Mint News Blog

News, Information, and Commentary on US Mint Products

Thursday, June 26, 2008

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.

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7 Comments:

At June 26, 2008 at 10:46 AM , Blogger Les said...

I wouldn't have thought of the credit card bonus points angle... clever.

 
At June 26, 2008 at 11:46 AM , Blogger Scott said...

But as far as the mint mark, did you find one mint represented in a roll? Both Philly and Denver? Is there anyway to determine the mint mark before opening the roll?

 
At June 26, 2008 at 12:43 PM , Blogger Mint News Blog said...

The two rolls I opened so far were entirely Philadelphia coins.

The rolls list the coin wrapping company "N.F. String & Son Inc. Harrisburg, PA USA."

Not sure if Denver rolls would list a different company or location?

 
At June 30, 2008 at 6:18 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Product is not available

 
At March 12, 2009 at 1:32 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

have the direct ship coins been previously circulated? and then re rolled?

 
At October 6, 2009 at 8:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

As far as I can tell you cannot discernthe origin mint for the 10 roll sets. I ordered the first four presidents. Even though all of the rolls were marked NF String & Son, Harrison PA, when I opened one roll of each I found all were minted in Philadelphia except GW which was minted in Denver.

 
At October 7, 2009 at 5:04 AM , Blogger Mint News Blog said...

Yes, now the coins are coming from different Mints. When the program first launched with the JQA Dollars, initial boxes received were all Philadelphia Mint.

Later, the US Mint expanded the coins offered via Direct Ship by repurposing some of the coins previously reserved for numismatic (bags and rolls) sales. Since then, the coins have been from different facilities.

 

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