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The US Mint Loyalty Program and free subscription shipping savings...

BackroadJunkieBackroadJunkie Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

I'm doing some end-of-year backups, and had an hour to waste, so I was going through my mail deleting out cruft. I came across some spam from the Mint they sent out a couple weeks ago about the loyalty program, to wit:

With the holiday season in full swing, we want to remind you to take advantage of your 2018 Loyalty Perks before they run out at the end of the year. We’re pleased that members like you have saved an average of $17.47 on shipping this year. Take advantage of your free budget shipping benefit for last-minute gifts while you can!

(If you don't know, the Loyalty Program provides free shipping on all your orders past the third during a calendar year. So on Jan 1, everyone's counter resets to zero orders for the year.)

Combine that with Kudbegud's current Smartpost thread, I was curious. I added it up.

I maintain two accounts with the mint. One account only has a couple of subscriptions, and that's only to keep a credit card active so the bank doesn't silently drop the account. (It's the card I use for questionable and/or overseas purchases, and I don't do as much of that as I used to. And they both go to the same address, so I can't use it to get around HHL's. Thought I'd throw that in there. :smiley: )

I'm including subscriptions here, because this year subs got free shipping, and a sub counts as an order.

In total, I placed 20 orders with the Mint. 10 were normal orders and 10 were subscriptions. Because subs got free shipping, I subscribed to a couple of things I never would have otherwise. The Kennedy roll set and the silver proof set were both subbed to and issued before my next normal order, so I ended up paying $4.95 shipping for the entire year, for both accounts.

19 of those orders had free shipping, so I "saved" $89.55. $49.95 from the subscriptions, $39.60 from normal orders.

IRL, my "savings" wasn't really $89.55. As I said, I subscribed to things I never would have if shipping wasn't free. (I would normally just wait to the end of the year, put them all in a single order during Black Friday free shipping. :D ) The loyalty program also caused me to do things like order the Silver RP set one and two at a time.

So I figure between the Subs and Loyalty Program, it actually saved me around $60. The Loyalty program saved me probably double the $17.47 of the average consumer. Overall, that's like a couple of bottles of good whiskey, or one really decent bottle of whiskey. (I only add that because there's a bottle of Knob Creek in my fridge that's calling my name... :wink: )

Comments

  • U1chicagoU1chicago Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting info! Thanks for sharing!

    I wonder if this program helped the mint (more orders) or hurt (people that used it would still have bought the same items and some-like you mentioned :D -used it to make extra individual orders instead of combining items into one order)?

  • AkbeezAkbeez Posts: 2,689 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks BJ for the reminder. Here's a list of the potential subscriptions (may have missed a few):

    America the Beautiful Quarters® Program
    American Eagle Coins
    Annual Mint Sets
    Kennedy Half Dollars
    Native American $1 Coins
    Uncirculated Coin Set Enrollment
    American Eagle Silver One Ounce Uncirculated Coin Enrollment
    America the Beautiful Uncirculated Five Ounce Silver Coin Enrollment
    America the Beautiful Quarters Uncirculated Coin Set Enrollment

    Refs: MCM,Fivecents,Julio,Robman,Endzone,Coiny,Agentjim007,Musky1011,holeinone1972,Tdec1000,Type2,bumanchu, Metalsman,Wondercoin,Pitboss,Tomohawk,carew4me,segoja,thebigeng,jlc_coin,mbogoman,sportsmod,dragon,tychojoe,Schmitz7,claychaser,and many OTHERS

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