Put your two cents in
Banks, stores attempt to mitigate coin shortage
Quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies won’t kill COVID-19, stop people from spreading airborne viral particles or restock a bathroom. But they do have one thing in common with hand sanitizer, N95 face masks and toilet paper: There aren’t enough, and it’s causing problems.
The Federal Reserve announced last month coin distribution would be rationed as a result of dropping coin deposits and production rates — a symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement said pandemic conditions and the accompanying necessary safety measures had “significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coin.”
Cashless payments continue to rise in popularity nationally, but coins remain a critical part of the economy. The U.S. Mint produced more than 12 billion coins in 2019, which were distributed to banks across the country.
Banks have noticed the shortage. Marcey Zwiebel, PNC’s director of corporate relations, said in an email that all 2,300 of the $21.6 billion Pittsburgh-based bank’s locations have been “equally affected,” although she declined to comment further.
The shortage is a big enough problem that many stores have started asking customers to avoid paying in cash amounts that require change when possible — or even banned all cash payments. Signs have been appearing at checkouts around the Pittsburgh area in recent weeks.
But going entirely cashless isn’t a solution for people without bank accounts or credit cards (around 8.4 million households in the U.S. are in this situation, according to a
2017 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. survey).
Sheetz, an Altoona-based convenience store chain with 600 locations in six states, started thinking about ways to mitigate the effect of the shortage early on.
“We’ve seen a lot of retailers in our industry be affected,” said Nick Ruffner, public relations manager. “Gas stations and convenience stores tend to deal with a lot of cash.”
Sheetz has put up signs asking customers to pay with a card, by phone or with exact change in-store, as well as suggesting use of the company’s mobile orderand-pay system.
But it tries to keep open the option of a transaction involving coins. It has helped that the annual Sheetz for the Kidz fundraiser — which collects donations in the form of spare change from customers — has provided a source of coins for the company’s stores. (The donations are tracked throughout the fundraiser, and the total amount is donated at the end.)
Greensburg-based grocery chain Charley Family Shop ’n Save has been having an easier time finding enough nickels and dimes, company Vice President Tom Charley said.
The stores are in a “fortunate situation,” he said, because of the companyowned Coinstar machines (coin-deposit stations that convert change into cash and gift cards) that provide a steady supply of coins.
Because of the machines — and some coin rolls brought in by customers in exchange for paper cash — there hasn’t been a notable change in the stores’ operations regarding coins, Mr. Charley said. But he knows the company has been lucky.
“If I didn’t have that, it’d be extremely impactful,” he said. “The banks are very limited in what they can send us.”