Mint Subscriptions

I have several subscriptions through the US Mint, including one for rolls of new quarters. I've been checking my order status and they haven't sent out my new Oklahoma quarters yet. Does anyone know if the E-commerce problem that they've had is effecting the subscription service?

Also, my local coin dealer has unciculated 2008 ASEs for sale, but they haven't shown up on the mint releases. Does anyone know when they will be released to the general public?

 

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??? Um, yes they do:

http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wc...1&parent_category_rn=10191&top_category=10191

They've been selling uncirculated of the American Silver Eagles (as well as the gold and platinum eagles) directly to the public since 2006.

 

I subscribe to almost everything they offer and I still haven't received my proof ASE yet.

 

Morning Steve; Got my ASE's back in January. You should be seeing yours soon.

 

The uncirculated ones you can buy directly from the Mint have a W mintmark and you pay a significant premium for them (because they call them "collectibles". The ones your local dealer gets in bulk do not have a mintmark and sell for a couple dollars or so over spot because they are just bullion. The only difference between the two is the little W, and a bunch of money.

 

When first offered in 2006 I had the good fortune to be able to purchase these ASE w/unc. I bought three for...if memory serves....$19? I should have bought 20.

 

Hi mbynack,
The mint site says the 21st of February the Oklahoma coins will be available.
Maybe that is why you haven't gotten yours yet.
jeankay

 

Well he didn't ask about the ones without the W either so I assumed the presence or lack of it wasn't relevant to the question lol... point is, the Mint does in fact sell uncirculated American silver eagles (and gold, and platinum) directly to the public. With a W yes. Also sells them through 3rd party dealers without the W. If you want just one, I'd go with the fancy packaging the Mint puts it in... if you want several for the sake of investing in silver, just want multiples to search for good strikes, or don't care much about the packaging, 3rd party dealers probably the way to go, just depends on your preference.

Anyway as to the Oklahoma quarters question couldn't tell you... but I was able to get them from the machine in the Denver Mint's gift shop today. No fancy paper roll with the Mint logo but also no premium above face value and no shipping charge, and it's the same coins either way. If you live close to the Denver Mint (or the Philadelphia one) might consider that option. Or check your local banks... otherwise just have to be patient I guess. Orders do seem to get delayed a bit... half dollars I ordered that were suppose to ship Jan. 31 didn't get shipped until Feb. 5... but they are shipping. Subscriptions seem to be going through from what I've heard from other people who have them, although they do seem to be delayed a bit (usually about a week later than usual).

 

on mint web site this morning

February 7, 2008 - Due to the severe weather in the Tennessee area, the United States Mint is currently not shipping from its fulfillment facility in Memphis for the next one to two weeks. Expedited shipping will not be available until further notice. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please be assured that we will ship your orders as soon as possible.

 

I have subscriptions with the US Mint, including the ASE. I do not know if my current situation was caused by their suppposed computer problems.

The only issue I have ever had with the ASE subscription, has been with the 2008 order. Customer support confirmed that the subscription appeared to be hung. They transferred me to their "headquarters", who in turn stated they had recent issues with some ASE subscriptions, and my own issue should be OK now. I was to check back again in a few weeks.

A few weeks later I checked, my 2008 ASE order was still "on hold". The customer support representative who reviewed my account stated there might be an issue with my "ship to" address causing my order to be put "on hold". Since my address had not changed in over ten years, and I recently received other subscriptions to the same address, it was hard to understand. The representative indicated the problem had have been initiated on their end, but should now be OK. My order status would be changing soon, and I was to check it in a few days.

I checked, the status was still "on hold". Customer support transfered me again to 'headquarters', who verified the data in the order. They indicated the issue had been a procedural problem on their end, and my ASE order status has been changed to reflect my order is "in process". They feel my order "might be" shipped within the next two-three weeks. Else I call again for customer (?) support.

Frustrating.
Contemplating possibly stopping the pain, cancel order, buy from dealer.

 

I had to do that with my last 2 orders with the mint. Every day they would push back the shipping date to the next month. Finally I just gave up.

Now this year here I go again. According to the website my proof ASE shipped on 1/10 but there was never a charge to my credit card, never got a confirmation email and I never received it. I don't think it ever shipped or I would have seen a charge to my account.

 

I've subscribed to the quarter rolls. The Oklahoma quarter rolls were supposed to be released on 28 Jan, but they aren't showing up on my order history.

I ordered the Bald Eagle set, but never got the confirmation e-mail. I called the mint to check the status and they said that they needed to wait for my credit card charge to clear. I have an order number, but it shows up as invalid when I try to check the status.

I received my rolls of Kennedy half dollars yesterday, but never got any e-mail saying it was on the way. They charged my credit card the day after I received the coins.

 

I forgot to mention that besides my ASE's, my bald eagles are backordered with a shipping date in March. That means I might see them by December.

 

Got both the Bald Eagles and ASE proofs last week.

 

yet another bunch of stories from the min

My wife tells me that the charge card cleared for the 2008 ASE that i ordered. Sounds like things are back to normal (??).
I go ahead and call customer service. They acknowledge the order is active. They say that the ASE might ship within the next few days. I told them that they don't usually take my money until after they ship, and the rep responds that doing so would not be good business practice, and that the policy is to take the money first and ship the coin(s) last.
I asked why I have not received any emails about the ASE transaction. The rep asked me for my home address, telephone number, and email address. I thought she was confirming who I was. She said she did not have none of these on file, and that I should always maintain an email address online so they can notify me. I explained (once again) that i have always had this information on my account, and that in fact i was signed onto it and was looking at all of that information while we were speaking. She said that she was in Texas and did not have the same information as the fullfillment center had and their new consumer service was gathering this information. Excuse me, but now I was totally confused. Whoever we are calling for customer service does not have my information as I see it online. They only seem to have part of the order number. When this first started back in November, "my problem" was that "my shipping address" did not match "my mailing address". That did not make sense especially since folks addresses can be different. Another problem was that my name on file, did not match my match exactly on my shipping address. Actually, the one that they 'said' they had, was spelled completely in reverse. When they fixed it, the rep explained that I should be careful when keying sensitive material such as that! (grrrrrrrr). I am not paranoid over this as I could just stop the pain and go the route of ebay. I am getting more interested as this conversation drags on. It almost appears as it they outsourced customer service somewhere along the line when they had the program problem that supposedly happened in December. It is almost as it they somehow corrupted our account database, and I hope they did not broadcast the sensitive information to the wrong folks. Absolutely no where in any conversations has anyone used the excuse that the gold, silver, and platinum prices sky rocketed and almost caught them off guard. My wife believes that the best thing for them was the tornado, since they are using that one as the blanket excuse (yes, the representative used the tornado excuse in the same sentence when explaining what could have happened to my email address.


Has anyone had any better luck with customer service?

Maybe we should have a lotto as to the wierest story coming out of Texas as to what really happened at the warehouse. No?

 

Got this on the 15th:

Dear United States Mint Subscription Series Customer:
Due to transition in service providers and the recent severe weather in the Tennessee area, the United States Mint has been unable to generate and ship your subscription order(s). We have, however, reserved inventory for your order(s) and expect to resume shipping within one to two weeks. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused.
We deeply appreciate your continued patience and thank you for allowing the United States Mint the opportunity to fulfill your numismatic needs.

 

US Mint futures?

Glad to hear your order is moving along. One good story gives hope to the rest of us. Was yours a subscription?

Well I am certainly looking forward to my 2008 ASE. I burned too many hours on one coin. Turned into a major whiner.

You look at all of the gasoline stations in my area, and I think back when i used to pump gas after school. Some of the 'mom and pop' stations in the area still have someone go outside and brave the elements, to change the prices. All of the other national stations converted over to digital price signs almost overnight. We watched one Mobil station change their price eleven times one weekend. I asked the station help about it and they said that they have no control over it anymore. The digital signs now receive their instructions from the headquarters, via their satelite link.

I read recently in Time or Newsweek about the trouble that the US Post Office still has trying to derive revenue. Unlike the US Mint, the post office has a lot of competition. The article I read went into detail about another cost cutter at the post office, which is to eliminate the rest of the mail boxes. I believe the maintenance number was somewhere in the tens of millions that would be saving each year. Next is to eliminate all of the stamp machines, making way for all stamps to either be generated over the computer or swiped at an office.

Now with the US Mint they have no competition. They outsource their service desk and web site. I imagaine not too far down the road they are going to have to come up with a different means of pricing due to major fluxuations in precious metals. Their prices did not seem an issue to me until recently, they seem to be headed up quicker each year. They can outsource the warehouse, maybe.

They have told me about fourteen stories since November, each one with a bit of a twist, one in particular was racist, two or three were outright lies. I have no clue why anyone would go to the levels they have, except that there is confusion as to who is at the controls steering the ship.

:desk:
Welll it would be boring without a few challenges along the way. Do you have other coins on order at this time, and if so has the availability dates changed or stayed the same all along like the ASE's?

What are your thoughts as to their pricing and marketing?

Their credibility took a turn with me with my subscriptions. Where else can they shave without losing their loyal customers?

Thanks again for the update.