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Banks say: Go to Wal-Mart
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February 9, 2000: 5:41 p.m. ET
Tellers dutifully send customers to retailer for the new dollar coin
By Staff Writer John Chartier
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Customers at Tioga State Bank in Spencer, N.Y., are getting some strange answers when asking for rolls of the new gold dollar coin.
"Try Wal-Mart," is the sheepish reply of some tellers at the small family-owned bank.
Bankers nationwide are embarrassed at having to send customers to the nation's largest retail chain to find the newly minted U.S. coin, which features the image of Native American heroine Sacagawea, banking officials said.
Some banks may not receive shipments until March.
But that's part of an agreement the U.S. Mint reached last month with Wal-Mart as a way to distribute the new currency, the first new dollar coin issue since the unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar. It has made finding the coin at local banks about as difficult as finding the overland route to the Pacific, which Sacagawea helped explorers Lewis and Clark discover in the early 1800's.
"We're not too happy, that's for sure," said Anne McKenna, Tioga's vice president. "The banks were set up to do this. The plan was to distribute the coins in March. Then all of a sudden, you have your legs cut out from under you."
Gayle Piester of the Farmer's Exchange in Oklahoma said she was embarrassed at having to spend $25 at a local Wal-Mart in order to pick up a few rolls of the coins to distribute to bank customers.
The Mint shipped 100 million of the new golden-colored dollar coins to more than 2,900 Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs, Mint officials said. At the same time, the Mint began shipping truckloads of the coins to the nation's 12 Federal Reserve banks for distribution to smaller branches.
When the Mint initially offered to distribute the coins through retailers just two, Wal-Mart and Seven-Eleven responded. But Seven-Eleven dropped out because of logistical problems in arranging delivery of the coins to all its stores, Mint officials said.
In addition to Wal-Mart, the Mint is distributing the coin in a limited number of boxes of General Mills' Cheerios.
But the coins showed up at Wal-Mart first, and banks were left struggling to find even a few coins to distribute to customers.
McKenna managed to secure 2,000 coins for Tioga bank, but had to limit customers to a maximum of two apiece.
"People are coming in asking for 10, 20, 50 and we're saying well, we can give you two," McKenna said. "Meanwhile, I went to Sam's Club the other day, and they've got a drawer-full. It's been very disappointing, and very embarrassing."
The Mint's Director, Philip Diehl, said last month that the strategy would get the new coins to customers as soon as possible.
"Consumers will quickly discover that, not only is the Golden Dollar a beautiful coin, but it also speed up purchases at cash registers and vending machines," Diehl said of the agreement.
The situation prompted an angry letter to the U.S. Mint from the American Bankers Association, demanding the Mint to address the problem.
"Initially, we've always strongly objected to any retailer having the coins before it's been put through the monetary system," said John Hall, a spokesman for the Bankers Association. "As one of my favorite bankers said, these U.S. coins aren't Beanie Babies. It's the U.S. monetary system. There are rules and procedures that have to be followed."
Hall said bankers are not upset about the coins being distributed through retailers per se, but are unhappy that Wal-Mart had the coins first.
But Wal-Mart was excited at the prospect of partnering with the Mint.
"This was a partnership that seemed to make good sense," said John Bisio, a Wal-Mart spokesman. "As the nation's largest retailer, we serve 100 million customers each week, which certainly provides the U.S. Mint an excellent opportunity to get the new dollar coin into wide circulation ... We've seen an excellent response. We felt this was an excellent opportunity to expose people in the U.S. to the new dollar coin."
The Mint's Diehl said it was the bankers who expressed widespread skepticism about the public's acceptance of the coin. Gun shy after the Susan B. Anthony's failure, many banks said they would either wait to gauge customer demand before ordering the coins, or not order them at all.
"We did very extensive market research, and it pointed to a fundamental dilemma we faced in distribution," Diehl said Wednesday. "The banks were not enthusiastic. They either would not order it, or would wait until there was public demand. Well you can't prove the demand if you can't get it to the commercial sector."
In light of the banks' skepticism, the Mint set an earlier shipping date to Wal-Mart than to the banks, he said. When the bankers next complained that the retailer would undercut them, the Mint arranged to have the coins shipped the same day, Diehl said. But the dollars were mailed to Wal-Mart while armored trucks delivered them to the banks.
The Mint designed the new coin to be easily distinguishable from the quarter, unlike its predecessor, the Susan B. Anthony dollar. The coin is golden in color with a smooth edge similar to a nickel, and a wide border. 
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United States Mint
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