Scott Barman writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
U.S. MINT DISCONTINUES MAIL ORDERS (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n22a17.html)

In this day and age, even telephone orders seem old-fashioned. If you want any of the hot Mint offers, you must order through the website.

Instant sellouts mean that any attempt to offer the coins the old-fashioned way by going to the expense of printing catalogs and order cards and mailing them to collectors simply means that anyactual orders generated for hot items would have to be returned unfilled. This would raise collector blood pressure across the land. - Not a good thing for the Mint to do. Blood pressure readings arehigh enough among collectors who actually do use a computer to place orders.

Of course, the Mint could issue printed catalogs that offer none of the good stuff. They could then fulfill the orders they receive. But even those few collectors who still order by mail know thepotentially hot stuff from the routine, and will not be particularly responsive to catalogs with no hot stuff in them.

So what's the point of making such a catalog in the first place? The Mint has asked this question and come to the logical conclusion.

To read the complete article, see:
Shed a tear for end of mail orders? (http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/shed-tear-end-mail-orders)