The United States Mint began rolling out its new website and ordering system late last night. Earlier this morning the agency officially announced that the site is live.
"The leadership and staff of the U.S. Mint is very excited about this achievement, which has been years in the making," Mint spokesman Michael White said in an e-mail.
Collectors can visit the new website at catalog.usmint.gov to see the layout changes, check out new navigation links and areas, manage their account information and, of course, shop for new coins and sets. The U.S. Mint on Saturday night had taken the old shopping system off-line as a part of the transition process.
A few of the website additions and features touted by the Mint include:
- a more user-friendly site,
- live chat with customers,
- more bandwidth for faster speed,
- eliminated "waiting room" on high web traffic volume days,
- streamlined product pages,
- redesigned check out page including one-page check out,
- additional shipping options,
- enhanced credit card verification technology, and
- enhanced search and track order functionality
On hitting the new home page, there is a video message from U.S. Mint Deputy Director Richard A. Peterson talking about some of the site’s upgrades.
In visiting the website this morning, we noticed a few links that needed updating. As with any website launch, expect some tweaking and other adjustments in the coming hours and days.
In the new product schedule the Limited Edition Silver Proof Set is missing. Does this mean it won’t be offered in 2014? The Search option doesn’t find it either. What happens when January 2015 rolls around – will coins and coin sets not be listed at all even if they don’t have a scheduled date or price?
I can’t find a link to the metals pricing grid. Is that piece of information no longer available too?
Regardless of the positives this rendition of the web site has taken a step backward in removing information previously available.
It looks like the 10 percent discount quietly went away. Yes?
Not a fan of the layout. Too many pages to turn to, whereas the old home page had most everything accessible from the front page. Seems web designers think more is better. Think they took a cue from bullion dealers and unnecessarily separated silver products from gold, etc., rather than keeping it program-driven.
Worst I can think of is Ford sync. You cannot adjust the hvac system without going thru three menu pages. Change the radio station, even more complex.
Will wait and see if the actual ordering process and purchasing experience is any better or worse than it was.
Cannot find the “NO LONGER AVAILABLE” to know when items are sold out.
Some stuff seems to be missing. The 2014 first spouse coins you have to search for individually by name it seems. Not listed under the FS pages that come up on my computers anyway.
Joe, in an email a few weeks ago US mint said they were doing away with the discount for subscriptions. So I ended my subscription or enrollment as they call it now.
Regarding the new site I am having trouble making the links work with one touch on my tablet. It takes five or six clicks for me. And I don’t see a video welcoming me.
Kevin and Joe- I noticed that my subscriptions also disappeared and I had to submit new subscriptions. I’m a bit miffed as I think the Mint should honor this years price commitment’s. Or maybe they will surprise us all on the 5oz ATB coins and actually LOWER the price since the spot on silver is running around $17 an ounce?….. NOT! 🙂 I tried to do the “Live Chat”, but there was no one there….Hmmm. Oh well, give them some time, I’m sure they are overwhelmed right now. For crying out loud everyone, It’s The Government! What do you expect?
This new system is terrible. Stuff is missing from the site, chat doesn’t work, my browser hangs up and then to top it off when I called the call center I got a CSR for a different company, same call center apparently but a different vendor. Hopefully they get this fixed soon.
I complained to customer service and they replied “please give us 24 to 48 Hours to finish our update”. So try again after the weekend…
I too don’t like the new design but if it does get rid of the need for a waiting room then all these other changes will pale compared to the benefit of speedy order processing.
I like the new site, But i guess like with anything else, It takes awhile to get the bugs out.
The US mint web site was so easy to use . now someone just screwed it up.I wonder the cost of the new site.they should fire the culprit.
The new site is terrible…we waited 2 years for this? who designed this thing raymond charles….I am sure it cost a fortune and it is worse than the one before. I hope the team in charge got their wages garnished.
The new web site is nearly impossible to navigate. No longer able to cancel an order on line. I placed an order on line at !1:30 PM EST on 10/28/14 and tried to cancel it 7-1’2 hours later at 8:02 AM on 10/29/14 and was told it was to late to cancel the order had been shipped. Yet I’ll bet I don’t get the order for months.
In short the US MINT SUCKS BIG TIME. Fired the director!!!
Everybody complained about how long it takes to receive an order and then when they process an order immediately they get complaints too.
I’ve got no problem with same or next day shipping myself. I’ve gotten deliveries in as little as 7 days after order but more an average of 2-3 weeks. Sorry Larry, you get no sympathy from me.
As to the director blame Congress. We’ve been waiting for over 2 years for congress to approve Obama’s nomination of Bibiana Boerio all the while with incompetent dep dir Peterson sitting in the chair instead.