Now that the mint realizes theres a problem do you think they will do anything about it? http://www.coinnews.net/2009/10/16/us-mint-apologizes-to-customers-for-chronicles-set-experience/ Why or why not?
I said No because they have had popular items go on-sale and had similar issues in the past and nothing changed then either. This might have been worse than in the past but I suspect they will not be able to do much if anything. Freddypm
I don't think so, the percentage of their problem days should be a minimal amount compared to how many ppl pleased that they have. Just my 2 cnts but you see how many ppl on here got to order and only 1 thread came up that was truly a regretful experience. thems just my thoughts.
I voted no for one reason - the web site works just fine the rest of the year. No need to do anything extra for a first time release. The only other time I remember it being this slow was the Lewis and Clark coin and pouch - but I still got those.
Really do not know what else the mint can do. Most of the time ordering is simple and fast. When a hot product becomes available, naturally there are problems. Same problems often happens with other hot ticket items (football games, Concerts, etc.). I do not know a lot about anything but I would think it would take some major, expensive upgrade to increase efficiency. Would not seem practical for the few occasions these incidents occur.
Sorry, this is a Mint Gift Shoppe issue and of no concern to me. From the headline I first thought its was about daily operations and the production of coins.
If it were my business I wouldn't make any big changes. One, because the type of changes that would need to be made to be able to meet that type of peak traffic are expensive. (35 years in telecommunications tell me this), and two, that high of a peak in traffic is not a regular occurance. Remember, all publicity is good. Even if it's bad. The mint customers will remember and make their own contingency plans, that won't cost the mint a thing. The mints goal was to sell 50,000 units, and they did!
No, I don't believe they will. I think if they ran a cost/benefit analysis, they would find that their system works great under normal conditions and there is no need to spend additional money for the few times they have special sales like the Lincoln Chronicles Set.
I voted yes because IT infrastructure is fairly straight forward to fix. Unfortunately the Mint didn't issue the same type of apology for the 09 ASE proof program fiasco. They should have owned up and committed themselves to making sure that doesn't happen again either. The problem with their business model is that they are a monopoly and they do not react as well to customer criticism...
Does anyone really think that they are going to change the limit on the minting? I don't see that happening, but just my opinion. They will probably just post another note that they are working to try and prevent the problem from happening again, but we all know it will, as long as they have limits. What else could they possibly do to prevent it from happening again? Hold their own lottery and pull numbers to find out which orders to fill?
The mint has a computer system in place that can handle say 50,000 service requests per day and it handles the normal daily load with ease. I don't know how many lines they have coming in to it or how many simultanious requests it can handle. But two or three times a year they need, for a period of just a few hours, a system that can handle 50,000 service requests per HOUR. Does it make sense to rip out their current system which is working fine 99% of the time and spending a bundle of money to install a new system that can handle the .3% of the time extreme load but whose capacity will then sit mainly idle the rest of the time? they do it all the time, it's just that they usually ignore the results. But the Mint is one of the few bureaus that actually runs efficiently and makes money. They would probably pay attention to such an analysis and it would say that it doesn't make sense cost wise to fix the problem. Sure it gets jammed up a couple times a year, but the products still sell and eventually the jam up clears. Usually within just a few hours.
I voted 'Yes' the US Mint will work to correct the issue for similar reasons mentioned by USS656. The IT issue is an easy hurdle for any business to correct and to their benefit. Customer Service and product Quality Control at the US Mint has always left a lot of room for improvement but people have accepted sloppy, declining or even absent Customer Service from the US Mint just like they have in everything other business or service paid for and rendered. Demand better service and threaten not to do business until they prove they've improved upon the situation. And don't just settle for the US Mint having spent more money on marketing and/or faster production. In my view, the US Mint will address the issue going forward, but not by producing more coins so they can take more orders, make more money or need to spend more money fixing IT infrastructure to appease customers. I think the US Mint will simply increase the price point of their products overall to limit the size of the customer base and allow this adjustment to fill orders and for the same sloppy service. As long as people continue to buy from them there is no reason to suggest we will see any improvement in striving for 100% customer satisfaction and fulfillment.
