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| One of My Orders |
The $1 coin free shipping deal has been over for quite some time and now it seems that the government will stop automatic production of them. Stopping production should save the government $50 million a year supposedly.
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V.P. Joe Biden said “They make hundreds of millions of these coins every year. Forty percent of them end up being returned to the Federal Reserve because nobody wants them,”. He also said that the coins will only be produced in the future based on collectors demand & a premium will be charged “so it doesn’t cost us a dime”
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For those of you unfamiliar with the US Mint $1 coin free shipping program, here is a short explanation. To help get $1 coins into circulation, the mint offered free shipping on orders. In the beginning you could order an unlimited amount of coins but due to people abusing the program it was lowered to $1000 per order.
Some of you might wonder why anyone would order $1 coins, free shipping or not… Well the answer is simple- airline miles or credit card points. By charging $1 coins with free shipping, you could earn free miles by bring the rolled coins right back to the bank after receiving them. Another reason would be to hit the needed spend to earn credit card bonuses. Some cards might give you 50,000 miles as a sign up bonus, but you have to spend $5,000 in 3 months to get it. By ordering coins, once again you could hit your spend without actually spending money out of your pocket.
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| Paying the tab |
The mint did not create this $1 coin program to have people order the coins to bring back to the bank but that was what many people did. They hoped the coins would be spent and then put into circulation. I only placed 4 orders from the mint. I did a couple for $500 and a couple for $1000.
I tried to spend the coins when possible but did bring a few rolls to the bank at times. I think the most I ever brought back to the bank at one time was 4 rolls ($100). At times the tellers would give an odd look and even ask where I got the coins from.
Spending the coins could be a pain. Lots of times, cashiers would not have a clue what the coins were or if they were real money. Some shops would refuse to take payment by $1 coin. When gas stations started charging a cash & credit price, I started paying for gas with $1 coins to get the cash price. Most stations did not mind getting one or two rolls of coins but some did not accept them as payment.
Street vendors and food trucks were usually happy to take $1 coins since they were always short on small bills. I also used them to leave tips at cash only restaurants.
One time I paid for lunch which was $22.86 with a roll of coins plus a couple extra since credit cards were not accepted. The bartender that I gave payment to shook his head and laughed!
