What is going on with the US Mint???

[jtryka]

So, the first spouse for Van Buren comes out, so I figure, time to place my order for the year. So on 12/3 I loaded my cart on the US Mint website with 4 liberty spouse coins, 2 proof sets, 2 mint sets, 2 silver proof sets, an unc silver eagle and the two liberty first spouse medals, total just under $2400, put in my card and figured with the upgrade to expedited shipping I should have it in a week at the most, so told them to ship to my office so someone could sign for the fedex. Well, now it's over 2 weeks later, less than a week before Christmas, and my order is still "in process" even though all the items but one are "in stock and reserved." I don't know what is going on over there, everytime I call I get a different story (including one on the 15th that they were scheduled to be shipped on the 9th, why you would schedule something that occurred in the past is beyond me). Could this be all the workers ticked about losing their jobs? Could they have timed that transition at a worse time? Will there by lumps of coal in stocking in state quarterville this year? Or, am I just unlucky?

[astrostu]

The Mint's been like that for at least the last 2 years. Have you ordered since 2007? Or if you have, perhaps you've just gotten lucky before.

 

Pretty much at least half of my Mint orders stay "in process" or "in stock and reserved" for weeks at a time and then I get the shipment, and later that night I get an e-mail with a tracking number for the package I just got.

[jtryka]

Maybe I was just lucky before, but everytime I've ordered gold it seems to have been quick. Though last year was the hubbub over the Jefferson Liberty, then the year before that it was the SF Mint gold that arrived rattling around, I guess I shouldn't expect much, but I am still sending a letter to Ed Moy to see if he cares.

[bsshog40]

 

Pretty much at least half of my Mint orders stay "in process" or "in stock and reserved" for weeks at a time and then I get the shipment, and later that night I get an e-mail with a tracking number for the package I just got.

 

Same here!

[jtryka]

How does the government stay in business? Oh wait, they can take worthless paper and turn it into $2 trillion over a weekend, I forgot...

[michael]

i got screwed by the usa philly mint in 1977 buying proof sets and since then i have yet to order anything from them

 

if i want any current year coin sets produced from the philly mint (i never have as of today) i will buy them in hand sight seen on the secondary market

[DC Dawg]

Could this be all the workers ticked about losing their jobs? Could they have timed that transition at a worse time? Will there by lumps of coal in stocking in state quarterville this year? Or, am I just unlucky?

You are just unlucky. If you called after December 1, you are dealing with the new fulfillment contractor. The new fulfillment contractor is running the old system during the transition. The way the Mint is handling the function is that all "older" items are in the old warehouse and shipped from there. The problem is that the old system is incompatible with the new system and there is a lot of manual processing (read: human error).

 

Allegedly, the Mint will have everything transferred to the new contractor by next week.

 

You are right that they timed the transition at a bad time, but there were contractual issues that forced the Mint's hand on this. The Mint, however, is run by a bureaucrat and not someone who understands the manufacturing and supply chain aspects of their business.

 

I wrote an open letter to President-elect Obama about replacing the current Mint director with someone more competent. You can read that letter here.

 

Scott

[RI AL]

Good letter, Scott!!

 

Last time I ordered anything from the mint was when the White house dollars were produced in 1992 (I had to look that up...it's been a while). From what I'm reading, I'm not so sure it is a task I care to repeat.

[jesbroken]

Mike,

The Fed's paper is NOT worthless-it costs them nothing and is worth something, what becomes worthless is our paper in our pockets, because everytime they turn on their printer our paper is worth-less.

Jim

[Conder101]

You are right that they timed the transition at a bad time,

They have a habit of doing that. Wasn't it the Jefferson First Spouse where the day the coins went on sale they took the wbsite down to change over to a new server and they were down for a week?

[astrostu]

You are right that they timed the transition at a bad time,

They have a habit of doing that. Wasn't it the Jefferson First Spouse where the day the coins went on sale they took the wbsite down to change over to a new server and they were down for a week?

 

No. It was this year, just when they released the Bald Eagle commemoratives. I seem to remember it being more like 2 weeks, but my memory on the duration could be flawed.