Coin Shortage?

No matter what you read on Facebook, it’s not some conspiracy

You may have seen signs posted at a few stores around town announcing that only credit or debit cards are being accepted, no cash, and wondered what was going on.

Well, if you tuned to Facebook for the answer —as apparently many do these days — you would have been told it was a deep, dark conspiracy to turn the U.S. into a cashless society, putting all spending under government control, possibly even a precursor to the end times and the mark of the beast.

Nonsense.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Mint took steps to protect its workers. So coin production was temporarily reduced.

At the same time, because of shelter-in-place, fewer of us were shopping in person. Working from home and furloughs meant fewer coins went into vending machines or were spent on public transportation. Also, many banks closed their lobbies, shutting off access to coin counting machines. So the coins we already had were not being returned to circulation at the normal rate.

As the economy started reopening, it all came together to create a shortage of coins. Many businesses aren’t affected. But some retailers with a large volume of cash transactions simply can’t get enough coins to take care of their customers. And that’s the reason for the signs.

It’s not a conspiracy. It’s the result of extraodinary circumstances. We had a similar shortage of pennies in 1999 and 2000. Some businesses resorted to rounding purchases up or down to the nearest nickel. That shortage resolved itself.

And this coin shortage will too.