Coin scarcity affects area retailers
For those ringing bells on behalf of the Salvation Army this holiday season, a merrier sound is the tinkle of quarters or other spare change cascading into red kettles as shoppers exit with purchases in hand.
Better yet is the whisper of dollar bills wafting down — and given a continuing shortage of coins for some retailers, those whispers could be far more frequent as the calendar flips to November.
The U.S. Coin Task Force convened in July 2020 to address a scarcity of coins in the early stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic, led by representatives of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and retail trade groups.
More than a year later in Connecticut and nationally, however, some stores are still coming up short on occasion for sufficient coins to make change on purchases, with managers scribbling warning signs to post at entrances and checkout lanes alongside mask advisories and hiring notices.
The task force’s takeaway? The problem is a “circulation” issue rather than an outright shortage, with a far larger-thannormal percentage of $48.5 billion in coin “sitting dorat in home drawers and piggy banks. While the U.S. Mint was forced to cut back on coin production at the outset of the pandemic, by the end of 2020 it had produced more coins than the previous year.
But the Federal Reserve estimates that cash made up 19 percent of U.S. payment transactions last year, down from 26 percent the prior two years, basing its conclusions on the results from spending “diaries” by more than 1,500 people who logged their transactions.
Small businesses have been affected the most, according to the task force which has a website online getcoinmoving.org for any updates.
The task force continues to urge shoppers to spend coins where possible, and for businesses not to horde their quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies to increase coin circulation. It acknowledges the particular difficulties for small businesses who may deal with larger numbers of customers using cash rather than payments cards.
At a Petco store on Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk where signs are posted noting the limited supply of coins, cashiers are suggesting that customers use an existing philanmant”