The first thing the government needs to do is to do away with the paper $1 Federal Reserve Note. Due to the short lifespan of the Notes over the long run it cost far more to produce the paper notes than it does to produce any coin. Do away with the $1 Federal Reserve Note first, then work on the penny and nickle.
http://coinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/p ... llars.html"Using BEP’s 2007 production numbers, 4,147,200,000 one-dollar notes were printed. With 95-percent being replacement notes, 3,939,840,000 notes were printed just to maintain circulation levels. With it costing 4½ cents to produce one note of any denomination, the cost to just replace notes removed from circulation was $177,292,800 in 2007.
Rather than printing paper dollars, if the US Mint strikes coins the cost to replace those 3.9 billion notes would cost 15.9-cents (according to the Mint’s 2007 Annual Report [PDF]) per coin. The total production cost would be $626,434,560.
But do not let the 353-percent increase fool you. The BEP predicts the life of a one-dollar paper note is three years while the US Mint predicts the life of any coin is 30 years. To help with the calculation, let’s assume the price of printing notes will stay constant. In order to keep the $3.9 billion of one dollar notes in circulation for 30 years, it will cost the BEP $1.77 billion dollars. Since the Mint will be striking new coins for circulation and (theoretically) not replacement coins, the US government would save about $1.15 billion over 30 years. The following table illustrates these costs:"
Denomination Production Total
Paper Dollar - 4,147,200,000
Coin Dollar - N/A
Number of Replacement Notes
Paper Dollar - 3,939,840,000
Coin Dollar - 3,939,840,000
Cost of Production for Replacements
Paper Dollar - $177,292,800
Coin Dollar - $626,434,560
Cost of Replacements over 30 years
Paper Dollar - $1,772,928,000
Coin Dollar - $626,434,560