Dollar coins have never been popular in the United States since the removal of precious metal from coins. Despite efforts by the government to promote their use to save the cost of printing one-dollar bills, such as the Presidential $1 Coin Program, most Americans currently use the bill. For this reason, since December 11, 2011, the Mint has not produced dollar coins for general circulation, and all dollar coins produced after that date have been specifically for collectors. These collector coins can be ordered directly from the Mint, while pre-2012 circulation dollar can be obtained from most U.S. banks.