Coin World has been inundated with calls and email from collectors concerned they were going to be double-billed by the U.S. Mint for $4.95 shipping costs to receive a free promotional bag sent separately from their orders of numismatic products.

In an April 10 email statement to Coin World, Tom Jurkowsky, director of the U.S. Mint’s Office of Corporate Communications, said customers will not be charged twice with the $4.95 shipping and handling charge. The $4.95 charge customers had printed on the invoice accompanying the bag was inclusive of the shipping charge for their upcoming coin order, Jurkowsky said.

The promotional bags were shipped to customers in advance of delivery of the coins and other products ordered, most of which involved the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame (referred to as BBHoF in the Mint’s statement) commemorative coins.

To show its customers appreciation for their support, on Feb. 20, the U.S. Mint introduced the “We Love Our Customers” campaign, offering a free, reusable bag bearing the Mint’s logo with any purchase of $75 of Mint products.

Jurkowsky said April 10 that Mint officials received positive feedback about the free bags from customers who ordered Mint products at www.usmint.gov, and during the American Numismatic Association’s National Money Show in New Orleans Feb. 27 to March 1.

At the time of the March 27 launch of sales of the Baseball commemorative coins, the Mint had approximately 90,000 of the promotional bags remaining in inventory, Jurkowsky said. Bags were also distributed to customers who purchased Mint products during the Whitman Baltimore Expo March 27 to 30.

“Because of the extremely high demand for the BBHoF products, the limited supply of BBHoF inventory, and the fact that most customers ordered more than one BBHoF product, we quickly realized that we had to make a decision,” Jurkowsky said. 

“Given our current order management system limitations, we were unable to configure our system to stop the shipment of the bags to customers while they waited for the delivery of their products. 

“Unfortunately, we did not have time to clearly communicate to our customers that the $4.95 shipping and handling fee they saw on their invoice was inclusive of their upcoming coin order.

“In other words, customers will not get charged TWICE for shipping of their coin products during this promotion.

“We regret that we did not convey this clearly enough and will take customer comments into consideration for future promotions.”