The Mint is Dead
For years, folks could purchase face-value coins from the Royal Canadian Mint, deposit them into their bank account, and pay off their credit card. This was one of the easiest manufactured spend techniques in Canada. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, it appears that the Mint will no longer be selling face-value coins. This is a sad day for churners in Canada.
You cannot buy face-value coins off the Mint’s website, and according to a source, the decision to stop face-value coins was made January 4, 2017. Existing orders will be honoured, but no future orders will be taken. It’s not clear whether the Mint has stopped selling these coins at their boutiques.
To be honest, I’m not really surprised. I doubt the Mint was getting any real profit from their face-value line. Each online transaction paid through an affiliate link had a relatively large cost, the Mint reimbursed banks 2% of the deposit value AND shipping fees, and of course there’s the cost of designing, making, destroying, etc. these coins. My understanding is they were made to get Canadians into coin collecting, but I suspect this was always a loss for the Mint. Too bad 🙁
No thanks to you
Yes, I am personally responsible for the end of a 10M+ dollar project. My fault.
Stranger things have happened. Technique only lasted an extra few months after being publicized on 2 blogs. On top of that I assume too many MS spend crazies were trying to get their full.
I work for the mint, and can tell you, your blog was definitely a contributing factor to the Mint’s decision. Especially given your wanton disregard for the spirit of what the Mint was trying to achieve.
Didn’t know the RCM had offices at the University of Waterloo (based on IP) 😉
I’ll add my disappoint to the loss of the program and especially annoyed at DCTA for the recurring exposure of the program.
– Coming from US based, buy and holder of the coins…
because DCTA & Canadian Kilometers know Mint will die soon, so that’s why after few years they keep on themselves, then all of sudden they post on web to get more clicks and get some revenue from you click their Mint link……….that’s what Canada blogers do, never post any useful MS tips as US blogers, only post them when they are dead.
Of course. If we weren’t the smartest people in Canada, why would we be bloggers? Now walking to the bank to cash my check. Byeeeee.
I didn’t know you’re so smart by looking up an IP address, then using some Silicon Valley software to ID it—-simply by pressing a few buttons. You must be on your first beard.
Let’s be honest. Get $100,000 in credit, but $100,000 in MINT cash, don’t pay off the cards, get sued by a couple of debt collectors, create zombie debt, but you still have $100,000 to use later on.
Again…..no thanks to you.
This is my favourite comment ever. Thank you. Truly.
Never look for a conspiracy where common sense is a sufficient explanation. The Mint ran a loss-leader program, and has decided to stop it. Sounds like a simple rational business decision to me. Did MS users of the program contribute to its demise? Probably not significantly, since MS was presumably a small fraction of sales. Before blaming MS use, I would want to see data showing it was a substantial part of the sales. And if it was, that means the program was no longer serving its purpose, effectively dead already, and deserved to be terminated on pure business grounds.
All good things come to an end.
You assume incorrectly since several online posters have admitted to 6 digits yearly and 7 digits over the past several years. It takes quite a bit of coin to make it worth their while for a few percentage points. I’m not sure if the program was even 10M (read 7M I believe in an article) so it seems clear as day that MS would have impacted the program. Sure it wasn’t making money but who cares, they were doing it and governement doesn’t stop doing things if it’s only losing a few thousand – we are all greedy bastards but for every one MS, there are 100 churners that are impacted.
I believe the NCLT face-value montage was around 200M.
I greatly appreciate the information I have obtained from DCTA – it has changed my life for the better (in fact I am writing this from LHR First Class thanks to DCTA). It’s a shame that some readers are blaming the messanger – rather than thanking him for his thoughtful and useful contributions to Canadians.
There is nothing static in the rewards world, especially MS. Change will happen! People want information but don’t consider the cost of making it public. Personally I’m for information sharing. The mint may be dead but there are plenty of other opportunities to come.
Personally, I would like to thank DCTA for his continual contributions to this “hobby” for those in Canada. Blogs like this one, that offer a unique Canadian perspective offer offer great value. I can’t help but feel disappointed by the finger-pointing and blame game that is happening here regarding the RCM’s decision. In the absence of strong data to demonstrate a causal link between the two blog posts (including DCTA) leading to RCM’s decision – it is futile (and frankly, unfair) to jump to some of the conclusions seen above. Furthermore, even IF it was because of the two blog posts – a business model that can crumble because of it doesn’t appear to demonstrate the industry resilience needed to operate in today’s business world.
I think BoomTraveller, above, summarized the business element of things nicely.
Like some of the other posters have suggested – in this industry – change exists and we have to adapt (or die).
All in all, thank you DCTA and I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Yes, lets thank DCTA for his advices… Im pretty sure MANY of these moaners have recieved HUGE benefits from this wonderful blog.