Sacagawea becomes lost as U.S. currency

WASHINGTON

Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark find their way to the Pacific Ocean, but she's having trouble finding her own way into the nation's cash registers.

The image of the Shoshone Indian, Sacagawea, is featured on the struggling dollar coin that was launched with great fanfare and a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz just more than two years ago. It was supposed to be jingling in pockets and used in everyday transactions across the country by now.

Instead, millions of the golden-colored dollar coins have piled up in dark bank vaults because there hasn't been much demand. The Mint has temporarily stopped making new Sacagaweas for circulation. But it is producing some for collectors.

Many people have never touched one.

"My contention is this is a failure," declared Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who said he has never received a Sacagawea dollar coin in change.

Dorgan, chairman of the Appropriation Committee's treasury and general government subcommittee, held a hearing Friday to see what might be done to turn the situation around. Dorgan -- who noted that Sacagawea also was a North Dakotan -- likes the coin and wants to see it thrive.

But banks say there hasn't been much demand for the coins by retailers and other businesses. Retailers and businesses say there hasn't been much demand from their customers.

Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore, who appeared at Friday's hearing, believes there are a number of reasons the coin is struggling.

People who receive the coins as change keep them and don't spend them. Retailers say they don't have room in their cash registers for the coins. And, businesses that want Sacagaweas sometimes have trouble getting them, she said. Fore blamed that on the Federal Reserve -- the supplier of cash to the nation's banks -- saying it mixes Sacagaweas coins with their unpopular predecessor the Susan. B. Anthony coins when filling orders.

Louise Roseman, who oversees bank and payment operations at the Federal Reserve, said it's true that the Fed doesn't have the technology to separate Sacagaweas from Susan Bs. But she said that banks that specifically request the Sacagaweas have been able to get them.

Some coins experts say the Sacagawea won't really catch on as long as the paper $1 bill is around. But neither Dorgan nor Fore were advocating getting rid of the greenback.