The Bureau of Engraving and Printing

12/29/2020

#TickTock- Do you know what the new time is on the Series 2013 $100 Independence Hall vignette tower clock? 10:30 a.m. @Independence NHP #philadelphia

12/28/2020

#OTD, in 1945, Congress first adopted #ThePledgeofAllegiance into the United States Flag Code.

12/25/2020

It's #Christmas and we've reached the end of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing, #Countdown To Christmas series! Did you know the BEP printed more than just currency? Well, as a small treat today, we'd like to highlight just a few of those miscellaneous products. You can always learn more about currency at www.bep.gov and www.uscurrency.gov Thank you for being with us. #happyholidays U.S. Currency Education Program Nepris

12/24/2020

U.S currency notes must be durable and dependable 💪for everyday use in commerce. For day 11 of our #12DaysofPrinting #countdowntochristmas series, learn about BEP durability #testing: crumple, laundry, chemical soaks and rubs.

12/23/2020

BEP operations at both facilities will be closed December 24-January 3, 2021, for the holidays and its annual Year End Shutdown. Incoming mail and special deliveries will not be accepted during this time and all Tour and Visitor Center operations remain suspended until further notice. Normal operations resume on January 4, 2021. #HappyHolidays! 🎄

12/23/2020

It's day 10 of our #12DaysofPrinting #countdowntochristmas series! During currency overprinting, currency sheets receive seals and serial numbers and are cut down to single notes for packaging to the @federalreserve. Learn more at https://www.bep.gov/hmimcope.html U.S. Currency Education Program #production #Money Nepris

12/22/2020

For day #9 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing! Today we look at Intaglio printing and Mechanical Examination. The backs of #currency sheets are printed first, then the faces before continuing to the numbering operations. #CountdownToChristmas #tuesday Nepris

12/21/2020

When the planets don’t align just right, we use Star notes🤩! visit https://www.bep.gov/resources/serialnumbers.html for more information. #greatconjunction #currencyproduction #christmasstar NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Park Service

12/21/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 8 - Offset Printing

Welcome to day #8 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing! Today we look at Offset printing, the start of the production process where background images are printed on blank #currency sheets . #CountdownToChristmas #mondaythoughts @Neprisapp

12/21/2020

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing - Monthly Production Reports

The November 2020 #currency production #report, as well as past reports, are available for viewing at https://www.bep.gov/resources/productionmonthly.html

Monthly Production Reports

12/20/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 7-Currency Paper

A high quality currency note has a high quality foundation. For Day #7 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing we look at U.S. currency paper. #CountdownToChristmas #sunday @Neprisapp

12/19/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 6 Ink

A high quality currency note has a high quality foundation. For Day #6 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing we look at U.S. currency #ink. #CountdownToChristmas @Neprisapp

12/19/2020

This holiday season we remember and express our appreciation to the fallen men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, veterans, deployed, and their families for their sacrifices in defense of this nation and our freedom. #WreathsAcrossAmerica Arlington National Cemetery

12/18/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 5 Plate making

For Day #5 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing we look at plate making. #printing #currency @neprisapp

12/18/2020

“Neither rain, sleet or snow…” According to the US Postal Service, today is last recommended day to ship via First-Class Mail® for expected delivery by #Christmas. Thank you postal carriers for all your hard work! #USPSOperationSanta #stamps

12/17/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 4 - Siderography

For Day #4 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing we look at siderography, where individually engraved dies are combined to form a complete face or back of a note, which are then duplicated to make a printing plate master. #CountdownToChristmas #currency Neprisapp

12/17/2020

The 2020 holiday season is flying by! With social distancing still so important, most of us won’t be traveling this year, but it’s nice to dream 😊. #wrightbrothers #kittyhawk CDC #travel

12/16/2020

BEP 12 Days of Printing: Engraving

For Day #3 of BEP’s 12 Days of Printing we look at engraving, where Engravers cut a Banknote Designer’s concepts into metal dies to make printing plates.

12/15/2020

BEP 12 Days of Printing: Design

"Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make."--David Hockney. For Day #2 of BEP’s "12 Days of Printing," we take a look at what makes U.S. currency designs unique. #banknotedesign #TuesdayInspiration #art @neprisiapp

12/15/2020

Dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, #BillofRightsDay celebrates the first 10 Amendments of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

12/14/2020

BEP's 12 Days of Printing: Day 1 The Start of It All

The holiday season is here and it’s time to wind down from a challenging 2020. Join us each day as we count down to #Christmas with BEP’s “12 Days of Printing.” We hope you enjoy learning little tidbits about the BEP and what goes into making United States currency. This video highlights the start of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. #GreenMonday #MondayMotivation

12/11/2020

Need help denominating your U.S. currency notes? For #NationalAppDay consider downloading one of BEP’s free mobile apps, the #EyeNote for iOS or the IDEAL Currency Identifier for Android. Learn more about #meaningfulaccess to currency at https://www.bep.gov/resources/meaningfulaccess.html

12/08/2020

In 1914, BEP employees were unable to leave the facilities until the end of the workday for security reasons. Two Roof Gardens were built atop BEP's Main building using two different wings, one for men and one for women. Often employees gathered for lunch and fresh air, listening to a phonograph play. #timetravel #worklife #TuesdayThoughts

12/07/2020

Special issue #Hawaiian currency was issued from 1942-1944 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This currency, comprised of $1 Silver Certificates (series 1935A) and $5 (series 1934 and 1934A), $10 (series 1934A), and $20 (series 1934 and 1934A) San Francisco Federal Reserve Notes had seals and serial numbers printed in brown and all denominations were overprinted with the word “Hawaii,” in case of an invasion. In all, the BEP produced more than 66 million Hawaiian notes having a face value over $411 million. #PearlHarborRemembranceDay

12/03/2020

Make your holiday shopping a little easier. The BEP has free iBill currency readers and mobile apps for blind and visually impaired U.S. citizens and legal residents. Learn how to get yours today at https://go.usa.gov/x7yXN. Independence is a wonderful thing! #vision #idpd #disabilitesday

12/02/2020

BEP’s Western Currency Facility was recently awarded two City of Ft. Worth, TX environmental excellence awards: the Pretreatment Stewardship Award for 11 consecutive years of 100% compliance, and the Pollution Prevention Award for energy savings related to the optimization of BEP’s chilled water system, which resulted in a 61% energy reduction – equal to approximately 1.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and an estimated savings of $81,000 in annual facility operating expenses. #Congratulations WCF! #pollutionpreventionday @EPA #P2

12/01/2020

Last year, federal employees and retirees pledged more than $86.4 million in the #CFCGivingCampaign to thousands of local, national, and international causes, and an additional $2.6 million through a CFC Special Solicitation for those impacted by the #COVID-19 pandemic. Consider making this #GivingTuesday one to remember by supporting a local #charity near you! To learn more about the CFC, visit https://go.usa.gov/x7Ctz #FedsFeedFamilies #giveback

11/26/2020

Happy Turkey Day! BEP will be closed today for the holiday; operations resume Friday, November 27. Pictured is a 1956 #Wildlife Conservation Series #stamp – Wild Turkey – Engraved by Charles A. Brooks and John S. Edmondson. Enjoy. Be Safe!

11/23/2020

In recognition of #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth, pictured is a $10 Military Payment Certificate featuring Chief Matihehlogego, also known as Hollow Horn Bear, shown in his Lakota Sioux, full-eagle-feather headdress. A great warrior-diplomat and gifted speaker, he became a treaty negotiator, winning the friendship of many in Washington, DC. The portrait was engraved in 1922 by BEP Engraver Louis S. Schofield, based on a photo from the Department of Anthropology at @SmithsonianNMNH. #NPS

11/23/2020

DYK November is #NationalDiabetesMonth and Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month? No matter where you are on the visual spectrum, BEP’s Meaningful Access Program has resources to help you identify your U.S. currency notes. To learn more about the Meaningful Access Program visit https://go.usa.gov/x7yXN #vision @NationalEyeInstitute #iBill

11/20/2020

#GetCoinMoving #numismatics

Dear Mint Customers,

I want to take this opportunity to speak to you about the Mint’s approach to our numismatic program.

First off, the United States Mint is unique in that we are an agency of the Federal Government, and also a retail sales organization. The goal of our numismatic program is to serve the American people by producing coins and medals that tell America’s story, are desirable to our customers, and generate net earnings. Net earnings not required for Mint operations are transferred to the United States Treasury general fund and ultimately benefit you, the taxpayer.

During my tenure as Mint Director, I have challenged my staff to come up with new and creative products to energize, excite, and expand the collector community. My team has met this objective on many occasions, most recently with our products honoring the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and our collaboration with the Royal Mint commemorating the 400th anniversary of the trans-Atlantic journey of the Mayflower.

As we look to provide the market with innovative and interesting products, we engage in market research and solicit feedback from the numismatic community. Our forecasting team examines historical performance and gleans insights on current customer interests and also assesses any new product’s overall potential. When we develop mintage limits for our numismatic products, we use our best efforts to come up with what we think are mintages that will satisfy customer demand and ultimately sell out. Contrary to the belief of some, we’re not happy when a product sells out immediately—that means that we underestimated demand and disappointed many customers. On the other hand, we don’t want to set mintages so high that we’re left with unsold inventory, which results in additional expense when we recycle the coins and medals and dispose of the packaging. Finding the right number is part art and part science. Most of the time I think we’re successful, but in the case of the World War II 75th Anniversary products we clearly underestimated demand.

As many of you are aware, a slowdown of the Mint’s online sales website caused frustration for many of our loyal customers, who were unable to purchase their desired product. One contributing factor is that there were 390,000 users attempting to access the website during one time frame, which is more than triple the capacity we had planned for. I can also tell you that our solutions to prevent automated purchases by “bots” also put an immense strain on our website and can lead to unintended issues for other legitimate purchasers. The overwhelming demand for these products outpaced our website capacity in ways that we are still trying to better understand and remedy. That said, more than 75 percent of 75th Anniversary End of World War II products were purchased by the Mint’s registered customers. I have asked my team to do a thorough analysis of what went wrong, and, by balancing capacity versus cost, come up with long-term, lasting solutions that will provide our customers with a vastly improved buying experience.

Also, we have different sets of customers purchasing our products, including individual collectors and dealers. We do not provide preferential treatment to any of our customers, be they individual collectors or professional coin dealers, and we have measures in place, both automated and manual, to ensure that household order limits are adhered to. We have seen an increase of activity by another sector of customers—buying groups who offer to pay a premium to individuals who purchase our high-demand products. This sector is one of the reasons you are seeing high prices for our products on the secondary market. The Mint has no control over what individuals do with their numismatic products once they are purchased. Some customers choose to add these coins and medals to their collections, while others choose to sell them for a profit.

In summary, I and my team are working to change the way the Mint has done business in the past. We endeavor to produce numismatic products that our customers will value. Along the way, we’ve made mistakes, and are doing our absolute best to learn from those mistakes. I thank you for your loyalty as a Mint customer, and look forward to your continued presence with us as we continue our journey of celebrating America through our numismatic products.

Sincerely,
Dave

11/19/2020

Did you know that the Washington, DC Facility prints, on average, $541 million dollars a day? All of these newly printed bills make their way to the @FederalReserve for circulation. #MoneyFacts #ThursdayThoughts

11/19/2020

Straps of $1 bills on the Large Examining Printing Equipment

Did you know that the Washington, DC Facility prints, on average, $541 million dollars a day? All of these newly printed bills make their way to the @FederalReserve for circulation. Here, the Large Examining Printing Equipment is sending straps of $1 bills to be bundled and packaged. #Moneyfacts #ThursdayThoughts #Moneyfactory

11/11/2020

Today we say thank you to our BEP veterans and all other defenders of democracy for their commitment and dedication.
Take time today to thank a veteran for their service. #VeteransDay #ServiceBeforeSelf

11/10/2020

“…in ev’ry clime and place.” This verse from the Marines’ Hymn rings true of the indomitable spirit in every Marine’s heart. Thank you to all BEP Marine veterans and their fellow Devil Dogs for continuing the fight for freedom. Happy 245th Birthday U.S. Marine Corps! #SemperFi