U.S. Mint offerings

I just had to browse through the U.S. Mint website recently, to see what was new. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised at the terrible disappointment the U.S. Mint has become. The prices have become unrealistic,and lack any real value on most products. And now they have resorted to making bronze medals instead of actual commemoratives. This wouldn't be nearly such a huge issue, but the medals are $20...each! I want my dollar and half dollar denominations back please!
Silver proof sets have exploded in price to a whopping $105, and there are limited edition SPSs that top $200! It seems as though the mint has decided to cater to impulse buyers, rather than collectors. The Morgan and Peace dollar revival is cool, but not at $70+ per coin. Maybe the actual coin collectors are burnt out on the over-release of issues on quarters and non-circulating "golden" dollars.
Just my two cents worth here...

 

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Two years now and I still haven't been back. Thanks for sharing good luck.

 

@quartertapper Your two cents is worth plenty. I feel the same way. I started buying from the US Mint in 1959. I stopped about 2 years ago. Nothing but high priced junk - ballast I call it.

 

By law, the mint has to cover its costs on numismatic products. I personally think the are putting too much of the fixed costs in that bucket.

That's on Congress. They propose commemorative programs and get them enacted into law.

And flippers, but again the quantities minted are largely set by law.

Again they had to cover the costs. That means buying silver from US mines at market rates.

Agree, but again that's on Congress who passed the laws mandating these programs.


Where you can blame the mint is the astonishingly poor performance of their website and their insane ordering policies that leave the decreasing number of people who WANT to buy US Mint products increasingly frustrated.

Will the last customer of the US Mint please turn off the presses.

 

I agree they have to cover costs, but silver is about $24 per ounce. This is beyond making a modest profit.

 

But the methods by which the flippers acquire large quantities are not set by Congress. It's all grandma gift stuff to me anyway and I have no interest in it.

 

The mint has restricted the mintage of the American Silver Eagle (ASE) so that now the price is 67% over melt. These coins were supposed to be a way for Americans to buy silver for collecting and investment purposes. Now they are over priced numismatic items.

The commemorative half dollars, stuck on base metal copper-nickel planchets, are now have an issue price of over $40. Please don't tell me you have to charge that price to recover your costs. Regular Kennedy copper-nickel half dollars don't cost nearly that much.

The mint is a mess, and it seems like they don't care. Now they have surveys were the are asking how much you earn. Forget it. They make me wish for the days that mint products for collectors were limited to Proof and Mint sets.

 

I can buy what I need in the after market at lower prices than I can from the mint. I started doing this 3 years ago.

 

The restriction on the ASE mintage was - reportedly - due to inability to acquire sufficient planchets. The law requires the mint to procure silver minted in the US within the last 12 months and is not allowed to pay over spot. If nobody wants to sell silver to the mint that meets the requirements -- they have to mint fewer coins.

As for the rest, yep, that's what I mean about the mint seemingly putting absurd amounts of their fixed costs into the numismatic products.

 

The marketing plan factors in the desire of collectors to have one of each - a complete set. If collectors remove that need the mint will have to change how they control interest in their products.

 

I completely agree! It seems as though the mint has become a cash cow for the federal government in the last few years. I used to even like the bronze presidential medals each time a president was elected. The price has gone from $6.50 to $20 in about a decade. I do have disposable income for my hobbies, but I will not spend it that recklessly!

 

Not according to their accounting

https://www.usmint.gov/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-US-Mint-Annual-Report.pdf

Check the chart for the seignorage and net profit on page 8 against the $120m transfer to the general fund. Where did the rest go???

And to get to that $106m you've already subtracted out all the costs except police.

 

I remember when the price of those medals was $1 each. I have a set of them from Washington to Trump. I have purchased the later pieces as single pieces after I bought the set in the mid 1970s.

 

Not to mention the "gender" part where the choices are "Male", "Female", "Transgender", and "None of the above". Pick exactly one -- and if you're transgender, you're not male or female. At least, not according to the numbskulls in their survey-preparation department.

 

No probs. I just lie on surveys.

 

It's not just the overpriced items but the packaging has become so tacky.
Is it because Americans have been buying so much cheaply made stuff from China for so many years that they just don't realize anymore that we used to produce quality?

 

Don't get me wrong, packaging has its' place, but I'm more concerned with the quality contained Therin........if they can continue to provide quality product within the packaging, I'm onboard.

 

I understand that some of the packaging was overboard. Some of the wooden boxes were unnecessary because a lot of those items ended up in slabs. Still, when I received my 2021 Peace Dollar, all I could of was “tacky” with respect to the box. As a collector who admires original packaging as a part of the coin, the stuff the mint uses now is an embarrassment to the agency. The mint charges far more and provides less.

 

I started collecting these a bit later and they were only $3 each. I thought it was a great deal. It was fun.

 

I started collecting silver coins at the end of 2019. My earlier purchases were from the US Mint because I was not yet aware of sites like APMEX, JM Bullion, etc. When I discovered these other sites I was surprised to see how much product they stocked compared to the Mint and I also discovered coins from other countries.
I still go to the US Mint site at the beginning of each year to buy ASE Proofs and Silver Proof sets but I think this will be the last year I do that.