Both are/were an equal "Pain in the "

Greetings again collectors (and complainers)

Today was the day to order the much touted Lincoln five coin special proof set. I, in pure "journal fashion", am sharing a collector experiance. I am blessed to have some really nice and very fast computer equipment. But having it and knowing how to use it is a different story indeed. I thought I would sit down at the monitor at 11:30 and attempt to log on to the US mint web site, one that I have logged onto many times before. I finally got on at 12:18. I had my phone in one hand or should I say on one sholder and keyboard in hand or should I say "hands". The last time I was on the site I had added some other items to my cart, one of which was a very low mintage "first spouse" gold coin. I saw that when I added my coin and chronicles set, I either had to purchase this $600+ coin or delete it. I chose the latter. This small step took almost eight minutes, when on a normal day would have been about eight seconds tops. Then it was on to the next phase which I quickly looked at and clicked "next". As I was waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I saw where I did not click the little circle saying the shipping address and the billing address were the same. After about 5-7 minutes I then had to click that circle and then the wait once again. All this time I was continuing to try to get through on the "land line", continuing to hit redial and continuing to say "one" (which is the voice prompt for wanting to place an order). I then got through on the phone, after maybe 50+ tries and got all the way through the verification process of confirming address, phone number, e-mail address etc. After I told her what I wanted and as I was starting to give my CC number, I heard a faint click. I said "oh nooooo" and proceeded to say hello a dozen or so times and then finally getting a dial tone. Wow what a letdown. I was so close. I then went back to the computer screen and did something I don't usually do and that's opting for a "speedy checkout". After a few more minutes I get in "red wording" something about the expiration date was incorrect or invalid (on my cc) and I saw where this was a card that had just recently expired and even though I had the new one in hand, I had not changed it (the date) on the site. I then did that and then a few more minutes passed. I was beginning to feel like I was running a "marathon" and all the people on the sidelines were throwing "marbles" under my feet. Then what seemed like an eternity later I got through the last two steps of "order review" and "order confirmation".

I could not believe how long all this took. I saw the "screen" with the order confirmed at 12:51. And to top it all off, I had some other items in my "cart" from the beginning that I wanted at one time, days ago,but did not particually want today but I was not about to delete them for fear of the extra time and of missing out on the set I was calling about. So along with my Lincoln Coin and Chronicle set, I have a uncirculated "Braille easy open capsule" on the way and the "zillion" coin mint set for 2009. My $55 Lincoln set ended up costing over $125.

And to top all this off, a good friend e-mailed me and told me of this insufficiently_thoughtful_person "nitwit" talking about how sorry all the journals were getting and how he was going to put on "ignore" all who had a "V" in their name along with those who thought it wise to bury their coins in PVC pipe. Does this person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point know that the three winners for 2008 journal author awards fit the above criteria. I wanted to see who this kook was, that I had never heard of and when I saw that his set names had the words "madness" and "insane" and "one six shy of a case" or something like that, it all made perfect sense. It takes all kinds of people to make a world and gives a whole new meaning to the word "numismaniac". I bet I can count on one hand the total amount of people who give a "rats a--" about doubled arrows on the reverse of a morgan dollar. Anyway I feel much better now. I am having a "bushel basket" of fun with this "hobby of kings" that most of us enjoy. Happy Collecting!!! WKF

PS This post by no means has anything to do with Johnson 1. I too as evident in this post, feel his pain...