Shrewd Fliers Make Miles On Mint’s Mistake

According to The Wall Street Journal, A number of frequent flier fans took the Mint up on its offer of free shipping for bulk orders of coins. The fliers paid for their coins with charge cards that offered frequent flier mile rewards.

When the coins arrived, the fliers took them directly to the bank to pay off that credit card debt. The end cost to the fliers? A little time and a trip to the bank. The reward? For one of them, two million miles.

The WSJ reports that it costs the mint around $3 to ship 250 coins, and estimates that more than $1 million in dollar coins were churned by these fliers. The cost to the U.S. Mint (and, of course, you and me) would be in excess of $12,000 in shipping, as well as the credit card processing fees it incurred.

One flier took a free vacation to Tahiti with his wife in part courtesy of the U.S. Mint free shipping program.

Photo by US Mint.

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