Hyper-inflation has come to the United States Mint

Isn't Hyper-inflation something like inflation of 50% per month / 600% annual ?

Waiting for US Mint products on ebay/other sellers is a cheaper way of getting their products after release. I do that alot. But when you buy it at the US Mint it's like a car as you are paying for all the engineering, manufacturing and other overhead in order to design and manufacture the item. once it drives off the lot it's resale value drops assuming PM spot doesn't globally dramatically increase. Of course they are valuing their PM inventories on replacement cost, not acquisition cost which any good business would do.

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Silver mining is going great guns, trying to feed the stomach that the public seems to have.

 

The mint does have no tax and $5 shipping going for it. Most people re-selling dont do it to lose money. Works on some products but won't on others.

 

The U.S. Mint has a legal monopoly on new U.S. coins, and they are charging monopoly prices. The citizens of this country pay taxes to support this institution, and it is unfairly using the position it is in to soak coin collectors.

The mint is issuing way too much new stuff, and the time to stop buying it has arrived. I have cut down to one silver Proof set a year, and nothing else. I'd like to keep that set going, but the mint is making it harder. The mint is no longer the collectors' friend.

 

The Mint doesn't receive tax money appropriations, they are a net revenue source for the general fund and are self funding from the seigniorage profits.

 

Doesn't the seignoiorage go to the Fed?

Numismatic coins make a small profit. But I've always had issues with how much of the fixed costs land on the wallets of collectors.

 

Compared to the total revenue the Federal Government received, the profits from numismatic coins is small, almost insignificant. That was why the games the mint played to maximize its profits on the sale of “last cents” made me angry.

There was no excuse for doing that. A far larger number of collectors should have had a shot. As it was the prices kept most collectors on the sidelines.

To top it off, some of the coins were lousy with ugly spots on them, despite the fact they had fancy grades like “MS-65.” There was no excuse for not giving these coins special handling at the mint.

As I posted before, the mint has ceased to be the collectors’ friend. In the past it boosted the hobby with affordable kids programs. Now it’s mostly about maximizing the mint’s revenue stream.

 

Which, as you say, is insignificant in the context of a Federal budget.

 

If you watch the video of the ceremonial final strike, the coin is picked up by the pressman with his big thumb and finger and handed to the celeb, whose fingers are also all over it.

PCGS didn't even bother to image the coins for the cert database!

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/l...-circulating-cents-set-number-232-of-232-pcgs

 

It would have been better for the coins if they had struck them and let them fall in the bucket instead of handling them with bare fingers.

As for PCGS photos, PCGS has posted photos of a disappointingly low number of coins they have graded. NGC is far better in that respect.

 

My most recent vintage U.S. coins are dated 1956. So, I don’t collect recent Mint issues. I suspect the Mint is a using a pricing algorithm to maximize profits (like most “real” businesses) on bullion and collector coins. This may be due to an upstream administrative push. They may have overdone it this year and may need to make a downward price correction next year.

However, it can make good business and public relations sense to have at least one loss (or break even) leader. The uncirculated, base metal set would be a good candidate. It would be a nice gesture … would keep folks looking at their offerings, introduce themselves to new collectors, etc.

Mike