The U.S. Mint, Frequent Flier Miles and the Cobra Effect

The U.S. Mint has a program where members of the public can purchase $1 coins at cost and was designed to increase circulation of the coins. Instead people buy the coins with credit cards, deposit the coins in their banks and pay the credit card balances with their bank accounts. The Mint's problem is compounded as 60% of the coins they produce return to the Mint via the banks. Edit: it seems like this is an old story - there WSJ and LA Times articles from December 2009. One person ordered $800,000 in coins and got lifetime platinum-elite status from American Airlines.