I sent them a nastygram last week. I got an email about a special gift just for filling out a customer satisfaction survey. I filled out the survey and my "special gift" was free shipping on an order of $3,000.00 or more. I usually buy in lots of 20 eagles or 1-oz bars, so I never spend that much in one transaction. The way I see it, if I'm spending $3k, I'd BETTER get free shipping!
Incidentally, after ruminating on this for about a month, I just joined Preservation of Wealth, as you can see by my new sig.
I'm not one for shameless plugs (and Mods--if you need to delete or move this message to another area I won't be insulted!), but if you buy a lot of ASE's or gold eagles or bullion, I think the $249.00 per year will pay for itself and then some. ASE's are $2.00 over spot (the "spot" price they follow is usually a few cents above kitco, but not by much), and shipping is never over $22.00 per order. I just locked in 20 ASE's for $670.55 shipped (shipping price was $14.35, so less than APMEX's 19.95 for the same order). I worked it out--at the same spot price for 20 ASE's, my APMEX bill would have been 707.95 shipped, which means I saved about $37.40, or $1.87 per coin. At that rate, the $249 membership will pay for itself after 134 ASE's, so worthit for me! I'll keep everyone posted on how fast they ship.
Yes, it's an MLM network marketing company, so they're also selling that aspect, but I don't really care much about that part, and participation is not required. I just want to buy silver and gold as cheaply as possible. If you want to read more about it, click the link in my signature.