CW: The U.S. Mint recorded the “highest website traffic we have ever experienced”..7 minute sellout!
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By Paul Gilkes , Coin World Published: Nov 6, 2020, 10 AM
The U.S. Mint recorded the “highest website traffic we have ever experienced” Nov. 5 as sufficient orders were placed to absorb the limited mintages of privy-marked Proof 2020-W End of World War II 75th Anniversary American Eagle gold and silver coins.
The 1-ounce .9167 fine gold $50 coin was limited to a release of 1,945 coins at $2,600 per coin and was reported unavailable within seven minutes of the noon Eastern Standard Time sales launch.
The 1-ounce .999 fine silver coin was limited to a release of 75,000 coins at $83 each and also received sufficient orders to absorb the limited mintage, in approximately 90 minutes. No phone orders for numismatic products are being taken because of COVID-19 concerns.
Both issues, struck at the West Point Mint with the W Mint mark, were restricted to a household ordering limit of one of each numismatic product option.
(continues in link.)
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/mint-website-is-overwhelmed-by-wwii-american-eagle-sales
Comments
No phone orders because of covid 19? Didn’t know the virus could spread through phone calls.
I better limit my phone calls!
What about forum chats?
No phone calls because the representatives would likely need to be at a centralized location. I can't imagine mint staff taking phone orders from their homes.
morons
I hate the mint for doing these limited issues.
government for the people. mint issues to demand.
right now, only online ordering.
It is the same pablum they spewed after the ERP. I even posted two weeks ago their response to me when I asked why release on the same day after the erp fiasco. They said they had performed extensive upgrades to handle the volume. 😤
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morons
...and this was their idea of an improved system?
Could the mint employees not work from home?
Worst Mint site upgrade ever. Apparently designed to deliberately prevent long standing customers from even logging in, before the coin is sold out.
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The mint doesn't care about traffic! This ain't the first time they were overwhelmed and won't be the last time. They will still get their product sold and that's all they care about. They don't care who it's sold to.
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Many call centers have at-home employees now, but perhaps not the US Mint.
I guess I’ll have to trade my house for one
Logged on the day before to make sure all was up to date and ready for the noon sale.
Then when I went to log on to make a purchase I was informed my account was "not available", whatever that means. Logged on just fine today.
bob
I'm letting it sit.
Still Stuck as of right now!
serious processing issues
morons
they need to mint to demand instead of making these collector disappointing "planned rarities."
At least the Mint knows how to copy and paste.
is there a website that shows us traffic to websites? I am just curious how many people were trying to get those rare V75's
OH!
I forgot to mention they added Denial of Service measures
selling 1945 AGE and 75000 ASE creates its own access problems that simulate DDoS attacks! Duh!
MORONS
Mint To Demand
Of course they could. But do you want the geniuses at the Puzzle Palace (otherwise known as the Mint) to set up some what complicated call forwarding equipment AND ordering computer system remote interfaces? They set up the system, or authorized the system) that failed so massively on Thursday. Sorry. Not unless some new hires that know what they are doing take that on. My first thought is some one or the team at Amazon. Has Black Friday ever caused the kind of catastrophic failure the Mint suffered yesterday? Amazon could have handle yesterdays Mint offering and not even interrupted their coffee break.
Somebody at the Mint needs to look for another job, like right now.
The Peter Principle ( DEFINITION: the principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent ) proven to be a fact once again.
Government succeeded in their normal process of being efficiently inefficient.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
One way to express your opinions about the US Mint, would be to write the President and your State Senators, about how happy you are, or not, with the current way the Mint is being managed. It seems to me there needs to be a better understanding, at high levels, of modern, computerized e-commerce, and how to treat your actual long term customers. The current Mint Director actually did this job in 1992-1993, 28 years ago, and was appointed and confirmed by President Trump in April 2018.
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The least the US Mint can do is stick to the KISS principle when it comes to products. They should mint to demand.
i took the day off work just so i could order one of these, what a waste of time and i didn't even enjoy my day off
They both would have sold out faster if the website was functioning.
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You guys talking about Minting based on demand... Then every issue would have a maxed amount knocking out any true rarity/collectibility.
It's not the best system but it creates excitement;.
depressment comes when only 1945 collectors can complete an original reverse AGE set.
short term excitement
long term collector destruction
A lottery would be the mint saying when a coin will be released but not how many will be made.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
It would be like saying buy no return coins and you don’t know if you’ll get a privy
What I want to know is how the h*ll did they sell out in 7 minutes when their website kept kicking you out?@?@?#?#?
How did 1945 people get through.... Such BS yesterday!!!
Same sad mint story why oh me oh my. They love the rush
Best place to buy !
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If the website didn't keep kicking you out, the coins would have still sold out in 7 minutes. And people would still be complaining about not getting one.
Question for the class... Suppose the mint "fixes" (however you define the term) their website so it "works" (however you define the term). Suppose, further, that with the "properly functioning" website, you still don't get a coin. Will you be happier? Why or why not?
Exactly how long I tried, managed to get to checkout and was repeatedly kicked out, refresh, refresh,
NLA, BUMMER...
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Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
With only 1945 coins, the odds were very low of getting one, but my wife had one in her basket, meaning they were available, she when to check out, followed the process and was kicked out - Ticketron and other ticket agencies get the same amount of traffic for music acts, and they can handle the load, and they have to issue seating. The mint just has to sell a coin and subtract from the total.
Yesterday was BS at the highest level. If you want to criticize me for complaining go ahead, but yesterday was BS at the highest level. I don't mine not getting the coin, I'm pi**ed at the way it was mishandled... Thank you
The Mint could auction them, that is where they all end up at some point anyway.
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Maybe. The Mint could offer a lottery for a new coin to set the right to buy. Not the price. The quantity would be fixed by the authorizing law which the mint has no authority over. Congress says make this coin in this amount. The Mint says "Yes sir"
I'm not picturing it like that. I'm thinking like this: Mint says: We are making X number of a privy marked AGE's. Enter the lottery HERE for the right to purchase one. The coin will not be available direct from the mint in any other way.
the more friends and family, the better the odds in a lottery. how many people here have built large networks for gaming such?
I have no friends and all family is abroad.
lottery or fighting the site ... both ways people get burnt.
mint to demand.
I would not be happy but wouldn't feel like the Mint's computers took a crazy pill and cheated my out of a coin when I followed the rules. A correct verified Credit Card on file. Showed up at the designated time. Clicked on the proper "Add To Cart" button and followed the usual process clicking where prompted and providing any required information.
No I would not be happy. For example you go to an online store of some kind to buy a limited quantity item. You try but the item was sold out by the time you got there. Thinking "Bummer, I wanted that. Oh well." Not "The GD Mint screwed me again. They S*CK !"
Ok- the mint fixes the website and your wife tries over and over again but is never able to put the coin in her basket. Does that solve the problem?
And the coin never gets added to your cart. Happy? I bet not. But how is that any different from what happened?
I read "the mint needs to fix their website" and interpret that as "the mint needs to fix their website so I get the coin instead of somebody else".
"never able to put the coin in her basket"
that is the definition of fixed? that is the definition of broken.
Dude. There are not enough coins to put in all the carts waiting to add them. How do imagine that is going to go down?
At least the mints marketing department did a good job...
that is what happened.... the difference in what was and what works is that the working web site would get to the "submit" processing then come back with "already sold out."
I was there. I was following all the steps with many failures of the software along the way. It said many, many times they were processing my order and do not resubmit nor hit back button. but nada... many, many times. I followed the steps but the broken web site failed me.... and the mint
anyway....
mint
to
demand.
So if the words on the webpage were different, you'd be happier?
Moving
the
goalposts.
BY FAR the worst experience that I've ever had ordering from The Mint. They timed out their own customers who were doing what they were supposed to do!. One would think that completing the annoying Capcha to prove you're human would be enough. But no, when you did it and the Mint's faulty servers crashed and you tried again you got timed out. Absolutely insane.
I'd rather the site works from one end to the other without errors.
The Mint did not fix the problem in your example. If it won't let you put one in the basket with out a reasonable reason, like "Sorry, The Item you selected has SOLD OUT. No further new quantity is expected to become available" there is a major problem.
Amazon has never acted like that when offering a limited quantity item. The Mint had inadequate capacity for the job. Their fault. Not yours. They are responsible to fix it, permanently. Any other business would fire somebody and get a competent person or persons or outside firm to actually fix the problem by any means possible at the earliest date. What ever it takes. And keep the system working that way. If this is a contracted service to the Mint, the same condition apply. Demand a permanent fix or lose the contract. Period. No further discussion or negotiation. Anything less is unacceptable.
Remember that November is "Drain You Wallet' month for the Mint. Three Gold & Silver offering in a row. Next one is this Monday. Then the 17th. The heck with it's the weekend excuse. You should have started calling at 12:05 Thursday. Start calling now. What's wrong with you Mint? Geeze !