"FAST SELLOUT SIGNALS HEALTHY HOBBY INTEREST"

The above is the headline in an Editorial that appears in the current issue of "Numismatic News" that I thought offers some parallels to our chip hobby that I would like to share with readers on this bulletin board.
The accompanying text reads as follows:

"A Buffalo stampede in the Old West apparently is nothing compared to the collector stampede to buy the American Buffalo Coin and Currency Set. This is a good thing, but the cries of collectors who were not able to purchase the set from the Mint might at first blush make it seem like a bad thing."

"Lured by the mintage figure of 50,000, buyers cleaned out the Mint in just four days. The first wave of buyers came on the telephone beginning June 7. The Mint reacted by posting a limit of 20 sets per order on its Web site when sales began there on June 11, but even with that, the supply of sets was exhausted before the day ended."

"The Mint mailed order blanks and collectors began to receive them at approximately the same time as phone orders began being taken. The ones mailed to numismatic staff persons in Iola, Wis., arrived on June 9. Recipients who got on the telephone right then and there probably got through. If you wanted to wait to order online to save the $3.95 shipping and handling fee, the odds started to mount against the would-be buyer. Many collectors claimed lengthy delays in getting through online, if they got through at all."

"An enterprising eBay merchant had a Dutch auction that closed June 12 within hours of the sellout. He offered the 40 sets he had purchased. Sold by the Mint for $54.95, the Dutch auction achieved a $136.95 price, the high bid being $185.01."

"So with the sellout, the hollering starts. Some no doubt are simply complaining that they got shut out of a good deal. We would all like to buy something for $54.95 and sell it before our check clears or our credit card is debited for almost three times that figure."

"Speculation and collecing are so closely intertwined that it is often difficult to tell where one motive leaves off and the other begins."

"The Mint quite naturally does not want its customers and potential customers to be complaining, but it also does not want to make such a large quantity of something that it dies in the market. No complaints simply means no interest at all. For most of the 1990's the speculative element was noticeably missing from nearly all Mint offers and mintage totals fell accordingly."

"The battle of the long view taken by managers and the program-specific view taken by collectors always comes down to order limits on popular products. Collectors who get shut out demand the imposition of limits so they can get in on the offer. Collectors who successfully made their purchases and have profited consider this changing the rules in the middle of the game. Do enough of the latter and you can severely damage any enthusiasm collectors might take in any program. If too many sellouts seem unfair and there are a lot of frustrated potential buyers, it is hard to chart where that backlash will take us."

"Thihs brings us to the issue of what the Mint should do. It has two choices. Set a mintage total and set the the order procedures in advance and follow it no matter what. IF the mintage total is too low, you get a sellout and fairness complaints. If it is too high, you get many sets left over."

"The other choice is to strike to order. Produce however many sets are taken in a specified period of time. The downside to this is that in order to have sets on hand to ensure quick delivery, you limit the benefits of this for the Mint and for collectors."

DOES ANYBODY PICK UP ON ANY SIMILARITIES IN CHIPPIN'?