The San Francisco Mint tourist attraction gets bad reviews

The San Francisco Mint on Hermann Street

A review on a popular tourist internet site:

The mint currently makes proof coins and coin sets. They don't offer tours, up close it is just a uninviting fence. It's not a destination attraction, from a distance it stand outs alone on the hill and that's really all it is.

Another review:

This is not a tourist attraction. You cannot go inside of it. From the outside it is ugly. What a waste of land.

San Francisco Chronicle article (takes a long time to download)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-worst-reviewed-attractions-in-San-Francisco-9185241.php

However, I like the coins.

 

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It's a working factory.
Is the Chevy plant in Detroit a tourist attraction?

 

Other complaints said that some long tunnel in San Francisco is a boring long tunnel. Well, maybe some tourists expect that a mint building at such a (relatively central) location could offer something like guided tours or a souvenir shop ...

Christian

 

This is also true with the West Point Mint (no tours available)/

 

Hey, the tourists could always go to Chinatown and get some US coins direct from China.

Chris

 

And many historical sites have been reviewed as being boring. "It's just a field!" or whatever similar type of idiocy has impregnated the "reviewer's" mind at that particular moment.

Some folks prefer the intellectually stimulating, while others demand Disney World and everything in between.

 

Kind of reminds me of Gene Shalit reviewing movies. If he did not like it, you were not supposed to either. It would be like driving past the Gettysburg battlefields and not stopping in to actually " feel " the history. At least these people got to see the place which is more than I have done.

 

They do tours at the Philly and Denver mints, so maybe they expect it here too.

 

Isn't there a museum at the old mint building? Has anyone been?

 

Which very likely is what a lot of it is for the disappointment. I get why they don’t at West Point, it’s a little strange they don’t at San Fran but then again most people wanna be outside all day in Cali

 

The last time I was at the Philly mint, there was a self-guided tour where you went up an escalator and could look down thru windows at the employees doing coin production, plus exhibits along the way explain the minting process. There's also a gift shop, which is outsourced obviously, judging by some of the items on sale.

 

They could have Prison signs on them who would know the difference!

 

Hey, look, is that Alcatraz?

 

I expected that they did. Up until I read this thread. I wonder why they only give tours at Philadelphia and Denver?

 

West Point is a no go from all the metals inside and it’s a small facility.

 

That makes sense, but what gives about San Francisco?

 

Probably same logic since the overwhelming majority of what they do isn’t for circulation.

 

It seems to me that an enterprising person could create a coin store right beside these mints and make a fortune. I may retire and sell hot dogs and coins right outside the San Francisco mint. I may even sell pretzels in the shape of an S. The clear S would be more than the filled S of course!

 

As a note, I just completed my Susan B Anthony collection with two recent gifts. My wife got me the 1981 Clear S for Christmas and my daughters got me the 1979 Clear S for my birthday. Another one bites the dust!

 

I don't believe the old mint building is open any longer. Financial difficulties with the organization trying to renovate it. As of Nov 2017 there were no tours.

Found something else, it appears they may be having tours on March 3 and 4 for San Francisco History Days. Appears to be an annual event.