The mint is most likely making money on these. It only costs the mint a few cents to make each coin (approx $0.18 I've seen estimated) and they sell them at face value ($1). The dollar coins in circulation means that the mint can take paper dollars out of circulation. The coins can last up to 30 years in circulation while paper dollars have to be replaced on average every 6 months. This means the mint has fewer printing costs for paper dollars. The mint itself estimates that it will save $500 million by taking paper dollars out of circulation and replacing them with coins.