Grrrrr....Littleton!

They are not melting down SBA's, almost every one ever made is still out there somewhere. Everyone in the treasury is on the books as a dollar they can spend. If they melt it it is 15 cents in metal they can sell. (Less the cost of melting them down) That's a 85 cent loss on every coin. So why lose it if you can just spend the coin again?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

You have some good points. It isn't Littleton's fault that you are buying their products which are quite nice, but may not have investment value. Everyone who buys coins, antiques or any other product should be knowledgeable about what they are buying. We've all overpaid for things and most of the time we chalk it up to education and hopefully it won't happen again. My friendly coin dealer purchased two Littleton state quarter sets in wood display boxes. One set was a proof set and the other was not. He put them up on eBay and sold the proof set for $80 dollars and the other set actually went for less than face value. So if you really wanted a proof set you should know that the $249 is quite a mark up and maybe you should do some further research and try to buy a set somewhere else for a lot less money.

 

You are probably right about most of them being out there. People saved them and have hung on to them for years. If you realize they aren't worth much a lot of people will take them to the bank and turn them in for bills. What does the bank do with them? I think they send them back to be melted. The 85 cent loss probably doesn't bother the geniuses in DC.

 

Perhaps the word you should be thinking about is jealousy. After all the apples and oranges comparisons and single-minded bashing added to "the world owes me a living" threads, it's becoming clear that's what the true problem is. I have absolutely no doubt that if you could pull Littleton-like profits, you would not hesitate, so let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

 

Just curious. who, exactly, did you direct this post?

The bank sends them back to federal reserve, where they're kept in a vault until somebody else wants them. The last line doesn't do much to support your argument.

 

Advertising does not need to be done in print anymore. How many people read the newspaper anymore, or paper magazines? Sure the 40 and over might, but most people do everything online. I read books, magazines, newspapers, etc.

You don't really need to advertise at all to be well known. I've never once seen an ad for facebook, and everyone and their dog knows about facebook.

Word-of-mouth is very successful and does not cost a dime.

Getting back on subject, littleton advertises so heavily because they try to lure people. If littleton was a great place to shop, then they would not need to advertise as much, again word-of-mouth is key here.

They are targeting the people who don't collect at all, and sending them stuff, with the "were a very honest company" facade hoping they don't know any better, and they fall for their ruse.

Now with the people who have access to the internet, they can see littleton charges too much. So littleton really shoots themselves in the foot with that. They may spark an interest in someone to turn them into collectors, but once they see lower prices elsewhere, they quit giving littleton their business.

However, with the people without internet access, it might be YEARS before they finally figure out they are spending too much. That's what littleton calls a "customer".

So could I run the same kind of business? However I have a conscious and have to sleep at night, so I prefer not too.

 

Maybe you could. But you lack the drive and ambition to try it. Better than trying to mimic Littleton's model, try creating the what you perceive as the perfect coin business. See how far you go with it. What you can't do is argue against Littleton's success.

 

And when they do see the lower prices they do leave Littleton, so Littleton keeps up the heavy advertising to replace them.

So you agree that with their business model they are charging the prices they have to and aren't gouging? Because I said if you could follow their model and charge lower prices you'd clean their clock. And assuming you are charging lower prices you should be able to sleep at night shouldn't you? Or are you saying that you can't do what they do and be able to charge prices low enough to allow your conscious to not bother you? Because if you can't do it and charge low prices then stop complaining about them doing it and charging high prices.

 

If Rickipedia and Detecto are not the same person, they are twins separated at birth.
Teaching them anything is like trying to teach a quadriplegic to swim.

 

Hi Rickipedia,

Yes, many of us start out making mistakes, but that is how we learn. Don't get discouraged! Keep collecting, making those mistakes and learning from it. It will pay off I promise!

 

You brang this thread back to life.

 

While all that you state is technically correct, the one factor which is not addressed is the "newbie" part.

Littleton and countless others prey upon the less educated collector that wants to get into the hobby and, IMO, when these folks finally wise up (the new collectors that is) then they have the right to whine and inform others of what they've learned. Maybe, just maybe, some lurker will not rush into a Littleton contract.

BTW, whatever happened to the "Record Clubs"? Or the CD Clubs or the Book Clubs?
These were all exactly the same scenario and lots and lots of folks got burned. Not ripped off nor taken mind you. Just "burned".

Does Littleton have a huge overhead? Sure! But that doesn't make their business any more upstanding. These folks prey on people and yes some people enjoy paying their ridiculous prices and are simply none the wiser. But again, it doesn't make it right as their "collections" will pass to their heirs who'll think they got a big time inheritance only to find that dear ole dad made some poor decisions.

 

Gone the way of the dodo only because of MP3 and iTunes.

 

Book clubs still around overcharging people (over charging vs ripping off as you can't get ripped off if you get a book outta the deal )