Originally Posted by crabbing

shipping
although there have been hundreds of supposed "data points" about when orders ship, the reality is that there is no way to know when an order will ship. if there is a pattern or a policy followed by the mint internally, no one on the outside knows what it is and there is no evidence that it is discernable beyond speculation. although a statement by the mint that a particular coin is on "backorder" is generally a good indicator that it will not ship immediately, the backorder date is otherwise almost totally unreliable.

the end of the program
rumors of the demise of the direct ship program are just that, rumors. it is important to distinguish between the end of the dollar coin program from the direct ship program. the former is set to run through ford, and later presidents who by then have been dead for at least 2 years. it's not clear when, or whether, the NA coin will be terminated.

but the real issue for FT is whether or when the direct ship program will end. speculation as to its imminent demise has run rampant many times: when the word first got out, when the WSJ published an article on it, when the usa today ran an article, when mr pickles reported multiple deposits of tens of thousands at a time, when waves of new FT members joined primarily for info about the coins, when the mint stopped honoring amex gift cards, and when NPR ran its most recent hit piece on the coin loophole.

despite the obvious loophole, and despite taking measures intended to limit coin purchases, the mint has never suspended the direct ship program entirely (not counting scheduled inventory periods, during which orders may not be taken and nothing ships). the mint's reasons for maintaining the free shipping program are subject to just as much speculation. in the end, we don't know.