 

coin products. For budget reporting purposes, 

these products are grouped into two programs: 

Circulating Coinage and Numismatic 

Programs.

Circulating Coinage 

The United States Mint enables commerce by 

minting and issuing circulating coinage to 

meet the needs of the United States. 

Circulating coinage includes the penny (onecent), nickel (five-cent), dime (ten-cent), 
quarter-dollar, half-dollar and dollar 

denominations. The United States Mint 

delivers the circulating coinage to the Federal 

Reserve Banks, at face value, for distribution 

as demanded by commerce. 

Beginning in 2010 through 2020, the United 

States Mint will mint and issue 

commemorative quarter-dollar coins honoring 

national parks and other national sites, in 

accordance with the America’s Beautiful 

National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 

2008 (Public Law 110-456). This program 

honors national parks and sites in the order in 

which they were first established as a national 

park or site. Similar to the issuance of coins 

under the 50 State Quarters Program, quarterdollar coins featuring five different coin 

designs will be issued each year of this 

program.

Numismatic Program

The United States Mint produces numismatic 

and bullion coins, medals, and other products 

for sale to collectors and the general public. 

These coins include annual recurring programs 

(such as proof and uncirculated sets), silver 

proof coins, the American Eagle and the 

American Buffalo precious metal bullion and 

proof coins, and medals which are legislated to 

commemorate specific events or individuals. 

In FY 2012, the United States Mint will 

produce the United States Army 

Commemorative Coin (Public Law 110-450). 

The current FY 2012 budget estimate for 

numismatic and bullion products includes 

resource needs of $1,903.5 million to generate 

$1,958.4 million in revenues from the sale of 

these products. 

Legislative Proposals 

 

The “Eliminate the 20 percent requirement in 

the Native American $1 Coin Act” legislative 

proposal seeks to eliminate the requirement 

that the number of $1 coins minted and issued 

in a year with the Sacagawea-design on the 

obverse be not less than 20 percent of the total 

number of $1 coins minted and issued in a 

year. Proposed amendment: Section 5112(r) 

of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 

striking paragraph (5). Approval of this 

proposal would allow the United States Mint 

to mint and issue all $1 coins in amounts 

necessary to meet public demand for coins of 

each particular design. It would also eliminate 

the excessive expense of minting and issuing 

Native American $1 Coins in amounts that 

exceed the public demand for them. 

Capital Investments Summary 

 

This United States Mint’s FY 2012 circulating 

and protection capital budget request is $20.0 

million. The United States Mint invests in 

capital projects to maintain, upgrade or acquire 

physical structures, equipment, physical 

security, and to implement its information 

technology roadmap. Total capital projects are 

estimated to be $30.3 million in FY 2012. 

This includes approximately $12.3 million for 

circulating projects, $7.7 million for security 

improvement projects, and $10.3 million for 

numismatic projects.

 
Mint Performance by Budget Activity

Budget Activity Performance Measure FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012

Actual Actual Actual Target Target

Manufacturing Numismatic Customer Base 

(Units)(Ot)

1.27 1.06 0.799 0.976 0.976

Manufacturing Customer Satisfaction Index (%) 

(Oe)

87.5 88.3 86.1 88.0 88.0

Manufacturing Safety Incident Recordable Rate 

(Oe)

N/A N/A 2.29 3.34 3.34

Key: Oe - Outcome Measure, E - Efficiency Measure, Ot - Output/Workload Measure, M - Management/Cust. Satisfaction, 

DISC - Discontinued, and B – Baseline

Description of Performance 

 

Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) 

A United States Mint contractor conducts a 

quarterly Customer Satisfaction Measure 

(CSM) Tracking Survey among a random 

sample of active customers. The CSM Survey 

is intended to capture customer satisfaction 

with the United States Mint’s performance as a 

coin supplier and the quality of specific 

products. The CSI is a single quantitative 

score of CSM Survey results. In FY 2010, the 

United States Mint’s results were 86.1 percent, 

below the target of 88 percent and down from 

the FY 2009 year-end result of 88.3 percent.

Numismatic Customer Base 

The numismatic customer base consists of the 

total number of unique purchasers (in millions) 

within a fiscal year. The numismatic customer 

base measure provides information on the 

continued and new demand for numismatic 

products. The numismatic customer base 

totaled 798,515 in FY 2010, below the target 

of 976,000. Performance declined primarily 

because the bureau was unable to offer key 

gold and silver numismatic products for sale. 

Planchets were diverted to the bullion program 

in accordance with a statutory requirement to 

fulfill bullion demand. 

By the close of FY 2010, the United States 

Mint had expanded planchet supply to fulfill 

bullion demand and redirect a portion of 

precious metal blanks for numismatic 

products. Releasing the popular American 

Eagle numismatic products is expected to 

improve customer retention and acquisition as 

well as customer satisfaction in FY 2011 and 

beyond. This measure is currently being 

reexamined for its usefulness. 

Safety Incident Recordable Rate 

Safety incident recordable rate is the number 

of injuries and illnesses meeting the 

Occupational Health and Safety 

Administration recording criteria per 100 fulltime workers. The safety incident recordable 

rate fell to 2.29 in FY 2010, below the target 

of 3.86. The United States Mint will continue 

to place a high priority on ensuring employee 

safety.