Bowing to consumer concerns about the excessive premiums being charged for the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, the United States Mint will delay the launch of the program. No orders placed by the primary distributors have been confirmed, while the Mint attempts to determine the appropriate course of action to best serve customers.
The new silver bullion program was expected to launch today. The coins would feature the designs of the America the Beautiful Quarters, stuck in 5 ounces of .999 fine silver. An extremely limited mintage of 33,000 units for each of the five different designs was announced by the Mint on December 1, 2010.
Coins would be sold by the United States Mint to their small group of primary distributors who are responsible for distributing the coins to the broader market. The cost of these coins to the distributors was set at a modest $9.75 premium per coin above the market value of the silver.
In response to the limited number of coins available and the high customer demand, at least one primary distributor began taking orders for the coins at a price of about $130 per coin above the market value of silver. Complete sets of the five designs were priced at $1,395. All 1,000 sets made available at this price sold out in less than 24 hours. Other bullion retailers and secondary market sources quickly began pricing the coins at even higher premiums. This had all taken place prior to the December 6, 2010 launch date for the program.
The United States Mint has just released the following statement about the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins situation:
The United States Mint is aware of reports of concern by many consumers about the high prices and premiums being charged in the market for the newly released America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins. We are evaluating these reports and collecting information in order to assess the appropriate course of action to make certain that our customers are best served in the distribution of the coins, and to ensure the widest possible availability, accessibility and affordability of these coins.
Earlier today, the US Mint sent the following memo to primary distributors:
The United States Mint issued a press release on December 1, 2010, announcing the December 6, 2010, availability of the 2010 America the Beautiful Ounce Silver Bullion Coins through the established network of Authorized Purchasers who, in turn, would make them available on the secondary market. Due to the limited availability of the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin coins, public anticipation has been extremely strong. Since the press release was issued, the United States Mint has received numerous calls and inquiries from the public regarding premiums being charged for these coins. As a result, we are delaying the launch of this program. No America the Beautiful Ounce Silver Bullion Coins orders will be confirmed today.
I think this is entirely appropriate. My kudos to the Mint for taking action right away and ensuring that the BULLION is widely distributed, available to small private COLLECTORS, and not become a profit making hockey puck to be batted around to the highest bidders. THANK YOU KINDLY US MINT!!!
Good for the mint! They purposely are charging a MODEST premium so that collectors can get these coins, and the distributors are moving the price up to a ridiculous level where they are making WAY too much money for the situation.
I hope the mint decides to sell them on a “limit 1 per person or address” basis on their regular site. They will sell them out, at the RIGHT price, and then people can BUY these things!
Hooray for the mint on this one!!
I totally agree with the previous comments. I only began collecting silver eagles 2 years ago and I have paid a fine premium for every coin in my collection. Today, I ponied-up a credit card # for $1,500.00 for this 5-coin set. Didn’t like it one bit and quite honestly, couldn’t afford it. Greed on my part? Perhaps. On the other hand, the premiums I have paid for MS70 2006 silver anniversary eagles, etc., made these “feel” like a good deal, even at a ridiculously high price! I, too, am pleased that the mint stepped-in on this one, even if I don’t get my coins.
The Mint’s action may be appropriate, but what does this action do to ensure that the bullion is widely distributed? If the Mint forces the main distributors to offer them to the public at a much lower premium then that will give speculators the opportunity to buy even more of them since they would then know they can mark them up enough to make the short term investment worthwhile. Nothing has been resolved yet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about these premiums and I think this fiasco is going to create a lot of negative goodwill for APMEX. That’s not good for a company that operates in an industry where trust is earned, not automatically extended.
Even though I wasn’t happy about the premium, I wanted these coins so I sucked it up and still ordered two sets. What happens to my order now… does it get cancelled? Do I have to forfeit my order and place an order in a lottery system even though I was willing to pay a premium?…. What really makes me mad is that me as a taxpayer, and therefore an owner of the Mint via my tax dollars, produced these coins and sold them to a company for a modest premium, and then that company sells them back to me for an outrageous markup. They are going to sell for a premium due to the demand, but that premium belongs in the public coffers.
The flip side though is that if the Mint had charged a high premium, then they’d be the ones looking like the bad guy. This is a tough situation for the Mint and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Someone’s going to look ugly when all is said and done. I do think a household limit is a solution but how do you enforce that when the Mint is not doing the direct distribution? Most of the main distributors re-distribute them to other dealers.
How bout placing the blame for this whole mess where it belongs…The US Mint..
They had TONS of time to produce more than 33,000 of each unit, THEY by their ineptness insured a modern rarity….they really put the Primary Distributors in a bind by the small allotments.
How many customers of the Primary Distributors would be disappointed?
The customers of the Primary Dealers are brick and mortar coin dealers who make it possible for many Mint products to make it to the mainstream buyer.
If they are meant for the average collector,
Sell them directly…for a moderate premium
and shipping..just do not make a small amount and everyone cries because of opportunity and price.
Just produce another 100,000 of each 2010 issues and allow orders of 1 set per customer, thru the mint website..how hard is that to figure out? Woof!!
Hooray for the US Mint! I also was disgusted at how the APs were gouging the consumers, and as a result of this, I will NEVER buy from APMEX now or in the future. Several other of the APs were also charging ridiculous premiums, likely at APMEX’s setting the bar so high last Friday. There were a few APs that indicated they would be selling at more reasonable levels, but really only 2 or 3 that I spoke to.
My two cents on a fair distribution? (1) Have the Mint either handle the sales themselves and not sell through the APs for the bullion as well as the numismatic versions, or (2) instruct the APs to limit one per household and to charge a similar markup to what they are charging on Silver and/or Gold Bullion Eagles and Buffaloes. That should be about 10% of the release price, which is a very fair return for investing their funds (which are really our funds as we have to pay at the time of order) for less than one week! In fact, I’d even go as far to allow a markup of double what they are charging on the Silver and/or Gold Bullion coins.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a free market – but today’s actions were nowhere at all fair or reasonable when only ten vendors across the country are able to get their hands on these and then gouge the rest of us for what has clearly generated a great deal of interest across the country.
Dewey – I think you are forgetting the production problems involved in getting this first year’s coins/pucks to the market – the Mint had to buy a special Graebner press, find a vendor to supply 5 ounce blanks, and then had a host of production issues to meet the specifications under the law.
They didn’t even start production until late September, and while I am sure they wanted to produce more, by law they cannot strike any after Dec 31. Add the 33,000 bullion of each coin to the 27,000 numismatic/collector version, and you get 300,000 coins made in less than three months by a single press. Not a shock that there won’t be many of these available in this first year of issue. I just hope I am able to buy one set for myself.
Trust me, the Mint would not have even taken notice, nevertheless any action if it were not for those that demanded accountability from them for a situation that could only be defined as government sanctioned ” Price Fixing ” . This is the worst mint scandal since 1782.
Here’s a no win situation for the mint.
1. Sell a rare coin for low premium to dealers, who will mark it up to a reasonable premium to sell to collectors or investors.
Collectors can then go on Ebay and sell for extremely high premium since we already know this is a rare coin.
2. Sell a rare coin for low premium directly to collectors by lottery. Collectors get an even better deal on the coin and since market price is determined by auction price in the coin industry, the number of collectors attempting to get these coins goes up exponentially.
So, if you are lucky enough to get you hands on one of these sets of coins, just be happy and hold on to them. In the end, you will make a lot of money if you sell, and be happy to have them if you are among the few lucky enough to get them.
When the mint came out with the Lincoln coin and cronicles set this was limited production and offered through the mint. What makes these 5 ounce coins in their limited mintage any different than the Lincoln coin and cronicles. I might add that the Lincoln coin and cronicles set had a limit of 1 per household. Now, how hard is this to figure out. The public doesn’t need a middle man, primary distributor, or authorized purchasers to make purchases for them. All the public needs– is to pick up the phone and place the order with the US Mint. Coins are gone—oh well.
Easy sollution: sell the coins at the 50 parks and sit back and watch as tourism increases and people who really want the coins walk away happy.
I could never understand why anyone would buy anything from Apmex. I can get better deals on the bay or from my local coin shop.
Tough one here with the best solution being to make more available but that would require an act of Congress, literally!
Not sure why the Mint is producing both “bullion” versions AND “Numismatic” versions if the available planchets are so low in numbers. Strange.
Lastly, give APMEX a break. They could have put the set up for considerably more and it still would have sold out in a day. And 42 points of margin is not gouging (compare that to Intel’s last quarter.) I’ve bought and sold many times through APMEX and I always pay the lowest premiums when buying and I receive the highest premiums when selling, and their service, communications, and packaging are excellent. Ebay for precious metal purchasing… bungie jumping anyone?
There should be no privileged buyers in the first. If one person is allowed to buy a certain coin directly from the Mint then every person should be allowed to buy the same coin directly from the Mint.
Actually in the FIRST place, the Mint should simply MAKE ENOUGH TO SATISFY PUBLIC DEMAND, something they have been failing to do in their precious metal coins for YEARS.
Inscription above the Yellowstone arch: “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
Statistically, bungee jumping is safer than driving to the grocery store, so I’ll stick with ebay.
Anyone who tracks the Silver market would know that this is an excuse. The Silver is already in a shortage and China just pulled back the reigns on their exports…no Silver = no coins!
HERES A GOOD ONE,WENT TO THE MINT SITE TO DELEATE SOME OF MY SUBSCRIPTIONS AND I CAN’T GET IN TO MY ACCOUNT ????
I WONDER WY THAT IS ???
ANYWAY SINCE WHEN DOSE THE MINT SELL THE CHEAPER VERSION OF ANY COIN THEY SELL,THEY REALY CREATED A MESS THIS TIME.
AND TO THE NUT’S THAT THINK THE PRICE IS OK MAKE SURE YOU SEND THE GOVERMENT MORE TAX MONEY THIS YEAR,THEY NEED IT.
How do you “widely” distribute 33,000 units?
Come on whiners if you don’t like the price buy something else. Nobody is twisting your arm to buy these coins, and does it really hurt that bad to see someone else make a buck. This is not the only place this goes on and if you feel that passionate about correcting the price of something look at the prescription costs that a much, much larger population has to deal with then you will really be doing something. Quit worrying about a few coins and move on.It seems like a waste of time for the mint to deal with a few people who want to buy something they can’t afford anyway
Come on whiners if you don’t like the price buy something else. Nobody is twisting your arm to buy these coins, and does it really hurt that bad to see someone else make a buck. This is not the only place this goes on and if you feel that passionate about correcting the price of something look at the prescription costs that a much, much larger population has to deal with then you will really be doing something. Quit worrying about a few coins and move on.It seems like a waste of time for the mint to deal with a few people who want to buy something they can’t afford anyway
The program from the get-go was extremely flawed:
1) Congressmen setting physical characteristics for a numismatic object that had never been produced before.
2) The mint not able to get correcting language into law that would have permitted them to produce a more realizable product (e.g. 2.5 inch diameter)
3) requirements to treat this numismatic product as if it were bullion (that would require millions available to make it a true commodity) with distribution schemes restricted (so would the distributors make the big bucks or the coin dealers they feed?)
4) news reports regarding 100k per design being produced – with last minute announcements of 33k actually available (creating an even more limited target)
—-
Congress/Mint should clean this up:
A) permit the Mint to produce proper examples (esp. market size for 5oz unit) into 2011 to avoid a rarity
B) have the mint treat this as a numismatic product and not a bullion product
i) sell through US Mint website
ii) sell at numismatic premium (a bit more than $9.75 per item)
iii) utilize limits/lottery if production can not meet reasonable demand
C) Frankly – this is a odd product – maybe just cancel the whole thing and let private mints produce these silly items and have the mint produce true coinage with true related numismatic items.
I was hoping that while everyone is at the same site, and is all hyper anyway! I might ask a question? A number of years ago I bought 3 one pound Silver proof bullion coins. They are encased in plastic and come in a purple velveteen clamshell case. Thanks! I’m also on Facebook!
Whoever wrote that memo should have his pants pulled down, and spanked in public by a dozen English teachers, with a CNN news crew standing by..
“The United States Mint issued a press release on December 1, 2010, announcing the December 6, 2010, availability of the 2010 America the Beautiful Ounce Silver Bullion Coins through the established network of Authorized Purchasers who, in turn, would make them available on the secondary market. Due to the limited availability of the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin coins, public anticipation has been extremely strong. Since the press release was issued, the United States Mint has received numerous calls and inquiries from the public regarding premiums being charged for these coins. As a result, we are delaying the launch of this program. No America the Beautiful Ounce Silver Bullion Coins orders will be confirmed today.”
Notice any grammatical screw-ups?
“Bullion Coin coins”
And then TWICE in the same “memo”, (I wonder who leaked it), they describe these manhole covers as “Ounce Silver Bullion Coins”, leaving out the word “five” in front of the word “Ounce”.
I wonder what teenager, who flunked third grade English, wrote that masterpiece.
And then there’s the little matter of these jokers like APMEX charging more than TRIPLE what these bathtub stoppers cost them: $169.75 each, and PRE-selling them ONLY in full sets for, what, $1500.00? And someone at the Mint wakes up from his nap, finds out what’s going on, they get a bajillion angry phone calls complaining about this rampant price gouging, and then pull the plug on the whole thing before shipping a single salad dish to any of the “Network of Authorized Purchasers.”
Do you folks really think people were pushing each other out of the way to buy these coins (in FULL sets) at APMEX’s outrageous price to sock them away? Or do you suppose they bought them to flip them on eBay?
Well, the joke’s not only on APMEX and their ilk, but on the people whose plastic got hit for something the supplier isn’t even going to GET, until the Mint decides what to do to straighten out this gargantuan mess..
Just wait a few weeks for silver to jump to $50 with the Asian Billionaires fighting with the National banksters and offer them on the MINT site for say $2,500 for the five and the fools will buy them…
“For the moment, the Mint is perceived as aiding and abetting secondary market price gouging. It is a position it does not want to be in and we all now wait to see what steps it will take to change this.” – Dave Harper, Editor, Numismaatic News, 07 December, 2010..
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/inside_numis.jsp?page=BlogEntry&BlogEntryId=10561
THIS MORNING I EMAILED APMEX TO TELL THEM HOW UNHAPPY I WAS AND THIS AFTER NOON I GET A BIG CAN OF POPCORN FROM THEM,I GOT A CAN OF POPCORN FROM THEM ACOUPLE YEARS AGO WHEN I BOUGHT A LOT FROM THEM.THIS YEAR I DID’NT BUY VERY MUCH BUT THEY STILL SENT THE POPCORN,WHAT DID YOU EVER GET FROM EBAY OR ANY OTHER COIN DEALER ??
APMEX IS GETTING THE BAD WRAP BECAUSE THEY CAME OUT WITH THE FIRST PRICE,WHAT ABOUT THE OUTFIT THAT CHARGED 1,800.00 ??
TO THE GUY THAT SAY’S HE CAN GET BETTER DEALS ON EBAY,I BEEN THERE DONE THAT, 99.8% OF THE TIME APMEX IS CHEAPER ON MOST THINGS NOT ALL.
THERE ARE TOO MANY NUT’S ON EBAY THAT WILL PAY ANYTHING TO GET MOST COINS,THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT’S WORTH.
AND TRY ONE OF THEM GOLD AND SILVER NUTS SELLING ON TV, ONE oz.SILVER EAGLES ARE 7.00 MORE EACH THAN APMEX.
APMEX IS THE GREATEST PLACE TO BUY MOST BULLION.
I KNOW THE SPELLING CRITIC WILL NOT LIKE MY CAPS,TUFF.
If silver is so hard to come by why is the mintage for the Silver proof already over 700,000. The reason is because the mint is charging a premium of roughly $15 per ounce and making a bundle. They could have cut back on the proof mintage and minted 50,000 of the American Beautiful Quarter instead of 33,000 which would have helped. Common sense says the demand with mintage of 33,000 is going to be high. They are over minting the proof beacause of greed which hurts the future value of this coin. I did purchase a set of quarters for $1,750 and was glad to do so. One reason I collect coins is to hopefully see the vaule increase. Most items lately are over minted which means they have no future, just another common date. I will be upset if I do not get what I ordered. Everone had the same opportunity to resarch the web and purchase these coins. Jerry
I found one bullion dealer that had all 5 one ounce coins advertised for sale under $1000, but all other bullion dealers I found were attempting to not only gouge, but were trying to sell between $1400 and $2000! I can’t say all bullion dealers because I found one that had them listed for sale, (All five 5 ounce coins for just under $1000) so there was at least one of them that was selling them at bullion prices plus a small premium.
If you plan to try and buy, check around, and hopefully we can all buy them for under the $1000 pricetag set by the honest dealer. If you miss out, the uncirculated version from the US Mint should be reasonable. Right now, silver spot looks to be $28.60, and times 5 ounces would be $143.00 each. If you allow the mint $25 premuim, and the bullion dealer a $25, it would come to $965 for the set of all five. Seems fair to me.
I ordered the set and now it will not arrive because the mint decided I paid too much? This is what they do folks. Just mint the coins and let me make a little… they can not decide how much I shoud make. The last I heard this was a free market capitalist economy.
If the US Mint wants to get the 5 oz. coins widely distributed, why don’t they sell them direct to the public? The coin dealers have plenty of other areas in the coin business to make their money. When I hear coin dealers talking at a coin show about how much they made off of a grieving widow who doesn’t know how much her husbands coin collection is worth, it makes me sick. How about selling all of the US Mint coins to the common man so that he doesn’t get gouged by our friendly coin dealer.
I find it fascinating that Congress and the Director of the Mint moved forward to produce these 5oz silver “coins.” What happened to the 2009 Silver Eagle Proof? Insufficient supply of 90% silver planchets! …and that was at $17 silver! Now we are at $30 silver and debating the issue of coins requiring 1,650,000 ounces of the stuff? …and without an equitable means of distribution (meeting first buyer demand at a fixed starting point)? I could care less about the secondary market as market forces will determine prices. Primary distribution should not be made on a speculative basis. A lottery will not satisfy this prerequisite.
The Mint and Congress have bigger fish to fry than 5oz silver coins. Why are they producing hundreds of millions of $1 coins which defy distribution and common usage? Force these into usage with the termination of production of $1.00 bills. (yeah, I hear the bitching from the vending industry – you should have anticipated this in 1979) And as for the penny, it is an anachronism. Time to say goodbye to the cent as well. With all the talk about the US getting its financial house in order, there is plenty of “low hanging fruit” waiting to be picked.
Not enough silver planchets to make the 2009 American Eagle Silver Proof Coin, not enough silver planchets to make the 2010 American Eagle Silver Uncirculated Coin (W). However the decision, initally, to make ATB 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins was given the authorization to proceed, then stopped! Where did the mint find enough silver to produce the 5 oz. coin?
Nearly every comment favoring the affordability to the general public, was talking about a 5 coin set. I must be a poor man, because all I can afford is one of these coins, no matter what the premium. Therefore, if these coins are only offered in sets, it excludes most of the people in my corner of the world. It sure looks like I won’t be able to own even one of these coins. And yet life goes on. I favor cutting out the middle man and selling directly on a first come basis.
it should be illegal to sell minted coins to dealers only who in turn make a killer markup. it who u grease that make the rules.
Let the few Authorized Purchasers aquire a certain amount of the coins and sell them. The US Mint should sell the rest at the same time and only charge the 10 percent mark up and donate it to the National parks. Then we’ll see who gains at sales. I’ll bet the Authorized Purchasers will be stuck with the 5 oz’ers because of what they have attempted.
Jeffrey,
You’re idea is the best one I’ve heard during this whole fiasco. I never have understood why the U.S. Mint has to sell the bullion through the 11 AP’s. Most of what they sell goes through the mail to the average “man on the street” collector. Let the mint make the mark up by selling to the collector and then use the profit for the National Parks or some other legitimate cause that we all can benefit from.
As far as those who say the mint sells bullion to the AP’s because it’s law, I say,change the law in favor of the mass’.
I found out a long time ago that if people want resolution you need to speak your mind. The AP’s that are charging inflated prices need to be embarassed to the point that they will think twice about doing this type of business ever again. These AP’s must know that once they have been exposed by bad dealings, that word will spread and no one will purchase from them again. That is the way I feel.
I think the US Mint did the right thing so far, halting the program – The ONLY FAIR way to issue these once in a lifetime opportunity – would be to have a lottery, announce it widely – give a 30 to 60 day period to sign up – and have a TOTALLY RANDOM drawing – the problem arises with the “SERIES” of these, and the affordability to purchase the entire series as released but they can work that out – you need to enter to purchase the entire series, and if you can’t when each of the series is released, then it goes to someone else – a secondary draw of enough names to randomly select for a “one time” purchase of the series – if it’s available – no guarantees if your name ends up in that pool – but there has to be a fair way to that every coin collector has the same opportunity to purchase – by setting it up for DISTRIBUTORS to get these, and choose their own market price a CONSTITUTIONAL CRIME – And, I for one will start a Class Action Lawsuit and will have no problem getting 10s of thousands of other US COIN COLLECTORS that were not given the fair opportunity to purchase one, or more of these RARE COINS – ’nuff-said
By Law, these and any coins need to be made available to the public, and the law doesn’t mention purchasing coins through a CROOKED DISTRIBUTOR – AT ANY PRICE THEY CHOOSE –
Even if the Mint was to say, OK – give to the distributors, but we control the price – unless you are on the distributors fav list, you couldn’t get one if you stood in line from now until next Christmas…. they would be sold o who they choose to sell to – and get the extra $$$$$ under the table –
SO CHEERS FOR THE MINT – NOW FINISH THE PROCESS SO IT’S FAIR TO EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO PLAY!
“Let the few Authorized Purchasers aquire a certain amount of the coins and sell them. The US Mint should sell the rest at the same time and only charge the 10 percent mark up and donate it to the National parks. Then we’ll see who gains at sales. I’ll bet the Authorized Purchasers will be stuck with the 5 oz’ers because of what they have attempted.”
I don’t think so, you’re talking about chump change to the players out there – these coins, if you can call the coins will explode in value because of the first time minting such a large coin, the limited mintage – and the amount of people that would love to own one, or more. Stick a W on them, and sell to the public – shoot, stick 5 W’s on them… but still, sell them to the public, or a lot of young coin collectors will find another hobby – old ones too, me for one!
HR, It’s time for you to stop playing on pops ‘puter… your oatmeal is getting cold, come on to the table, I’ve got your bib here nice and clean….
Yea, they took your money for a product they don’t and might not ge for your – on top of the huge markup, they get a free loan!
HAHAHAHA
HR… come on son, oatmeal time!
The authorized purchasers have stopped selling since the Mint weighed in and are now just holding the coins. They will not even take questions. I thought a distributor was supposed to distribute. Most authorized purchaser websites state they are determining how to comply with the Mint’s directions. That is odd – the instructions are very straightforward. Might they be trying to figure out how to get around the instructions? Regardless, as with anything related to the Mint citizens will pay through the nose. It was interesting that the Home Shopping Network had 120 sets of the 5 oz silver coins for sale on the evening of January 5th (for $5000 a set).
I called the Mint and was told if I wanted to complain to call (202) 354-7500. There was a recording but you could leave a message.
The delay did not work. Dealers still obtained hundreds of orders by using different physical addresses (friends, family, etc). Five coin sets that cost the dealers $850 are still selling for over $2,000 with many individual coins selling at over $600.
The distributers are pirhanas. You are all collectors. Why wouldn’t you buy all the silver and gold you could to invest in and if it doesn’t sell, who cares, you still have an investment.
Now look at the bullion of gold and silver that the mint cannot produce because of ‘public demand?’ I don’t think that the public is demanding it as much as the AP’s are!!
How is it possible to buy ‘MONSTER BOXES’ of any year produced silver coins, or Pallets of silver coins??
There is not that much public demand!
One of the United States Mint’s authorized purchasers (CNT) finally put its 2010 America the Beautiful 5 oz silver coins on sale today (March 8, 2011). A buyer was required to call a toll free number between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. [EST] in order to purchase the coins. My buddy and I called the number for the complete 2 hour period. We were on separate telephone lines and averaged about 6 calls per minute with redial buttons. This amounts to 4 man hours of calling and a total of 1440 telephone calls. We never got through.
This is the process the United States Mint has allowed for the distribution these coins. These authorized purchasers are under the auspices of the Mint. This is a ridiculous process and a prime example of the inefficiency of the United States government. Who ever devised this process should lose their job (and let’s not forget our congressmen). And to think, the government is now in control of healthcare – if that does not scare you, then you don’t have a brain.
if the Govt. has 6 pages of Democrat party healthcare laws it’s = to 1000 pages of Rules and Regulations. This product might be an indicator of what the “gubment” is capable of screwing up.
Does anyone know who the “distributors” are, and how they came to be distibutors? Did they have to submit government bids for the positions? Or are they someone’s buddies in government? They sure are trying to fleece customers.
Why can’t we buy directly from the mint, likt Treasury Direct. After all, they have a website and a shopping cart. I hope they are sincere in ‘looking into it.’
Companies apply to become authorized purchasers. They must meet certain financial and professional criteria.
In this case, the authorizing legislation passed by Congress, specifically directs the coins to be sold via the US Mint’s authorized purchaser network. More broadly, the US Mint believes it is more efficient and cost effective to sell bullion in bulk quantities to 11 primary distributors, rather than selling to thousands or millions of individuals.