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OK - Now you're the Mint Director - *Jeff Spouse Related*
2bucks
Posts: 636 ✭✭✭
Put yourself in the same situation as presented with the Jefferson Spouse. You just took over as director and it's your ~ss now. What exactly would you do to solve the problem with the selling/distribution processes?
I'm still thinking...
I'm still thinking...
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I increase mintage each release by 2,500 per option until they fail to sell out and then I begin to regress by 2,500 until the end of the program.
<< <i>Put yourself in the same situation as presented with the Jefferson Spouse. You just took over as director and it's your ~ss now. What exactly would you do to solve the problem with distribution?
I'm still thinking... >>
That's one smart penguin.....sheeesh!!!!!!!!
Collectors would get the pieces then. Flippers (and I am one) be damned. Collectors should come first.
I would also keep the order limit small (probably 2 of each type per household) and if I caught abusers (same CC number multiple times, names/address, however they do it, I would cancel all orders. Whining will not help the cause.
I would state such on the webpage, and have the sales rep state such as well.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Added today listed Gold $673.00
(+8.00)
08-31 10:43 AM PST
The pair equals one ounce and cost $840.90
<< <i>Lotto >>
This was the first thought I had. The BEP does lottery's from time to time.
<< <i>What problem? They sold what they wanted in about two hours. And last I checked it was for a nice profit. >>
What Problem?? Unless you're a serious collector/flipper/etc, you had little chance of getting one of these.
<< <i><< What problem? They sold what they wanted in about two hours. And last I checked it was for a nice profit. >> >>
<< <i>What Problem?? Unless you're a serious collector/flipper/etc, you had little chance of getting one of these. >>
And pray tell who else is going to spend $400+ on a coin.
And why do you care what I am running from where. The fire wall is hard to get theough.
Offer the wooden chest to hold all the First Spouse coins (this was previously offered with the now cancelled subscription). This will encourage serious collectors to complete the series.
Open the subscription for future coins with a limit of 1 coin per option and a limit of half the total mintage for a week. If the subscription sales are oversubscribed, then randomly pick the winning subscriptions. This would be completed a week prior to the open ordering of coins so that customers will know if they will have a subscribed order. Successful subscribers will be entered for the next coin with the same process repeated for future coins.
Offer the remaining coins through the website and phone with a limit of 1 coin per option for two days. Then open it to unlimited orders from all, including dealers for bulk sales.
Fix the website so that it can process more orders on the ordering date. Increase the call center sales reps.
Identify duplicate orders and cancel all the orders for those ordering more than the maximum.
Analyze the sales and increase/decrease mintage accordingly to the response.
That's about all that I can think of.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
don't be fooled by your IP identifying. It looks like our corporated computer security is performing as it should. Not even close... though it was a little scary at first.
you'll kill the goose
so you just play along
<< <i>One pair of coins per IP address. I don't think 63 different people actually use the same computer........
The problem with that is that places that have routers or proxy servers all appear to have the same ip address. So if you had two people both working at the same company order coins, it would look like both orders came from the same ip address. The same at any large institution (like a college) or even if you had two people at the same wireless hot spot ordering coins.
The real danger there is that should two people at the same ip address (which could easily happen at a large company) order coins, then they could both get them cancelled.
-Fuzz
To your question, if I were in a position at the mint such as you've suggested, I would do my utmost to increase the capacity of the website so the process runs smoother for the consumer--regardless of whether they're a collector or flipper. As is, whenever the mint comes with a new product that's got solid demand, the system breaks down and becomes very frustrating to use. As others have suggested, they should be better staffed to handle the phone orders as well. It costs money to build capacity and hire more workers, but clearly needed.
As far as distribution...here's a novel idea that I'd love to see them try. Why not mint the coins ahead of time so they're all ready to ship on the same date or same timeframe, it's not as if Fed Ex, UPS USPS, and the other carriers couldn't handle the load. They do it in other industries every day. As is the uncertainty created by their system with delivery dates skipping around is aweful.
<< <i>What problem? They sold what they wanted in about two hours. And last I checked it was for a nice profit.
Added today listed Gold $673.00
(+8.00)
08-31 10:43 AM PST
The pair equals one ounce and cost $840.90 >>
CHA CHING!
Fred, Las Vegas, NV
The problem with that is that places that have routers or proxy servers all appear to have the same ip address. So if you had two people both working at the same company order coins, it would look like both orders came from the same ip address. The same at any large institution (like a college) or even if you had two people at the same wireless hot spot ordering coins.
The real danger there is that should two people at the same ip address (which could easily happen at a large company) order coins, then they could both get them cancelled.
**********************
Maybe they could come up with some kind of unique tracking cookie that would only let you complete the process once. Of course that won't stop others from ordering for you. I guess the best way is to have lots of friends and relatives.
MY COINS FOR SALE AT https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/other/bajjerfans-coins-sale/3876
For each of the coins that have sold out, I announce that the Mint will accept unlimited orders for each of the coins that have sold out, for a period of 2 months, in order to accomodate those who did not have the opportunity to order their coins during the 2 hour sellouts.
I then announce a definite ordering period of no less than 3 months each, for each of the remaining coins in the series, each having a specific cut-off date.
I announce that speculators and flippers are welcome to buy as many coins as they are able to pay for, but that returns would be evaluated on a case by case basis, and that if a pattern is detected which indicates that the Mint's return policy is being abused, the return priviledge would be severely restricted for the abusing parties.
Now the OT part.............
I would discontinue the Distributor Program for all BU American Eagles, and announce that the Mint will accept orders directly from collectors at a significant savings to the collector.
I would then begin eliminating many of the redundant coin sets and special finishes from the Mint's repertoire. I would perhaps alternate between various finishes for different coins, but I would cease simultaneous production of multiple finishes for each coin issue.
I would announce a "Walmart-style" rollback of prices, wherever the markups are not justified by higher costs.
I knew it would happen.
</FONT>boy would you make the first ones worth a bunch
i hope you you get the job before i sell
Don't confuse your problems with the Mint's problems
<< <i>How is a two hour sellout a "problem" for the Mint? Sounds to me like they'd be very pleased >>
I also fail to see how this is a "problem". That there is more demand for a product than can be fulfilled is a sign of a sure-fire success.
The mint announced the sale policy for these coins weeks in advance. No pre-sales and a strict order limit of one of each per household. The decreased the order limit from 5 of each coin. The mint killed orders where coins were in the shopping cart prior to 12:00p. The mint accepted orders via telephone and the web starting at noon. This is as level of a playing field that can be created to give everyone an equal opportunity to purchase.
I suspect we will see increased mintages next year that will eventually fall off over the years...
I also fail to see how this is a "problem". That there is more demand for a product than can be fulfilled is a sign of a sure-fire success.
Actually, it does amount to a problem, if you want to sell more coins. If the Mint is looking to poplularize a series, there are two vastly different ways to go about it:
1) You can do what the Mint opted to do: "Limit" the mintages for the first couple of coins, so that speculators will jump in and many collectors will have to scramble to buy their coins at a markup because they didn't get in on the two-hour sellout the first time around. Then, limit the next round of releases to one per household, to try to deflect the criticisms about promoting speculation.
As a potential collector of this series, I feel jerked around - not once, but twice already - and the series has just started. Frankly, I'm not so captivated by the concept of this series enough to sit on the Mint's website for a couple hours when every new issue is released.
or,
2) They could have minted these coins to demand and left the order period open for 3 months each. Far fewer speculators would have jumped in, and every collector who wanted in, could have bought in at the issue price. That would have been fair - fair to collectors, and even fair to the speculators, because they could have bought to their heart's content until the order period was over.
I believe that the two hour sellouts will ultimately be a negative for this series in particular. Everyone who pays a premium simply because they didn't get in on the brief ordering period will hesitate to stay with this series.
As an example - the limitation of 20,000 coins per variety will limit the amount of business that the Mint could otherwise have done. If they had sold 30,000 of each variety during the first two issues, then another 10,000 customers would be vying for the rest of the issues (if you ignore the fact that speculators are involved). Instead, their pool of prospective customers is now only 20,000 for each subsequent issue.
Much of this is probably irrelevant anyway, because according to the Mint's pre-issue survey work, the market for this series was estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 potential collectors. This means that speculators are holding between 50% and 75% of the total production, waiting to unload if and when prices increase. Hype will only get you so far - at some point, collectors have to want to buy the coins.
Maybe I'm really wrong. Maybe there will be 50,000 collectors salivating over the next several Spouses when they come out. But, based on the longterm mintage histories of the gold commemorative program and the American Eagles gold and platinum programs, the interest will dwindle as time goes by, and the mintages will sink below 20,000 - probably even below 10,000. (Remember - the Mint has many other agendas and many other series that they will be promoting - they are pathological in that regard.) People with a pile of the first several issues might well be the ones to say, "what was I thinking?"
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>One pair of coins per IP address. I don't think 63 different people actually use the same computer........
What about at a Public Library?
Box of 20
<<
I'm the Mint Director. Since I am charged with administrating the program fairly and profitably, I immediately ask Congress to re-authorize an unlimited mintage for each coin, removing the limits on all Presidential Spouse Coins.
For each of the coins that have sold out, I announce that the Mint will accept unlimited orders for each of the coins that have sold out, for a period of 2 months, in order to accomodate those who did not have the opportunity to order their coins during the 2 hour sellouts.
>>
You will never sell another limited mintage coin again. Screw with the product limit just one time, and suddenly the Mint's integrity is forever compromised. After all, people purchased those coins based on the *assurance* that no more than 40,000 would ever be minted.
<<
I then announce a definite ordering period of no less than 3 months each, for each of the remaining coins in the series, each having a specific cut-off date.
>>
Congratulations, you suddenly destroyed all interest in this program. It is speculators that are causing the sellout, NOT collectors. If you kill the mintage limit, suddenly the coin won't be profitable for speculators, and you'll be left with *only* collectors buying--and you'll sell far fewer coins in the long run.
<<
2) They could have minted these coins to demand and left the order period open for 3 months each. Far fewer speculators would have jumped in, and every collector who wanted in, could have bought in at the issue price. That would have been fair - fair to collectors, and even fair to the speculators, because they could have bought to their heart's content until the order period was over.
>>
And you wouldn't have sold anywhere close to 40,000 coins, either. Maybe you would have with TJ Liberty, but certainly not with the first two coins. That was totally speculator-driven.
All this is moot, anyway. We coin collectors are simply too full of ourselves. When it comes down to it, the First Spouse series is not a big enough money maker to occupy the Mint Director's thoughts for five seconds. They're making what, $60 gross profit per coin? Discounting labor, packaging, and so on. That's $2.4 million in gross profit for the Mint, or more likely, about $1 million in net profit. That's not even worth the Mint Director getting out of bed in the morning
Dear Mr. Hall..In light of some of your collector submitters are returning coins that are of an inferior quality to them ...I would ask you to extend the courtesy as to your grading ..TIME..not in any way your grading ..Skills ..but the process in which you recieve and return your coins.If the time is extended then there is no reason for returning acceptable coins.I feel that our system is being abused by some and the collector public is paying the price....Thank you Mr.Hall...........from..the Mint Director
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Flash New Release from the mint Director.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Returns of First Spouse coins must be withen five days of delivery or we will keep the coins and your payment too!!!!!!!