Dollar coins may not be popular among most Americans, but they sure are for people who like to travel for free.
An NPR report cites “travel hackers” who use their credit cards, which award frequent flier miles for purchases, to purchase dollar coins from the U.S. Mint.
Once they have the coins, they can either ship them back to government reserves for free or deposit them in their bank accounts.
The act isn’t illegal, but since 2008, the Mint enacted a 1,000 coin purchase limit for every ten days.
Congress mandated the minting of presidential dollar coins in 2005 in an attempt to make dollar coins popular among Americans. Since then, over $1 billion worth of coins have been stored in Federal Reserve vaults. The coins will continue to be minted, and stored if not used, under the congressional mandate.