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Update on 25th Silver Anniversary Order

49 posts in this topic

This morning I got an email from the mint about my phone ordered set. I ordered this set via the phone on October 27th after 45 minutes of redial from the time the lines opened. So that got my order in at 1245pm eastern time. The email this morning (second one on this order) stated my order was back ordered just like everyone get's (the first time) and just like the one I got on the 27th of October. The email went on to say that the date for the back order was now 11/14/11. I had another set ordered also and ordered it on the website at 6:16pm eastern time and it took. However I never got an e mail on that one so far today, but did on the 27th with an order number. It may come in later in the day, who knows? I went to the mint website and looked at both orders. They are both in there, however the one I ordered on the phone within 45minutes of the opening of the sale has no time in it and the later ordered set via the web does have a time of order in it. The difference in estimated shipping is only one day apart on these two sets. So I called the mint and was told that web site ordering shows the time ordered when the mint writes back to you, but the phone order does not show the time. I asked them if there is not time on the phone orders how do they sort them out? They said the computer knows. Well if the computer knows, the computer should include it in the return mail with the order number! The person at the mint also said they expect shipping at the end of the month. This is sort of funny as the email this morning stated estimated shipping on 11/14/11 for my phone order. To me this is mid month, not the end of month.

 

In the past few days I have read that a lot of you out there are not very happy (including myself) with the mint on many issues, including this limited set and how it was handled. I feel the best way to address your issues is to make a visit, write a letter or make a phone call to your member of the House of Representatives. I would site the problems and even suggest a solution to the problems. The people at the mint jump when a member of Congress makes a call. Make sure you also follow up on your call and give them a call back if they do not get back to you after a few months. The link below will help you find your House Member.

 

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

 

Here is more information on the House subcommittee that over see's the U.S. Mint. Ron Paul who chairs this committee would be your prime contact for a wide range of issues with the mint and the mint policies on how they carry out the laws that Congress has passed. Also check if your House Representative member is on this committee.

 

The Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX, and plays an important role in the semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins hearings at which the Committee receives the testimony of the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (“the Fed,”) about the state of the economy and monetary policy. Additionally, the Subcommittee will provide regular oversight of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to carry out its regular responsibilities and ways that the Fed’s activities become more transparent. Lastly, the Subcommittee will conduct oversight of the activities of the Bureau of the U.S. Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing as they relate to the printing and minting of U.S. currency and coins, and to the Mint programs for producing Congressionally authorized commemorative coins and Congressional gold medals.

 

 

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Good luck. I did not see any of this make the "mainstream" news, so it is unlikely you will get any response other than a form letter from your representative. There are so many dire things facing this nation right now, a few coin collectors/flippers not being able to order a product from the mint is about 1003527th on the to do list.

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From the governments standpoint it was probably a huge success...selling $30million in 4.5 hours.

 

I got the same e-mail today from the mint on my internet order placed at 3:50 about the shipping date moving to the 14th. It made me feel better about my order.

 

 

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Bruce:

 

I hate to tell you, nothing is going to come of your complaint.

 

First, The Fed has nothing to do with the operations of the U.S. Mint. It's the Fed's job to order circulating currency from the BEP and the U.S. Mint. It is the job of the U.S. Mint and the BEP to produce the order for the Fed. Since these are bureaus under the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve is an independent government-sponsored agency, what does that have to do with Chairman Bernanke.

 

The Director of the BEP is Larry Felix. Director Felix is a government professional and not an appointee. Director Felix is well regarded for streamlining the processes at the BEP and positioning them to be successful in case congress eliminates the dollar Federal Reserve Note from circulation.

 

Up until early January, Ed Moy was the appointed Director of the U.S. Mint. Moy, who had no experience running a government agency or a manufacturing operation, was a patronage appointee of George W. Bush. Watchers of the U.S. Mint can cite chapter and verse of similar issues with the ordering and production processes during Moy's tenure. On January 25, 2011, Richard Peterson was appointed as Deputy Director and has been Acting Director while the Director's position remains unfilled.

 

Mr. Peterson is not a political appointee. Mr. Peterson is a member of the Senior Executive Server who was an executive at General Electric and has a manufacturing and supply chain background. Prior to becoming the Deputy Director, Mr. Peterson was Associate Director for Manufacturing. He is a retired U.S. Naval officer, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and holds an MBA from Harvard. In other words, Richard Peterson is well qualified to be the chief executive of the largest manufacturer of coins and medals in the world.

 

If you want to complain to someone that might do something, you may want to start with your member of congress. Its is their job to act on your behalf in matters related to the federal government. Although Ron Paul is the chair of the subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Mint, Dr. Paul is a bit busy at the moment.

 

Since the U.S. Mint is a bureau under the Department of the Treasury and if you feel that there is something that should be investigated, then you should contact the Treasury Office of the Inspector General. You can check out the OIG Hotline page on the Treasury website to find contact information.

 

Good luck!

 

Scott

 

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As I said above contact your House member if you want to complain. Thank you Scott for also repeating this in your posting, but Ron Paul or any Congressman is never too busy to hear from anyone these days. They have staff that handle your calls and get back to them. The people who run the mint as well as the members of the Treasury Department are not elected officals, your member of Congress is and is directly accountable to the voter. For those who sit on the sidlines always remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained. There are enough of us out there to voice are opinions to our Congressman and you can ride the coatails of our effort's if we are successful.

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just checked the mint ,says my order is being processed.i got a confirmation on the day of the sale saying it was on hold.maybe this will help others,but i got my confirmation at 3;56 pm the afternoon they went on sale.(there is hope)

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It was a joke.
I was not replying to you.

 

BTW, call the US Mint order line and check out the greeting regarding the 25th Anniversary Sets which basically states, 100,000 was the limit and that limit has been reached. Better Luck next time.

 

As a side note, to whine to one's congressman because of one's lack of foresight in realizing that these would be tough to order is the epitomy of "special interest" IMO.

 

The US Mint is under NO obligation to produce "collectible" Silver Eagles as was demonstrated by the offerings in 2009 and 2010.

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Backorders seem to have started at 11/10/11. Now they seem to go up one more day everyday. Mine now shows 11/16/11. I did call the mint tho' to verify if I would actuallly get my set and was told yes. :wishluck:

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FYI, I ordered my set at 5:57 PM EST and my accounts reads OPEN and "Order Status: Your order request is in process". I still do not know if I am on the waiting list or not. What I do know is this, when my card is charged then I know I will be recieving the set. Until then my fingers are crossed. As I had stated before in other post "in process means that verification has been done, and now all it takes is for the Mint to see if there are enough sets ready for mailing."

 

Still on backorder ship date 11/17

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1 unit backordered. Expected to ship on 11/17/2011. My order went in at 12:55 mint time but it seemed like 2 hours on the computer watching the evil eye rotate around

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I was seriously disappointed in this event. The 5 per household limit screwed me out of being able to order with any chance of getting 1 set. I just wanted one set. I work during the day and it was not an option to wait at home to order or call. I've been lucky in the past and had days off on events like this but most were one per household limit. At this point... I'm so disgusted after years of buying coins from the mint that I may just forget and end my us mint coin purchasing days. I think I'll stick to my metal detector and some luck on my days off. What a joke..

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This morning I got an email from the mint about my phone ordered set. I ordered this set via the phone on October 27th after 45 minutes of redial from the time the lines opened. So that got my order in at 1245pm eastern time. The email this morning (second one on this order) stated my order was back ordered just like everyone get's (the first time) and just like the one I got on the 27th of October. The email went on to say that the date for the back order was now 11/14/11. I had another set ordered also and ordered it on the website at 6:16pm eastern time and it took. However I never got an e mail on that one so far today, but did on the 27th with an order number. It may come in later in the day, who knows? I went to the mint website and looked at both orders. They are both in there, however the one I ordered on the phone within 45minutes of the opening of the sale has no time in it and the later ordered set via the web does have a time of order in it. The difference in estimated shipping is only one day apart on these two sets. So I called the mint and was told that web site ordering shows the time ordered when the mint writes back to you, but the phone order does not show the time. I asked them if there is not time on the phone orders how do they sort them out? They said the computer knows. Well if the computer knows, the computer should include it in the return mail with the order number! The person at the mint also said they expect shipping at the end of the month. This is sort of funny as the email this morning stated estimated shipping on 11/14/11 for my phone order. To me this is mid month, not the end of month.

 

In the past few days I have read that a lot of you out there are not very happy (including myself) with the mint on many issues, including this limited set and how it was handled. I feel the best way to address your issues is to make a visit, write a letter or make a phone call to your member of the House of Representatives. I would site the problems and even suggest a solution to the problems. The people at the mint jump when a member of Congress makes a call. Make sure you also follow up on your call and give them a call back if they do not get back to you after a few months. The link below will help you find your House Member.

 

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

 

Here is more information on the House subcommittee that over see's the U.S. Mint. Ron Paul who chairs this committee would be your prime contact for a wide range of issues with the mint and the mint policies on how they carry out the laws that Congress has passed. Also check if your House Representative member is on this committee.

 

The Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX, and plays an important role in the semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins hearings at which the Committee receives the testimony of the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (“the Fed,”) about the state of the economy and monetary policy. Additionally, the Subcommittee will provide regular oversight of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to carry out its regular responsibilities and ways that the Fed’s activities become more transparent. Lastly, the Subcommittee will conduct oversight of the activities of the Bureau of the U.S. Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing as they relate to the printing and minting of U.S. currency and coins, and to the Mint programs for producing Congressionally authorized commemorative coins and Congressional gold medals.

 

 

Bruce..You're complaining about how many orders? I wasn't able to order any because most likely the flipper brigade was out in full force with all their family and pet accounts making sure no one else got any coins..

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I think the ship date will move back even further. I got in via phone (approx. 12:45 p.m.) before I could get my order in via the laptop. The lady who took my order stated these will not ship for "at least 30 days from today" (10-27-11). That makes the date late November and it could be even later. I am not sure why they are using an early Nov. date on order specifications. Time will tell. It certainly appears that everyday that goes by the expected ship date gets moved back one day. I would be happy to get my sets before the end of Nov.

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The five set limit reduced the number of orders (if every order was 5) to 20,000 orders give or take a few thousand.

If the limit had been "1 set" per house hold 100,000 orders would have flooded the already under powered web servers. Probably would have sold out but not in 4 1/2 hours. More like 24 hours plus! :cry:

 

 

My friend didn't get one, so I am selling one of my sets to him below secondary market, perhaps $340.00 (for my troubles) ;)

 

 

Hope there no shipping debacle this time

 

 

OP

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My order said on hold for the past few days but today it says in process maybe my luck is about to change,

 

Ebay is pulling all the listings of these sets, the last time I looked there where only 6 sets showing. It was kind of fun clicking to see which one would be pulled

next.

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In the past the mint has kicked back shipping dates when there was a problem with packaging. That's just one possible cause.

 

With all the heat over this set I'm sure the mint is looking really hard at the orders to be sure folks followed the rules. That would also slow the ship dates.

Just some thoughts.

 

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I posted this to give others another avenue to voice their concerns. My problem with the mint is it's procedures and outdated equipment. The people who work there have been very nice to talk to and are helpful, but they too are handicaped by the system that is in place Well today the mint came out with some damage control and addressed in part what has been going on. I got this email today. BTW, I should get one set and MAYBE another at this time. If I get the other it goes to my brother for his birthday as he missed out also. Sorry you missed out.

 

Dear United States Mint Customer:

 

We are fully aware of the difficulties many customers encountered last week with the release of the American Eagle 25th Anniversary Set. We would like you to know that we have undertaken an aggressive review of how we brought the product to market so we can better serve all of our customers in the future. Peterson, the Deputy Director of the United States Mint, has also directed that the bureau review all future product offerings to ensure that we apply to them the lessons we learned from the marketing of the American Eagle 25th Anniversary Set.

 

One of the principal sources of frustration was our web and phone order-taking system. As many of you know, we are in the process of updating our order management system. Our current system is very outdated and we recognize that it does not serve our customers well. Accordingly, we recently selected a contractor that will develop and implement our new system—one that will be modern and comparable to other top-rated retail Web sites. Unfortunately, this transition will take some time; we are anticipating that the new system will be in place by fall 2012.

 

Our aim is to work earnestly to ensure that the inconvenience and frustration that our regular customers may have encountered last week is mitigated in 2012 as we re-examine our product launch strategies and systems. We value our relationship with you and are committed to serving you professionally and responsively. You deserve no less!

 

The United States Mint

 

 

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The only fair way to sell 100,000 coins to 500,000 buyers is a pre offer to loyal member customers followed by a lottery for the remaining sets.

This rewards long standing customers of the US Mint, and curtails the proxy buyer system that is really the source of unfairness.

 

Members would receive a intent to purchase request form that would have to submitted within a specific period of time.

All other interested buyers would submit a request that generates a unique ID. A computer program would randomly select ID numbers and those customers would be authorized a purchase opportunity.

There are also dozens of clever marketing opportunities to promote coin collecting and US mint products with this system.

 

Here's to American Silver Eagle success!

 

OP

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The only fair way to sell 100,000 coins to 500,000 buyers is a pre offer to loyal member customers followed by a lottery for the remaining sets.

This rewards long standing customers of the US Mint, and curtails the proxy buyer system that is really the source of unfairness.

 

Members would receive a intent to purchase request form that would have to submitted within a specific period of time.

All other interested buyers would submit a request that generates a unique ID. A computer program would randomly select ID numbers and those customers would be authorized a purchase opportunity.

There are also dozens of clever marketing opportunities to promote coin collecting and US mint products with this system.

 

Here's to American Silver Eagle success!

 

OP

 

I think you're onto something there but then the inevitable arguments over what constitutes "loyal member" would arise. 1 order in the last 5 years? 10 orders in the last year?

 

I've been ordering from the mint since the 1980's but I don't buy a lot. Just a few gold commems here and there that catch my eye and some American Eagle products. Am I a loyal member?

 

As I said, you have a good idea that with some tweaking could work. Will anyone listen is the real question.

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I posted this to give others another avenue to voice their concerns. My problem with the mint is it's procedures and outdated equipment. The people who work there have been very nice to talk to and are helpful, but they too are handicaped by the system that is in place Well today the mint came out with some damage control and addressed in part what has been going on. I got this email today. BTW, I should get one set and MAYBE another at this time. If I get the other it goes to my brother for his birthday as he missed out also. Sorry you missed out.

 

Dear United States Mint Customer:

 

We are fully aware of the difficulties many customers encountered last week with the release of the American Eagle 25th Anniversary Set. We would like you to know that we have undertaken an aggressive review of how we brought the product to market so we can better serve all of our customers in the future. Peterson, the Deputy Director of the United States Mint, has also directed that the bureau review all future product offerings to ensure that we apply to them the lessons we learned from the marketing of the American Eagle 25th Anniversary Set.

 

One of the principal sources of frustration was our web and phone order-taking system. As many of you know, we are in the process of updating our order management system. Our current system is very outdated and we recognize that it does not serve our customers well. Accordingly, we recently selected a contractor that will develop and implement our new system—one that will be modern and comparable to other top-rated retail Web sites. Unfortunately, this transition will take some time; we are anticipating that the new system will be in place by fall 2012.

 

Our aim is to work earnestly to ensure that the inconvenience and frustration that our regular customers may have encountered last week is mitigated in 2012 as we re-examine our product launch strategies and systems. We value our relationship with you and are committed to serving you professionally and responsively. You deserve no less!

 

The United States Mint

 

 

 

Same old B/S they spew out every time there is a problem, yet the problem always is there. Typical government Bureaucracy at it's best!

 

MM

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The mint only made 100,000 sets. They would have sold out on Day 1, regardless of the per-order set limit.

 

This isn't my first Mint Rodeo.. I've bought hot items before that had a limit of one per househould I seriously disagree they would have sold out just as fast. This is the first time in years I was not able to get a set of something considered a hot buy. Look at all the pre-sales on ebay.. I'd be willing to bet 95% of the sellers are dealers that got family, friends and pets to order.

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