Coin shortage across US leaves businesses digging for change
A convenience store chain is offering a free beverage or sandwich in exchange for them. A laundromat owner even drove for hours to get them.
There is a shortage of coins across the U.S. thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Quarters, dimes and nickels aren’t circulating as freely as they usually do because many businesses have been closed and consumers aren’t spending as much.
The Federal Reserve announced in June that the supply system for coins had been severely disrupted. The U.S. Mint and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have urged Americans to use coins or turn them in to banks. As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, the coin supply is expected to normalize.
Meanwhile, retailers have urged shoppers to use cards or exact change whenever possible. Some won’t provide change. Grocery giant Kroger Co. is still accepting cash, but offers customers the option to load their change onto loyalty cards to use on their next visit or to donate the balance to charity.
Convenience store chain Wawa offered customers a free beverage at some of its stores if people brought in $5 worth of coins, or a sandwich for $50 or more. Community State Bank, a regional chain in Wisconsin, even offered a $5 bonus for every $100 worth of coins that people brought in. They had to suspend it after a week due to overwhelming response.
There are still some conundrums that only coins can solve.
“It’s at the minimum an inconvenience, at worst it’s a business challenge,” said Brian Wallace, CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, a trade group for laundromats. About 56% of laundromats that serve the public take quarters as the only form of payment. And 89% take quarters as some form of payment, with cards, loyalty programs or mobile payments as an alternative, according to the trade group.
Laundromats rely heavily on coins, in part, because many of their customers are “unbanked” or “underbanked,” meaning they mostly or entirely use cash instead of cards to pay for things.
Daryl Johnson, who owns Giant Wash Laundry — a chain of 11 laundromats in the Minneapolis area — said his company normally buys anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 in quarters a week for its change machines. But after the Fed began rationing distributions of coins, his bank said it might not be able to provide any.
“Obviously we were freaking out a little bit,” he said.
Johnson offered to buy change from friends and family on Facebook. He put up signs in stores asking customers to bring in their own coins and adjusted his change machines to only accept smaller bills to limit outflow. He even drove more than four hours to Omaha. Nebraska, to buy $8,000 on quarters from another laundry operator.
“It’s that or my businesses close,” he said.
People who rely on coinoperated laundry machines in laundromats and apartment buildings are struggling as well. Stephanie Sabin of Portland, Oregon has a washing machine at her apartment complex that only takes quarters. In July, her neighborhood bank was closed for in-person business. The next five locations she tried were either closed or unable to give her quarters. She’s been able to get her laundry done with quarters her family had or that she bought from her boss.
“You can no longer request rolls of quarters at grocery stores or even get change back if you pay with cash at a food drive-thru,” she said.
For the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, a shutdown in March turned into an unexpected opportunity to help offset lost revenue and ended up helping address the coin shortage too.
The aquarium shut down its waterfall and cleared out about 100 gallons of coins visitors had thrown in over the past 14 years. The coins will go toward operating costs.
“We are definitely feeling the pinch,” said Danielle Bolton, a spokeswoman for the aquarium. “Every penny counts, literally.”