HOW AMERICA FELL INTO A GREAT COIN SHORTAGE

In yet another 2020 plot twist, coins aren’t making their way through the economy, with the repercussions rippling from the upper echelons of the federal government down to ice cream shops and bank teller windows. With more people staying home, buying less and shifting their spending online, the natural flow of pocket change through banks, restaurants and retail stores has dried up.

Coin issues can be a big deal. In the early 1960s, a shortage of silver helped usher in the passage of the Coinage Act of 1965, which removed silver from circulating coins. (Although, for those keeping score, the U.S. Mint says this is not a coin shortage or supply problem. The mint says it’s a circulation bottleneck that can only be cleared up with the public’s help.)

Whatever it’s called, this lack of coinage seems to be a challenge that ever-divided government, businesses and Americans can unite behind. There’s a new coin task force, complete with its own hashtag: #getcoinmoving. Businesses heavy in coins are helping businesses without. A Chick-fil-A in a South Carolina mall is inviting people to bring in their rolled coins in exchange for cash and a free sandwich. Casinos are trying to tempt would-be gamblers to empty jingling pockets in exchange for free slot play.

For its part, the U.S. Mint is actually on track to produce more coins this year than it has in almost two decades, having ramped up production to fill the void. Like everything else about this pandemic, the coin shortfall is unprecedented, at least for modern times.

“There is no comparison to previous events,” said Michael White, spokesman for the U.S. Mint.

Simply making more coins won’t completely solve the problem — hence the U.S. Coin Task Force, established in July to pinpoint how to kick the supply chain back into gear.

At the table are exactly whom you’d expect: the mint, the Fed, bank and retail industry groups, plus representatives for the big armored carriers that drive the money around, coin aggregators and federal credit unions. Among the group’s preliminary recommendations: financial institutions could give out free coin-rolling kits, and parents could use this weird time in history as a “teachable moment” for young ones learning about money.

But when it comes to getting coins flowing through the economy once again, the solution will depend on swaying Americans to change new habits developed during the pandemic.

To read the complete article, see:
A penny pinch: How America fell into a great coin shortage (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/01/coin-shortage-pandemic/)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web