The Challenge Coin Minting Equation

Posted on September 1, 2008
Filed Under Collecting Thoughts

A lot of factors play a vital role in getting a batch of custom coins minted for your unit, work center, or agency. We want to break down barriers when we choose mints. People don’t know the underlying factors and what are really behind them. People get wrapped up in thinking it’s one way when it’s really something different.

Lowest Price – Usually when people are shopping for a coin and especially in an economy like we are currently in people are looking for the best price possible. When you save a buck you could be holding quality back. In challenge coins the price never dictates quality. This is an old wise tale for the most part. It is extremely difficult to base an end result entirely on a price index. Just because you get a great deal or you pay through the nose does not mean you are going to get different results. The results come from the factory used in making coins.

Company Portfolio – A company’s reputation is hugely dependent on previous coins made. When you need examples of coins made you should look at any and all examples of coins that company has produced. The more coins that factory has made is a direct correlation in how good that company is. If they have a small portfolio then one of two things happened. The first is they are new and the second being maybe they weren’t good enough to get many orders.

Word of Mouth – This has to be one of the biggest factors of a company’s success. Word of mouth even with today’s advertising budgets is the most powerful tool to build a company. When you hear from someone that a company made a great coin for them you should open your ears up. A good company will get a return on their efforts of 5 to 1. That means for every order they do they should reap 5 new orders. A lot of companies have a great degree of difficulty achieving this success.

– This is almost irrelevant in today’s minting world. The fact of this is with the EPA standards in the United States most websites and actual minting facilities in the United States have outsourced to foreign factories. Most won’t even tell you they are minting coins overseas just to make you feel patriotic. There are only a couple mints left in America today. Their quality is rivaled by the overseas facilities so the difference is the price you will pay to have the Made in America tag to your coin. You may end up paying 4-5 times the going price is you select your mint on this merit alone.

As you can see we touch upon a few factors of choosing where and how you get your coin minted. Don’t be fooled about what really goes on behind the scenes. Do your homework, and don’t let frivolous information about a company suck you in to a bad deal. Just because they have advertising budgets does not mean they have your best interest in mind. If you pay more than $1.90 per unit on a 1.75” round coin then you are being ripped off plain and simple. Be smarter in your shopping and you will feel better about the same end result that is delivered to you.

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