We recently reported on the the government's failed effort to persuade Americans to use dollar coins.
But the coins have found at least one group of fans: Travel enthusiasts who buy thousands of dollar coins with credit cards that award frequent-flier miles for purchases.
Once in possession of the coins — shipped to them by the government for free — they can deposit them into their bank accounts and pay off the credit card bills. The result: a free ticket to anywhere.
"We've used them to go on trips around the world," says Jane Liaw, a 35-year-old public health researcher and science writer in San Francisco. Liaw says she and her husband, who use a variety of tricks for earning miles, are planning trips to Greece and Turkey, "all on miles and points."
Liaw says she spends some of the coins at the local farmer's market and stores.
The problem is that even if so-called "travel hackers" like Liaw put some of the coins in circulation, their purchases from the Mint contribute to a huge and growing buildup of one-dollar coins in Federal Reserve vaults.
The mountain of coins is the unintended result of a 2005 act of Congress. The law requires that more and more coins be minted, despite a lack of demand by the public. (For more, see our story "$1 Billion That Nobody Wants.")
The Mint's direct-ship program is aimed at getting the coins into everyday circulation.
Officials there first noticed something amiss in summer 2008, when they saw that a small number of customers were repeatedly ordering large numbers of one dollar coins. The top 20 customers bought between $219,000 and $696,000 worth, says Mint spokesman Tom Jurkowsky.
Another clue the hackers left was that dollar coins were arriving in banks still clad in their U.S. Mint packaging.
"Do we feel a little bit violated? Yes, and that's why we aggressively sought measures to eliminate what we called an abuse," says Jurkowsky.
Jurkowsky said the Mint sent letters to the top abusers and imposed a limit of 1,000 coins every ten days.
"It's not illegal," he said, "But it's an abuse of the system. That's not what the system was set up to do. The system was set up to promote the use of dollar coins and we are simply trying to do the right thing here."
Around this time, people buying dollar coins to get frequent-flier miles drew national attention in outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.
After the Mint acted, orders for Native American dollar coins, which are only available directly from the Mint, dropped – from 88.7 million in 2009, to 52 million last year and 19 million so far this year.
In total, the mint has mailed out 284 million one-dollar coins, including presidential and Native American coins, through the direct-ship program.
Native American coins bear the likeness of Lewis and Clark guide Sacagewea. By law, Sacagewea must appear on one in every five dollar coins manufactured, the legacy of political dealings on Capitol Hill.
While the Mint says the Native American coins are now popular enough to be back-ordered, a recent Federal Reserve studyprovided to NPR says nearly 60 percent of them come back to Federal Reserve vaults.
Both the Mint and Federal Reserve now support eliminating the Sacagewea quota.
The Fed, in its latest report to Congress, is also asking for additional changes that would allow it order only the number of dollar coins the economy needs.
As long as the dollar coin scheme is viable – without a crackdown by credit card issuers, for example – there will be enthusiasts like Ben Schlappig, who writes the travel hacker blog One Mile At A Time.
"I'm not as heavy a hitter as other people, I guess," Schlappig says. "I've ordered probably, maybe 30 or 40,000 worth."
Schlappig, who says he has "a few million miles" and top-tier status with several airlines, orders at the Mint's limit.
"Just last week I came back from a trip from Australia and Singapore and Malaysia all in first class, just on miles," he says, "partly thanks to the dollar coin program."
蘋果網掃iPhone 蝕賣賺機票
經濟日報 – 1小時34分前
【經濟日報專訊】香港蘋果官網早前開始大量發售白色iPhone 4，加上市場近日熱傳iPhone 5將於9月推出，令iPhone 4炒價跌穿成本。
當持貨市民紛紛蝕讓離場之時，有年輕炒家繼續大手入貨，甚至一口氣用盡100部訂購限額，然後即時蝕少少轉售，目的是透過信用卡巨額交易，獲得大量飛行里數或信用卡積分：「賣40部蝕約720元，就換到價值逾5,000元的日本來回機票！」
年輕人用盡方式買賣iPhone 4獲利，有經濟學家坦言欣賞，認為把握每個獲利機會，是創業的基本精神；但亦有學者批評，蘋果的銷售策略助長炒風，呼籲市民小心風險。
黑白機 每部各蝕38及18元
香港蘋果官網在6月中開始大量出貨，未拆封的iPhone 4回收價，已跌穿原價4,988元，以先達G-World Mobile為例，白色及黑色iPhone 4收購價僅4,970及4,950，即放售者每部要蝕18元及38元，毫無「水位」。
惟記者前日下午1時到達旺角先達廣場，發覺仍有不少年輕人手持iPhone 4及iPad2在場內店舖放售。
G-World Mobile負責人劉志剛透露，現時一個上午仍可收逾百部iPhone 4：「今日就有客人一口氣放100部白機！」劉解釋這些客人明知蝕價仍繼續訂購及放售，目的是透過信用卡購買後，儲飛行里數換機票。
26歲的資深炒家阿燁（化名）向記者分析如何「蝕賣iPhone賺機票」。他指出，市面上有多張可儲飛行里數的信用卡，例如最受炒家歡迎的星展黑卡（DBS Black Card），每6元就賺一里：「假設訂購100部白色iPhone 4，簽帳額約50萬元，可換得8.3萬飛行里數，足夠來回倫敦一轉。同程的國泰機票至少逾萬元，但放售iPhone 4帳面損失僅1,800元（每部蝕18元），點計都有賺！」
學者讚彈 創業精神Vs助長炒風
他續表示，由於iPhone 4回收價穩定，頂多只會蝕50元，加上蘋果貨源充足，從官網訂購到拿去放售僅需一周，風險不算太大：「想快就訂黑色，3日完成買賣，但部分舖頭已不收！」記者在先達廣場詢問多位放售iPhone 4的炒家，部分坦承利用買賣iPhone 4獲得的飛行里數，免費前往澳洲及日本。
嶺南大學經濟學系教授何濼生坦言，從未想過可以「蝕賣iPhone賺機票」，並指賣家賺得機票，買家低價收機，雙方均有利：「事件反映年輕人市場觸覺靈敏，能把握獲利機會，擁有創業精神。」
然而，中文大學市場學系教授冼日明則批評，蘋果的銷售策略助長炒風，扭曲年輕人心態：「以為單靠炒賣可發達，小時炒iPhone，長大後炒樓，並非良好的社會現象！」
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炒iPhone賺機票實錄
實錄1︰買機簽帳90萬 儲逾10萬里數
80後何先生炒賣iPhone 4近一年，訂購時多以星展黑卡過數：「在蘋果官網買必須使用信用卡，一部機近5,000元，所以張卡好快已儲到大量飛行里數。」他透露，近年炒賣iPhone 4的交易金額逾90萬元，卡內仍有逾10萬飛行里數，足夠免費來回倫敦兩次。
何先生手上仍有約20部白iPhone 4，但因不合價未放售：「回收價應會回升，蝕10元就放，不過蝕20元都可以，反正是儲分！」
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實錄2︰轉賣蘋果產品 目標免費遊澳
葉先生今年1月起炒賣iPhone 4，自4月中蘋果官網開售黑色iPhone 4後，他即時轉炒iPad 2及白色iPhone 4，近日眼見兩者炒價回落，打算轉為買賣蘋果產品儲飛行里數。
「早前有朋友訂了40部iPhone 4，簽帳額已足夠換取一張來回東京的機票！」葉表示，以前炒賣雖可放售獲利兼儲飛行里數，但畢竟供貨有限，儲得較慢；近日出貨多又快，跑多兩轉就可輕易儲夠飛行里數，他的目標，是免費去澳洲的機票。
