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When the dollar coin was first introduced in the US, you could order them online for no extra cost, as a way of increasing adoption. There would be a $1000 charge on your credit card, and 1000 coins would show up at your door (shipping was free too).

A lot of airline miles were earned at the expense of the US government.

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Well really at the expense of the airlines right?

Those airline miles are paid for with the processing fees charged to merchants by credit card companies.

No, at the expense of the US tax payer, who paid for the credit card processing fee and free shipping through the US mint.

More accurately, at the expense of us currency holders. The mint is self-finaning.

The cost to the mint to produce a coin is far less than the face value.

Whether anyone was actually hurt depends on how the cost to distribute this way compares to the normal cost to distribute new currency.

And, assuming this method was more expensive, calculating who was hurt and by how much would take me a few hours. Maybe someone else has that more on the top of their head.

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