A long time ago, as a matter of fact, it’ll be forty years ago in November, I went into the precious metals business. November, 1977 it was. I was 43, and there were no TV advertisers. I was virtually alone. Why “Colorado Gold?” Because I love Colorado, have spent more than half my life here, love the mountains, ghost towns and narrow gauge railroads. Besides, billions of dollars worth of gold and silver have been extricated from these glorious Colorado mountains. I mention this, because the TV is full of advertisers for precious metals. Companies which have been around for a few years at most, and usually have a bad Better Business Bureau rating. (Ours is A plus and has been so for decades!) The ads promise free gold and silver, free books and circulars, free shipping, and many warn of perilous times ahead. (Anyone who tells you what’s going to happen in the immediate future is a liar). Once you have called any of them, you are on their list. They have your phone number, and the calls will drive you nuts.
After a few years, I got so busy, I brought my son David into the outfit. A couple years after that, we got swamped again, and I brought my daughter Melissa in. Then Morgen came in, and not too long after that, I turned 80 and decided to retire. Sort of anyway, because people still call me, and I am delighted to talk to them. I turned 83 last week, and am still in great health. Why am I writing this? Because of at least two things we NEVER do, and that’s what all the TV advertisers do.
Advertise. Colorado Gold has never spent a dime in advertising. When I first started, it was slow, and I wrote a sort of newsletter. I was in Phoenix, and I reviewed restaurants, films, and just wrote about whatever pleased me. It was called “The Diatribe.” No advertising. “The Diatribe,” (I’ve still got most of them), cost thirteen cents to mail, and printing them cost a couple of cents each maybe…if that is advertising. At any rate, it worked, and by word of mouth, I made a living. It was fun! There was no such thing as a web site then, and basically my business was in Arizona till I started a web site in 1998. Then I got customers from all 50 states.
Calling people. I forbid it, and consider it the apotheosis of shady business practices. If you want something, you go and get it, be it at an auto parts store, grocery store, department store, or a precious metals dealer. When someone calls you, it simply means that they are trying to sell you something which you hadn’t thought of buying, and something they will make a commission on. The high pressure is on. These guys usually sit in little cubicles in a large, expensive office, and work for commission. If anyone calls you to try to sell you something, beware. They are in it for themselves, not you! They’ll say anything to close a sale. Ugh!
Advertising isn’t cheap, and I must call your attention to the libertarian phrase, TANSTAFL, or “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Free gold and silver as advertised? Lies on top of lies. Who do you think pays for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV advertising? The customer pays for it! Who else could? How? By making a large enough profit on sales to pay for it, naturally. Or by selling off brand stuff which we would never do. Our web site has just about everything on it. The prices of gold and silver coins, bars, etc change constantly, and our web site is directly linked to our supplier, who is the largest distributor of metals in the world. We charge 1% over what we pay for the stuff, and shipping is included. Do we clean up and screw our customers to pay for advertising? Do we have fancy offices and huge payrolls to be paid for with high profits? Nope. We work out of our individual homes, and have no employees, other than ourselves. Utter simplicity and efficiency. The only “advertising” we do is to pay for our toll free numbers. We don’t have any brochures, and don’t fraudulently ‘give away’ gold and silver. Just a bit of thought, and you will readily see that we sell and deliver precious metals for 1% over what we pay for them, and our customers are not paying inflated prices for office staff, advertising, and hoopla of every sort. This makes us most reliable and reasonable place to buy metals. You’re talking to the boss, not some high pressure sales person.
The paper, unbacked dollar, has lost 95% of its value, and things priced in dollars, be they groceries, cars, real estate, and gold and silver have ‘gone up’ as the dollar has ‘gone down.’ No one can argue that. Gold and silver have been true money for thousands of years. No one can argue that either, and that’s why we exist. When I first started, I was selling gold Krugerrands for $250. That’s all we had then. Spot silver was $4 as I remember. Had you been my customer then and kept the stuff, you would be in fine shape now! If you buy now, decades from now, you will also be in fine shape, and if you die, you can leave the stuff to your kids tax free. No book, brochure, or high pressure salesman could say it any clearer.
There is a web site that rates precious metals dealers, and we are top rated. If you want graphs showing metals history, the web site has it, and my weekly column, except this one anyway, is not advertising. I am certain that thousands read my screed and never buy a thing from us. (WEREN’T THE SPEECHES AT CPACK GREAT? Isn’t it marvelous that American is on its way to salvation because of Donald Trump?)
My books, “Consequences,” or “I Hold These Truths,” can be had by sending a check for $9.95 for each, to Don Stott, 222 S. 5th St, Montrose CO. 81401.