Writing an honest to goodness letter to Edmund Moy

Finding the contact information for senators and representatives is quite easy, I could find no such contact page for the director of the US Mint, Edmund Moy. Thus I wrote him an honest to goodness letter and will mail it soon. I'm not sure about the address. The two addresses listed on the US Mint's website were for customer service issues and the other was for questions regarding history/coin programs/etc. Since I was offering suggestions/comments I didn't want to use either address. There was an address listed for the Department of the Treasury listed at www.treasury.gov and figured if I put enough information on it, the letter will eventually get to his office. Will he actually ever see the real letter? Perhaps not but I am not too jaded to try.

I'll copy and paste the pertinent points of my letter. It was just a page but touches on the Presidential Dollars and the shipping methods of the Mint. I wasn't going to bother him with anything else since most of it is dictated from Congress and are outside his control. Do you agree with my idea to spice up the Presidential Dollars?

I know that on some issues, you are bound by what Congress tells you to do and thus I won’t touch on them but there are a few ideas that I wanted to bring to your attention.

The first concerns the artistry of the Presidential Dollar Coin Series. While I appreciate the departure from profile portraits, I must say that I find the obverse design of these dollar coins to be quite unimaginative. Unlike the state quarters, I don’t wait eagerly for each new design (even when in the review process) because unless changes are made, they’re all going to be three quarter profiles. If I want to know what the Millard Fillmore coin will look like, I can find a portrait online and I’ll be correct to within a small percentage. These designs are not compelling. I looked up the text of Public Law 109-145 and Section 102-n paragraph (2)(B)-i states: “[the obverse of the coin must contain] the name and likeness of a President of the United States.” Here was my idea. It does not appear that you are restricted to using just bust profiles of the past presidents. It might be more informative (from a historical perspective) and more imaginative (from an artistic perspective) to open up the designs to allow depictions of the presidents in a historical context (in the same vein as some of the First Spouse gold coin reverses). This would allow for more creativity and more history. I feel that this program would benefit immensely from something other than three quarter profiles.

I would also like to address the current shipping policies of the US Mint. While I enjoy the fact that for a flat $5 we can have all of our items shipped to us even if they are in two different shipments, there are two aspects here that are a source of frustration not just to me but to other collectors. 1) I would rather pay a little more and get slightly faster service. When I place in order collectors have two options. Either pay $5 and get your coin via pack mule (OK, a slight exaggeration!) or pay almost $20 and get it very quickly. It would be benefit to the Mint to have a middle option that might cost a little more but come sooner. I’m thinking of Amazon.com’s shipping which has been very nice. It is inexpensive but arrives within a week. When I ordered a 1/10th oz proof platinum, it took several weeks for my order to be processed and my coin to arrive (and the coin was listed as in stock). 2) The shipping boxes. Of recent purchases that I have made, both came in tiny and flimsy boxes. My First Spouse four medal set came in the box with a brick of foam that made the fit quite tight. If the box was sturdier that wouldn’t be an issue but I wondered about potential damage that might be inflicted on the coins during shipment. While they can be returned, this can be an excruciatingly slow process.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Though it might not change anything I can still hope that individuals are still capable of enacting change!