Gold Coin Delivery Policies

Delivery policies is another very important thing to consider when dealing with any gold and silver coin company, primarily meaning delivery time. During my first six years in the gold business starting in early 1997, I worked for two of the largest coin companies in the country, both of them out of Minneapolis.

The first company had a two to three week delivery lead time, and customers would accept this, as we brokers were instructed to explain the procedure to them when they bought coins. Even though customers didn’t have much problem with the two to three week wait to get their coins, it was still a sleight-of-hand move. What the company didn’t tell the customers was, that, although they had the coins on inventory and had the shipping staff to get them out the door immediately upon receipt of the funds, they were putting the money in the bank for two to three weeks to draw interest on it. And when you are talking about many millions of dollars at any one time, it amounts to quite a bit of extra profit for the company. When the year 2000 rolled over, the bottom dropped out of the gold market and the company was hit hard. Their delivery times went from two and three weeks to four to eight weeks. Nobody would buy gold with those long delivery times, so I left that company to work for what I thought was a better one.

That impression didn’t last long. The second company started out with two to three weeks but that didn’t last long either, although this time for another reason. This second company had another business under the same roof and the other business was not generating enough funds to pay its own bills. So what happened is when people would send their money for a gold or silver order it would go to pay the bills for the other business. Then the management would tell us brokers to make up a variety of “stories” to buy more time with the customers. As the gold market in early 2000 continued its downturn, the problem grew into a plague and we found ourselves into an eight to nine week delivery time. Customers were furious, and we ran out of “stories.” I personally would quietly and confidentially tell my clients the truth of what was happening with the delivery times, which they appreciated, but I could never make a second sale to a person who had to wait that long for a coin shipment.

But even that company doesn’t take the cake when it comes to excessively long delivery policies. Another nationally known company holds on to people’s money for up to 13 months – yes, 13 months. I have personally talked to almost two dozen people over the last five years while I have had my own business, who have bought from that company, and the shortest time anyone has waited for their coins was six months. That company must be doing other things with the money besides putting it in the bank to draw interest. They have to be investing it in high-risk stocks in the stock market, and we all know what happens most of the time – they lose big. When clients keep calling month after month to ask where their gold coins are, the brokers there try to switch them into other, much cheaper coins for the same money.

Knowing how important delivery times and customer service are, I vowed that if I ever got my own gold coin company I would have the fastest delivery system in the country. And I do.

Here is how it works. I must explain, that although I have my own company, I don’t inventory any coins, mainly for insurance reasons. I am like a broker in that I deal with three to four huge, reputable, coin wholesalers in different parts of the country. So when a person buys gold or silver from me I call the wholesaler to lock in the price. That is a guaranteed, locked-in price for about 10 days. Clients have that period of time to get the money to me. I do almost all my business now with an electronic or wire transfer, just to speed up the process.

After I lock in the coins with the supplier I email the transaction details and the wiring instructions to the customer. Then all they need to do is take the one-page wiring instruction sheet down to their bank and wire the money to me. I pay for the wire fee on the client’s end by having them deduct the cost of the wire fee (whether it is $20 or $25, or $30) from the total price of the coins. When I get the wire, I immediately wire transfer the money the same day to the supplier. If the supplier receives the money before 4 pm, they ship out the coins that same day also. So, from lock-in time to the time the client receives the coins is sometimes less than five days.

The gold is shipped Express Mail, registered and insured through the US Postal Service. The postal carrier requires a signature at the door, and if the client is not there, they leave a pink slip with instructions to pick the package up at the Post Office. I have found over the years that my clients are very pleased with how fast they get their coins, and I trust that if you chose to do business with me, you will be also.

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