I just read in CoinWorld that on top of the Presidential Dollar program and the law requiring the continued minting of the SACs, the USPS has announced that they are doing away with the stamp vending machines. The machines are one of the few regular uses of the dollar coins in commerce. Post Office folks claim the machines are too hard to maintain.

Well.... there's no use in my trying not to laugh. Thanks for pointing out the latest absurdity from such a rich source of absurdities.

The Post Office is an old antiquated machine itself. Very slow and rude customer service. I am surprised they are still in business.

MONOPOLY

Gee whiz... That is mind-numbingly dumb. Are they producint SACs for circulation or just Uncirculated sets?

Well, let's look on the bright side as collectors:

If the SACs are mass-produced intended for circulation AND they don't circulate far (I haven't seen one in years), then the government will HOPEFULLY down the line realize that they are not circulating AND probably have a melt value > face. Therefore, (here is the good part for collectors) they will recall the hoards of SACs banks and post offices have and MELT them. This will mean those who managed to preserve a few SACs will have a attrition rarity in their hands.

Just wishful thinking. Who knows, its a possibility.

Well, they may not be in the future. There has been talk in the past few years of privatizing it. (I have insider info here). The problem we would face is, no private business wants the rural/country areas as they would not make money. If it did happen you could certainly expect postage to double, triple, or go even higher. Privatization would mean profits for investors. I think we get off easy sending something anywhere in the US for $.39.

And not all postal workers are slow and rude.

I'd also like to find out where they got this information. I don't see it in any of their news releases. I'll ask my Mom about it.

Apologies for my ignorance but what are SACs?

I'm from the UK so that's why I don't know

The 1 dollar coins featuring Sacagawea:
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/golden...ction=sacDesign

Christian

Actually, the people at my local post office are very freindly. I have never had any problems with them.....

Privatization does not necessarily mean that some businesses can pick out the plums. Deutsche Post in Germany, for example, is a stock corporation, with most of the capital being held by "private" (not government related) investors. Currently it still has a monopoly regarding non-local letters of less than 50 grams, but that is about to be reduced further. Now forcing postal services to have agencies in each and every village will be impossible, but the government can set minimum "presence" standards.

As for the postal service people over here, well, from my experience most are friendly. What drives me nuts is that they now have to promote additional services, be it their own or offers from "partners": Buy stamps, or mail a package, and you may be asked whether you already have a free bank account, or whether you would like to play the lottery ...

Christian

That sounds familiar Christian!

The rest will continue to be shipped to Ecuador, Panama, and El Salvador where they are used in day to day transactions. Especially Ecuador where they are used much more often than paper US Dollars.

The Banco de Ecuador just ordered US$10.000.000 more.

Ciao, and Hook 'em Horns,
Capt-AWACS, Delightfully Tacky, Yet Unrefined-Hooters Deutschland