Circulating Presidential Dollar Direct Ship Rolls Arrive

Earlier this month, the US Mint began the Circulating Presidential Dollars Direct Ship Program. Under this program, individuals and businesses can order up to $500 in Presidential Dollars directly from the US Mint at face value with no charge for shipping.

The intention of the program is to remove barriers and improve circulation of the dollar coins. Most notably this program bypasses the Federal Reserve Bank distribution system and competes with the US Mint's own offerings of Presidential Dollar bags and rolls.

There were a few lingering questions about the program. The US Mint made no indication that the coins would be uncirculated, instead referring to the coins as "non-numismatic circulation grade." Also, the Mint does not allow you to choose coins from a specific Mint.

Late last week, I received my order of Direct Ship Presidential Dollars and wanted to write a brief post about what I received.

The coins came in boxes of $250 value coins. Each box contained 10 rolls. The wrappers were from N.F. String & Son and were marked "John Quincy Adams." There was no indication of the mint on the coin wrappers.

So far I have opened two rolls and all coins were Brilliant Uncirculated coins from the Philadelphia Mint. The quality of the coins was comparable to BU Rolls I had purchased on eBay for a premium above face value for some of the other presidents.

After seeing the coins shipped from this program, I think it will definitely cut into US Mint sales of bags and rolls. They currently sell 25-coin rolls for $35.95 and 250-coin bags for $319.95. Orders are also subject to a $4.95 shipping and handling charge. The only advantage of ordering these more expensive bags and rolls seems to be that you can choose your mint mark and coins are in different packaging.

Another notable aspect of this program has come to light over the past few weeks. Many people have taken note of the Mint's new program and are using it to earn points or cash back on their credit cards. This strategy has turned up on various blogs and forums around the internet. The idea is to order the maximum amount from the US Mint using a cash back credit card and then simply deposit all of the rolls at a local bank.

While this is clearly not the intention of the program, I guess it is unavoidable. At least the Mint has limited orders to $500 to cut down on this kind of activity.