United States Mint Opens Sales For 2015 March Of Dimes Special Silver Set On May 4

In regards to why the mint does not produce them all at once, this has to due with business practices rather than the inefficiency argument that Bret spoke of. In actuality the mint has no way of knowing whether or not a product will sell out, and so to produce the entire run of the product before it even goes on sale is a foolish proposition as there is the very real possibility of leftover inventory that cost money to make but brings in no return as it either sits around in storage or has to be destroyed. This used to happen quite often in regards to many commemorative coins and still does to an extent today, (hence why you can still buy some 2013 dated first spouse coins directly from the mint in 2015). If you have sales back-ordered, you know exactly how many you should produce to meet sales rathar than losing money on overproduction.

Sorry, but it has everything to do with inefficiency caused by the lack of motivation at the mint as a whole. No matter how good or bad the product/service, no matter how well or poorly they plan, virtually nobody there will be rewarded financially or lose their job. Those in the private sector don't have this luxury, so they either perform or go under. Also, I never made the point that they should produce all of them at once. With the machine changeover time as small as it is in the minting process, small batches can easily be made to promptly meet consumer demand. These are simple metal stampings that come with printed paper, plastic and simple formed furry cardboard holders. Private manufacturers could (and do) manufacture comparable products start to shipped in days, perhaps a week or two at the most. Cars are made start to finish in less than three months. Heck, some planes are made in less than three months. You are correct that it does have to do with business practices, but they're not "best practices" by industry standards. Just like their business practice is to ship products without a final visual inspection after packaging. And, it's their business practice to accept the resulting poor quality returns that could have easily been prevented to begin with.

Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy the products I buy from the mint and understand why they're a government operated entity. But they simply are not efficient. Hence the legitimate question about why it takes so long for them to manufacture given what we're accustomed to from the private sector.

Mine left Mississippi at 2:xx this morning ..
Hope it will get into and leave Atlanta during the
night.

Might get it by Friday

So did mine.


Not bad. Not a sellout, but still not bad.

I wonder if the household limit will be lifted?

I don't know what car production has to do with coin mintage but I thought it pretty impressive that they had 30,000 or more sets ready to go on day one AND freakin have them all with a shipping label printed the next day.....

I agree.

I agree that they don't operate with the "best practice" as private business. However, we have to give them credit for the improvements they have achieved so far. It is a lot BETTER than compare to 2011 and prior.