We think this looks like the sort of thing the feds may want to get involved in. And if they don't do anything about it, we're going to go buy some new ink for the old color printer and start selling collectible Obama Pennies online.
* And also hit yourself in the head with a mallet, kthx. Return to post.
This reminds me of an episode of "Drawn Together" where Foxxy Love discovered that the Board of Education purposefully keeps black people uneducated so they will buy useless crap.
]]>I don't know that I'd call this a "scam". I mean, you do get an "Obama Coin" in "full color" just as they claim.
It's a cheap knock-off, sure. And I wouldn't buy one with someone else's 10ft credit-card-pole, but calling this a scam is like claiming Hot Wheels are a scam b/c you can't drive in them.
]]>Meh, I thought it was paint too, or at least some kind of heat-transfer printing. I didn't put too much thought into it.. I have a DVR and saw the coin only for as long as it took to make fun of it before hitting skip again.
]]>I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone was really that STUPID and bought that crap.
]]>When Montel started hacking the prescription insurance club thing (which is sponsored by the same industry), I lost all confidence in his ability to promote anything useful. Nevertheless, you get what you pay for...buyer beware.
]]>That's what you get for buyin' an "uncurcalated" coin.
]]>huh, I don't think I'll be listening to their opinion.
]]>@Philly Falcon: hmm perhaps you haven't read enough to realize "King George" wasn't alone it causing this, look a little farther back to say Carter & Clinton
]]>@xtc46: True, true. But a lot of those are from an era where sports cards were considered "junk" and not collectables (along with funny books) and abused or just plain tossed out by your mother when you went off to school or the army. Outside of some inserts and stuff that was expensive to begin with, very little made in the last ~20 years will hold much value.
]]>He should find a bank that won't accept these coins, if you presented them "Obama" side up, the first reaction from the bank would be that they're fake. If he can do that, he can now prove they aren't legal tender. This ad offered legal tender US coins. A chargeback can then be filed based on the fact the coins cannot be spent in the US.
Of course, this hinges on finding a bank that is too lazy/busy to pull off the sticker.
]]>Feh, even QVC (and similar) suck. I stopped by a special "outlet" store of theirs where you can actually buy TSC stuff live, in person. I ended up walking out. Everything looked like total junk and wasn't really priced to move.
There were very few others in the store. I think these places live on hype, and it's hard to generate hype over a physical product the people can touch without some over-excited person wearing a headset showing you the (very limited) ways it won't break. :D
]]>OBA-MANIA RUNNING WIND! BROTHER!
]]>I have to give the company credit. They came up with a plan, and probably made a fortune. I say good for them. I don't believe the commercial ever stated it was painted on the quarter.
Anybody suckered into buying them got exactly what they deserved.
]]>@PLATTWORX: @PLATTWORX: anyone foolish enough to buy these, deserve it
]]>@Overheal: Let's be somewhat fair. It's pretty obvious they did SOMETHING with a regular coin, but not necessarily a sticker. Initially it looked like a machine paint job to me, though my TV is pretty old.
]]>@kreatre2009: Do you know what socialism means? Do you live here in the states as well? If so then you can have some of the misery too.
]]>Oddly, my mom bought a set of these. She got them originally with me in mind (for Christmas). When I made it clear that I had no interest in any commemorative anything, she gave them to my dad. And they're both evangelical Christian, Fox News-watching Republicans.
Okay, so she's just a tad gullible by nature. Not that I'd insinuate any sort of connection between the two.
]]>And his sidekick Pelosi is even worse.
]]>True believers will pay large sums of money for a token or talisman of the object of their faith.
]]>@Eilonwynn:
That wasn't the comment though the comment was
"you're buying $20 worth of pennies, really." Which is still $20
]]>@bilups:
LOL Funniest. Comment. Today. (and true facts)
Don't forget about Oprah then too! She will endorse just about anything, half of which are scams and shady companies you don't want to deal with. Oh, and Rachel Ray.
]]>Remember the Good Old Days (about three years ago) when if you criticized the President for attacking a country that didn't do anything to us, you'd be called "unpatriotic"? What happened to "even if you don't like the man, you should respect the office"?
Gee, could it have anything to do with SKIN COLOR? Nah, that would be RACIST.
]]>I agree. Sylvia Browne sucks.
Speaking from an actor standpoint, I can tell you that for the most part, spokespeople don't actually get to use or test a product before they sign their contract. I did a commercial for a golf shoe that I've yet to see, for instance (the shoe, not the commercial). I don't know if they're pieces of crap or not, I just know I got my SAG pay that day.
If anything, Montel could sue the company for using his celebrity to promote such a scam. He shouldn't, because as already said, he lost all credibility by using his own show to promote Sylvia Browne, scammer extraordinaire; but he certainly could.
]]>Even the NORFED people did a better job by actually stamping their own coins when they were promoting Ron Paul last year.
]]>Something tells me if they ran out of Kennedy half dollars, they'd substitute something else equally worthless to maintain sales. Hey how 'bout a Massachusetts quarter-- the state where Obama made his national TV debut at the Democratic convention back in 2004.
]]>He's just an actor. He was paid to read lines for half a day.
]]>The real issue here is that there should be a law requiring merchants accept returns. Perhaps there is, and these particular idiots will receive a refund so that they can buy some state quarters.
]]>These coin peddlers are as bad as the name-a-star scammers ...
]]>These coin peddlers are as bad as the name-a-star scammers ...
]]>If you weren't so busy pouting and stomping your feet that your guy didn't get elected, you might have remembered that living Presidents are not memoralized on coins.
]]>nothing like a story with Obama in it to bring out the wingnuts and racists...
as to this thing, despite the republitards best efforts, Obama as a president really is a breakthrough regardless of accomplishments in office yet... the fact that some people want to collect a piece of that history to remind themselves when the majority of America was able to look past skin color and vote in the person they thought best for ther job.
for perspective people in this country collect anything with a pug dog on it, or anything star wars related. so coming down on someone instead of focusing on the fact that this "business" has been allowed to to run continued scams on the collectibles market seems misguided at best.
]]>change! literally!
]]>You've got that right. I guess their philosophy is that since President Obama has been in office for about three weeks he has had enough time to clean up the mess that King George took eight years to smear all over us.
]]>Let's all quote P.T. Barnum boys and girls: There's a sucker born every minute.
]]>@jwissick: Uh your stupid is showing!!!
]]>Four Special Edition Coins including real-life images capturing history on a Washington Dollar, a Kennedy Half Dollar, an Illinois Quarter and a Hawaii Quarter
Why were they surprised when they received a quarter, half dollar and a dollar coin?
]]>And he is historic. He is the first illegal alien to be elected president.
]]>Skip to about 6:30 for just the ad, although the whole clip is good.
]]>Exactly -- even if these were real 'commemorative coins' in the sense of actually being properly minted, they'd still be a total rip-off. Those coins have no resale value outside of their melt price -- and most of them aren't even worth what you'd imagine for a melt price since they're not generally high purity metals.
]]>Either way, putting a sticker or gluing a piece of plastic on top of a regular coin is just awful!
Hey, is it a regular US coin? If so, isn't it illegal to deface US currency? I don't know if that is an urban legend or not.
@RbblRbblChzbrgr_GitEmSteveDave: In this case, the "collector's plates" may have actually been worth more in the end. There are lots of little old ladies who collect those ugly plates!
@floraposte: True, they may have thought it was some kind of collector's coin, even if it wasn't U.S. currency.
]]>But let's face it, he's just the spokesman. He's not responsible for this. I just feel pretty bad for the people that paid 20 bucks for a quarter.
]]>My understanding of the law is that it rests on that second word - fraudulently. In other words, it's perfectly legal to deface, alter, or destroy a coin, as long as you aren't doing it in order to commit fraud - ie modify it to look like a higher-value coin.
That's why those machines at rest stops and tourist traps - the ones that take a penny and make it into a collectible souvenir - are legal - because nobody is going to mistake the flattened slug for legal tender.
]]>For example, back when the U.S. still used gold and silver in circulating coinage, fraudsters would clip the edges off coins, reducing their value. That's why coins have "reeded" edges now -- they make it easier to spot a clipped coin.
A weirder example of the opposite fraud: Once in the 1800s, the U.S. minted nickels that had a big roman numeral five, but didn't include the word "cents" anywhere on the coin. Con men were painting them gold and telling people the nickels were five dollar coins!
In as much as those stupid stickers don't purport to change the tender value of Obama coins, the law (as used so far) doesn't apply. Which, in this case, I agree sucks.
]]>It's just a matter of time. Sure, there's a lot of them now, but how many pristine, perfect sets will there be in 300 years?
That's where the value comes from in coins.
]]>@Eoghann:
Last I checked, his excellency hasn't done anything worthy of getting his face on a coin *any other way* than on a decal.
Wow. They should just do a chargeback
]]>Why the hell are they buying this crap anyway? Just get a circle and put obama's face on it!
Its partly their fault for buying the thing, no, it is their fault for being bad consumers.
The company isnt much better though
]]>Suckers, this is what you get.
]]>If I were this man, I would cancel my credit card/check card and get a new number. He should call his bank and tell him the card was lost. Then when this stupid "US Mint" goes to charge him for these as-yet-unshipped coins, they won't be able to put the charge through on his old number.
Simple solution.
]]>How is this company still around considering that they are knowingly altering and defacing US coinage?
]]>People really order these things?? Come on now..
]]>Though I wonder if the stickers can be taken off and put on a oven to see if they're made of the same stuff as Shrinky Dinks.
]]>The following is from their web site;
"Yes, I would prefer to order 5 sets at just $89.95 plus shipping and handling. I save over 20%..."
"Yes I want to order for family and friends so please send me 10 sets for the low price of $179.95 shipping and handling. I save 35%..."
Now let's do the math, 5 sets at $19.95 each comes to $99.75. If we subtract 20% it comes to $79.80 not $89.95. But it gets even better. Ten sets at the regular price comes to $199.50. If you deduct the so-called 35% savings it should bring the price down to $129.68 not $179.95.
I wonder if target and Walmart are handling the math for this company?
]]>So really, depending on the exchange rate that day, you're buying $20 worth of pennies, really.
]]>Wow-change you can't believe in.
/ducks
]]>I don't understand why people buy these things in the first place. to each their own I suppose. I do hate their commercials as well.
]]>I guess I'll probably not be underestimating the almost sublime stupidity of the American TV shopping public again.
]]>Yes, but a legal tender sticker.
]]>The U.S. Mint has produced a whopping 33,774,200,000 state quarters since the inception of the 50 State Quarters® Program in 1999. The total does not include the several hundred million Arizona state quarters that started to hit circulation in June. And by the program's completion with the final Hawaiian commemorative later this year, the Mint will have issued well over 34 billion state quarters.
]]>Anyway, pretty much all of the "collector coins" sold on TV are scams -- even the genuine semi-commemoratives (like the 50 state quarters) aren't as valuable as those dopes on the home shopping channels want you to believe.
]]>Montel Williams should be held somewhat financially responsible for this.
How? Using that logic, anyone on the Food Network who put peanut butter in their recipes should be "held somewhat financially responsible" for PCA's salmonella-contaminated peanut butter.
Last I checked, his excellency hasn't done anything worthy of getting his face on a coin *any other way* than on a decal.
]]>Agreed. Even if these weren't regular coins with stickers, why would you want them? I assume these are the same people who buy their home decor at a drugstore chain.
]]>"Act now, supplies are extremely limited"... yeah, as if they can't get any more coins from a bank to put stickers on top of. More likely, "act now, because when word starts going around that this is a scam, we'll be forced out of business."
]]>Montel Williams should be held somewhat financially responsible for this. While I think the man will say or do ANYTHING for a buck and is useless, there are people who bought this assuming "Montel Williams" would not enforce a scam.
Since he has, he should be refunding their money.
The White House has recently been trying to get some control over Obama's image, which is in the "public domain" like other Presidents. This is why.
]]>