The Direct Ship Program is a U.S. Mint program that is intended to promote circulation of the Presidential Dollar coins. The Direct Ship Program Dollars are in the same coin-roll wrappers that can get from your local bank, rather than in the substantially more expensive collectible U.S. Mint wrappers.
The Direct Ship Program sells the Presidential Dollars in roll quantities of $250 face value, and $500 face value (10 and 20 rolls, respectively.) There is no mark-up on the coins, and there is no shipping charge, so you are really buying the coins at face value despite the fact that they are mailed to you.
Buy Direct Ship Dollars Below Face Value
Since there is no mark-up, and no shipping cost, you can buy the Presidential Dollars below face value if you use a cash-back credit card to place your order (and pay your credit card bill off on time!) I use my 3% cash-back VISA card to buy $500 worth every month, so I get them for $15 below face value. Then I search all the rolls for the lucrative Presidential Dollar error coins and die varieties, keeping anything worth more than face value for my own coin collection or to sell on eBay. The rest is spent into circulation or put away in the vault as part of my collection.
The Downsides of Direct Ship
The Direct Ship Program coins are meant for circulating, not for numismatic (coin collecting) purposes. Because of this, you cannot specify which Mint the coins come from. The vast majority of them have been from the Philadelphia Mint, although a couple of readers have reported finding some Denver rolls mixed in. There have also been a couple of reports of the odd wrong president in a roll; for example, finding a Jefferson Dollar in a roll of Jacksons. This could mean that the Direct Ship coins are coming from re-wrapped bank-returns, or it might just be the odd remnant coin left in a coin counting machine or transport bin somewhere that got added later. My own experience has been that Direct Ship coins have a much lower percentage of error coins in them than the ones I get from my bank, but I am searching such small numbers of them that my findings are statistically meaningless.
Here is the link to the U.S. Mint's Direct Ship Program. When you place your order, you will have to select a shipping option, and the shopping cart will make it look like you are paying for shipping, but on the page where the final order is charged to your credit card, this charge disappears. (You should select the standard shipping option for $4.95.) Hopefully the Mint will fix this confusing glitch, but in the meantime don't let it worry you. Shipping is free for Direct Ship Program coins.
