Many collectors have been astonished by the rapid delivery of 50th anniversary Kennedy half dollar silver sets they ordered starting Oct. 28.
Sales in the first five days totaled 125,147. The Mint had 190,000 sets ready to ship and they went out quickly as attested by Numismatic News readers.
“I am stunned. I received my five sets today, Oct. 30, via UPS. 48 hours from order to delivery. Bravo to the U.S. Mint. The coins are beautiful and are now on their way to NGC for grading,” wrote Bill Rodgers of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.
Don Payne of Collier County, Fla., summarized his experience this way:
“I signed on to the U.S. Mint website at 11:30 a.m. EST on 10/28. At 12 p.m. I ordered five 2014 50th Anniversary Kennedy half dollar silver four-coin collection sets. Checked out by 12:05 p.m.. Received an email from the U.S. Mint on 10/28 that the order was shipped. Received the five sets today (10/30).
“As a very long time subscriber to the Numismatic News I have read many horror stories about the problems with orders from the U.S. Mint. It seems that U.S. Mint may have finally gotten its act together, or I was incredibly lucky.”
Another happy collector was A. Benton of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
He wrote, “My hat’s off to the Mint. I placed an order for the Kennedy half dollar four-coin set on 10/28 at about 2:45 p.m.
“I received an order confirmation e-mail at 2:57 p.m. the same day (system generated). I received another e-mail on 10/29 at 12:23 a.m. that the order was shipped. On Friday 10/31 at 11:39 a.m., UPS was at my door with the package. Oh, the coins look great also.”
Not everything was perfect.
A New Jersey reader who wishes to remain unidentified recounted his experience.
“Online ordering slower than land line. Ordered three sets of 50th Anniversary Kennedy sets on 10/28 at 12 p.m. I paid an extra $12.95 for delivery because I saw there were 180,000 sets set aside for immediate delivery. I guess I was expecting a sellout, so I wanted to make sure I got one of the 180,000. My buddy called after I made my purchase by phone. He also ordered three sets and was in no hurry. Delivery for him cost $4.95 (1-2 weeks). He got his today 10/31. I’m to get mine at the end of the day 11/3. He received emails for confirmation and delivery twice. I had to keep going into the Mint’s website to check on status only to see processing.”
Dumfries, Va., reader Ross MacCallum waited to change his password on the new Mint website until the day the Kennedy set went on sale.
He wrote, “I had tremendous difficulty in doing the required password reset at the new U.S. Mint website. It took several attempts over three days (Oct. 28, 29, 30) before the Mint responded with the email permitting the change. Then it took three or four attempts to actually make the change.”
The four-coin Kennedy silver set is priced at $99.95 each and can still be ordered at www.usmint.gov.
Before sales began, the Mint announced on Oct. 24 that no more than 300,000 sets will be produced.
This article was originally printed in Numismatic News Express.
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