Why don't the mint just sell bullion silver eagles directly to the public?

Everyone gets so dang upset with time and place utility. this is what middlemen provide, they buy in bulk for low prices from the mint, they aggregate orders from dealers to justify a large purchase, take the risk they dealer doesn't pay them, warehousing, shipping, none of this stuff is free. Trust me, the mint, if they had the ability, could not sell to individuals as cheaply as they sell to distributors, so there is NO WAY you could ever get those prices. If you got what you wanted, the US mint would need to charge probably more than $2 premium.

As an aside, the mint didn't even start making ASE to make money, it was to use up the US silver stockpile.

 

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That is correct the cost of business is high, and cash is king for now.The price of goods go up so they make profit on a larger number though. This will cause most other mints to follow suit. So it will not be the U.S Mint but the very large Austrian , Australia , Canada etc. Private coinage may be OK from certain sources. Inflate goods and people can not purchase them,so the dollar is the next choice. Not good with the debt service we have.

Pep

 

I would say mostly to avoid the storage costs. The government is not very good at making money, they just take whatever they want. After the stockpile ran out, it was silver interests that got the legislation passed to coin more, just like the Morgan dollar fiasco in days past.

 

@imrich......lol....That was good. If You ever want to try Your luck as a satirist, whether political, pop-culture, etc....I think You have a good future in it. If and when I decide to run for public office I may request Your services to put a creative spin on my rants. : )

 

"Free" enterprise was out the window as soon as the government started to make bullion.. This is not a product made by a private company in which i don't care about the markups or what they do. If the government is just going to sell them for little over spot without any understanding of the handling fee or how these coins are to be sold to the public then i think the system of distribution to the public is flawed.

 

This is from The Liberty Coin Act

"The Secretary shall sell the coins minted under subsection (e) to the public at a price equal to the market value of the bullion at the time of sale, plus the cost of minting, marketing, and distributing such coins (including labor, materials, dyes [sic], use of machinery, and overhead expenses)."

It say's nothing about profits it just talks about breaking even, that sounds a lot like a public service to me.

The Eagle are made to fill public demand, how many members of the public can afford to buy 25,000 Silver Eagles at a time? It sounds a lot like discrimination to me.

As a American Citizen i think i do have a innate right to buy the bullion my government produces. Whats the point of the mint making the Silver Eagles at cost with zero profits of its own if any discounts the public might receive get lost in distribution?

 

If retailers should be restricted, as some here believe, to a set price for ASE's, then it would only be fair, if you then, the consumer, would also have to be restricted by the same price restrictions when you go to sell them yourself. Now, how many here would honestly say thats fair and agree to that? Not one of you. So, why should the retailers agree to something you yourselves wouldn't? Reality check.
Guy

 

I am all for the public getting to sell them for whatever the market can bear once thay have been released to the public, what i am against is some shady middle man getting first pick and making more money off Eagles then other bullion products because the mint sells the Eagles at cost with the intent to pass the discount on to the public, the intent was not to add to the profit margins of the distributers. If that is where any discount is going then the mint should increase there premiums to make a profit to be comparable to other bullion manufacturers.

 

I am agianst the goverment restricted people on how much money they can make, but i am okay with manufacturers setting the retail price of their products and setting that up ahead of time before they sell to retailers. Thousands of products from the Nintendo Wii to Harry Potter books are priced that way. If the retailer wanted to they could get 3x retail when new items are released but the manufacture could use its discretion as a private business to not to sell to them again. The U.S. mint should do the same as a manufacturer, not as a government setting profit...

 

Support The "2011 National Recovery Act"

Now is the time to eliminate "shady middle man", by supporting the 2011 National Recovery Act, which will also remove control by these unsavory characters who offer competitive Silvertowne and Amark products at only 75 cents over spot.

This legislation will allow for Nationalization of these companies and eliminate "shady middle man" who are "making more money off Eagles then other bullion products".

These Nationalized companies who are producers of comparable products will sell their product at the same fixed price as the current ASE, with any new profit confiscated to aid in reducing our National debt, or enabling the 2012 US Full Employment Act.

Under these new legislations, the US government will allow direct shipment of their competitive products at a cost of only $7 over spot plus the reasonable fee to ship USPS Priority mail.

These acts will assure the continued survival/growth of existing government services, providing additional wonderful monopolistic choices as we've all come to appreciate.

The 2011 National Recovery Act will place equalization tariffs any any foreign Silver comparable product which threatens the sovereignty of the US government.

The new government mandates will assure that all individuals in this country acquire the ASE or the comparable Silvertown, Amark products, providing a freedom of choice, as required in the 2011 National Recovery Act. The new combined American Support Silver products will be know by the acronym ASS. Because of its' value, we can be assured that Americans will always know where their ASS is. The purchase requirement would be fairly based on Gross income.

Federal taxpayers would need to pay an additional "tax" of one ASS for every $10000, or portion thereof gross amount reported. Each ASS would arrive with a certificate which would need to be carried and shown by all when paying for items at any checkout register.

Absence of an ASS certification would result in an additional purchase charge, and a form provided with the receipt for filing to acquire their ASS.

For the seeming majority who don't pay net federal taxes, the same proportional amount would be subtracted from government assistance payments (e.g. Tax grants, Schooling grants, Social Security, Disability, etc.).

It seems reasonable that all individuals enjoying the benefits of our wonderful society should share in our recovery, and be an owner of government "precious metals", having growth potential for their future, when Social Security is eliminated.

I trust that the majority of those in this thread wanting to acquire precious metals directly from government will support this action to eliminate price gouging by greedy business people and shady middlemen, returning absolute control to our government.

Please contact your government representatives, asking their support in passing these government control legislative acts.

Again, let's all support the legislation to provide direct PM purchases, while enabling full government employment, allowing increasing government control of shady middlemen. :thumb:

 

Troll much? We adults are trying to talk.

 

If they do that, imrich, what incentive will these places have to even carry ASE's? If they can't make a profit, they're just wasting their time. Then, when they stop buying the mint will just cease to make them and people who want them lose out alltogether.
Guy

 

I believe you've generally been espousing immature diatribe, disregarding objective response, regardless of it's presentation. Simply stated, I believe there's been little communication, which requires both a transmitter and receiver, one of which appears to be biased inoperative.

I believe that Doug/others have patiently presented object truths. My posts are a rebuttal/parody to what I believe are outlandish unsupported statements having elements of intermediary character defamation. I trust you'll objectively digest the essence of our communications as "food for thought".

If you truly believe that there is a free enterprise alternative to the existing government system, open access allows you/yours to implement same. My opinion of the existing bullion system is that it is one of few government operations which is competitive to free-market facilities.

Now that we both have submitted our subjective opinions, let's allow civil objective discourse. :thumb:

 

@imrich.....without taking sides, (as I like mostly everyone on these forums as well as what they bring to the equation) I happen to like how You prefer to word Your responses.....and hope to someday harness that ingenuity for the greater good.

Anyway...from a neutral perspective I enjoy the different perspectives/opinions presented here. Interesting banter to say the least.

 

It would be my guess the Dept of the Treasury has no interest in people being able to own gold & silver coins issued by the US government and only does so because it was legislated on them by the US Congress. (which continues to claim the ultimate authority over what the Mint does) However this is speculation on my part. There is no technical reason why the Mint could not do direct bullion sales as they manage quite well to handle the volumes of direct sales of circulating coins. In fact, until last year when people had learned to game the system, they were selling circulating $ coins at face value w/free shipping. So there must be another reason.

One advantage to dealer sales, that I don't think that has been mentioned here, is it is the dealer which absorbs the hedge on the metal in the production chain while completed coins await retail sale. In other words, if the min. quantity to order from the Mint is 25,000 coins, then it is the dealer who takes the risk on the rise/fall of the price of the metal while these coins sit in his warehouse until sold to the public. The dealer also has the flexibility to change the premium to encourage sales in a falling market whereas the Mint would not. (remember on bullion, the mint is only allowed to charge pm price +production cost) This method of production allows the Mint to order and produce in batches, known as build to plan, which gives them some flexibility with their production equipment. labor, and ordering from their suppliers.

Theoretically, the Mint should be able to distribute these coins through the Federal Reserve system, but this opens the can or worms of lawful money vs legal tender and it's also my guess the Treasury and the Federal Reserve simply don't won't to go anywhere near there.

 

There are actually laws that keep manufacturers from setting retail prices but they have ways around it.
They are only concerned if the item is sold too low so they set a minimum advertised price.
If the retailer sells below that price they can loose rebate and co-op funds.
They do this to keep retailers from selling popular items at cost just to draw traffic in their stores.
If there is no profit in an item, many retailers would not sell it. That's not good for the manufacturers.