1. Drop the price of rolls of coins to better compete with the secondary market. The average price is $15.00 a roll, many times with free shipping. 2. Eliminate the Cent, Nickel & Native American Dollar from the silver proof sets and price accordingly. Duplication over the regular proof set is un-needed. 3. Price the 5 ounce hockey pucks closer to spot with an appropriate profit. $156.95 is ridiculous. 4. Get rid of the 3 quarter sets at $9.95. Really? You would pay that much for three quarters when all you need to do is buy some Whitman holders at .99 cents each. Wasteful production time. 5. Improve quality control. That would help us out here a whole lot. 6. Bring back real sculptors with really interesting designs. 7. Offer free shipping all the time, say, with a $100.00 minimum order. 8. Do a year end or next Jan. special on any items still languishing in the vaults, then melt the rest that do not sell. 9. Start selling regular Silver Eagles directly to the public, eliminating the middle man. 10. If not eliminating the Cent, Nickel & Native American Dollar does not work, consider a silver edition of each for the silver set. Imagine the interest in such a new series. These are my ideas, what would be some of yours? And feel free to reject any of mine but let us know why please. Thanks. Tom
One thing, Tommy. If the Mint actually issues a silver cent, every half wit on the Web will be piling in here with their “silver penny” they found in change.
I really like your ideas. My only suggestion would be to pair down the mint offerings substantially. There is just too many variables available and I believe it has hampered numismatic interest.
Great ideas. I dont think the Cent and nickel should be removed entirely, they can be made for proof sets and have a lower mintage as NIFC (Like the half dollar or sac dollar)
1. Drop the price of rolls of coins to better compete with the secondary market. The average price is $15.00 a roll, many times with free shipping. Why should the mint be trying to compete with the secondary market? 2. Eliminate the Cent, Nickel & Native American Dollar from the silver proof sets and price accordingly. Duplication over the regular proof set is un-needed. This makes sense, but interest in the sets may decline since they are no longer really a full set of coins. 3. Price the 5 ounce hockey pucks closer to spot with an appropriate profit. $156.95 is ridiculous. The Pucks they sell directly to collectors are NOT bullion pieces, they are considered collector coins and therefor have a higher mark up. This is like saying they should price the proof ASE's at just a little above spot. 4. Get rid of the 3 quarter sets at $9.95. Really? You would pay that much for three quarters when all you need to do is buy some Whitman holders at .99 cents each. Wasteful production time. No objection, never saw a reason for these anyway. 5. Improve quality control. That would help us out here a whole lot. Quality control on what? The material they make for collectors already tends to get very high end grades when submitted. The coins made for circulation need only be good enough to fulfill their function. 6. Bring back real sculptors with really interesting designs. Using sculptors instead of artists trained in two dimensional art would probably be a good idea. Even so the limitations of what they have to work with would still be difficult to overcome 7. Offer free shipping all the time, say, with a $100.00 minimum order. No argument. 8. Do a year end or next Jan. special on any items still languishing in the vaults, then melt the rest that do not sell. Also a good idea. 9. Start selling regular Silver Eagles directly to the public, eliminating the middle man. I can understand why the Mint doesn't want that headache. If they did take it on I would suspect you would see prices of say five dollars an ounce over spot to cover the headaches. 10. If not eliminating the Cent, Nickel & Native American Dollar does not work, consider a silver edition of each for the silver set. Imagine the interest in such a new series. Can't be done without passing new legislation through Congress. The Mint doesn't have authorization to strike those coins in silver.
Talking to the mint differs from talking to a brick wall in one way - a brick wall echos something back. @Chiefbullsit - no way Congress would commemorate "great" highway rest areas - it's just too close to reality for them. Non "great" ones might be seen as housing alternatives.
@Conder101 When I mentioned the elimination of the cent, nickel and NA dollar, this is an overlap in the two different Proof sets. These just become extras that we either save or have to try and sell. I don't really see the need for this duplication. Both of these sets have seen annual declines in sales for many years. I think adding something different might be a way to re-ignite interest in these sets. Yes, it needs approval but could be done. The quality control interest is based on what so many here have to deal with day in and day out. Minor die chips, cracks, mechanical doubling, die deterioration doubling, etc. that always seem to be a great find by newbies but has to be explained over and over again. And of course, I know that these are made for commerce and not necessarily with the collector in mind. Maybe it's too much to expect a higher standard of overall quality. Most business's take great pride in their work but the Philly Mint seems not to. And many times I have seen better coins come from circulation than I do in Mint sets. Just sayin'.
Sculptors on station cost money. The mint is trying to maximize profits in an digital age. Sad, as the old ways are truly the best.........
I understood, that, I just believe that if you removed those coins from the silver proof sets you would see a big loss of interest in them because they are no longer a full set of coins. If you want better quality control of circulation coinage you are going to have to somehow greatly reduce the amount of coinage produced. Right now they run the dies into the ground, reduced the relief, lower pressure, and run presses faster to keep up with demand. The result is often sub-par coins. Part of the problem is that the coins are so worthless now that more and more coinage is becoming "single use", Mint to the banks to businesses to consumer to change jar where it stays and has to be replaced with another new coin. That may be true with earlier mint sets, but most everything I have seen for sets of say the past ten years has been markedly superior to the circulation strikes. Sure every now and then you'll see a poor quality recent mint set coin, but typically they are very nice.
