America's Coin Shortage Is Getting Worse

First world problem.

It's all bullshit, they just want us to run up our credit card debt.

R1 Many people have neither credit cards nor debit cards you twat

American Peoples! Do like your First Melania. Hide the extra coins in poosey. Very handey! Also, coin stay safe from son who eat them.

I noticed an ad here in Reno for one of the casinos offering some sort of drawings or free play in exchange for bringing in change. I thought it was an odd promotion, but I guess this explains it.

Here come all the people who ridicule other who pay cash for things.

Is that really something people use to feel superior to others?

I gave exact change twice today.

Strange thing is that early on during this pandemic, businesses did not want to take cash at all because they didn't want to handle germy money.

When I was at CVS the other day, there was a sign at the register asking for people to pay in exact change if they were paying with cash because they were short on change. I had a couple of dollars of coins in my car, so I gave it to them for dollar bills. Definitely my good deed of the day because the cashier was very happy.

I've been trying to give exact change too. My reward yesterday was finding a new quarter from the "America The Beautiful" series in my pocket, featuring a Samoan fruit bat mother and baby -- I won't be giving that one away!

Its a scam to get everyone on debit/credit cards so they can eventually unite us under one government and currency. Its how the bankers and government can track your every cent.

Big Brother, we are here.

there is an easy fix to this

the feds can agree to reimburse banks 1.10 for each dollar of change collected in change ATMs. for a limited time.

Maybe they could employ people too, to sanitize the money before circulating it to retail shops who need it.

Brick and mortar businesses could do the same. Give a small bonus for payment in coin.

This will not be done because it takes effort and organization and that is not possible in the USA, apparently.

If only the USA had a federal government that worked for the good of the union instead of 50 separate state governments milling about on their own while the Pres. plays golf, maybe something useful could be accomplished.

I bought a bag of bat quarters when they first came out. I usually only use them in machines, if ever, but I like having them. I’m surprised that they didn’t cease making them, if not stop issuing them entirely, under the circumstances. Did you notice that the bat is depicted upside down?

You may notice that the first comment at the link has a picture of the 5-oz. solid silver version of the quarter. Who knew, right?

R10, the mint once made a terrible error in judgement regarding coin purchases. I believe it was one of the dollar coin promotions. They offered $100 dollars in coins at a cost of $100, with free shipping. The problem is that they did not prohibit cash-back and/or frequent flyer promotions on the offers. People were buying the dollar coins, often returning them to banks, and earning vast quantities of FF miles or cash-back.

Today, mint purchases are expressly prohibited from such promotions - even though you can’t buy coins at dollar-for-dollar prices, either, to my knowledge.

A tangent, but this was a recent and unusual collection of mine. It is the only Palladium coin series made by the US mint, in a $25 denomination. It may appear in the photograph to be gold colored, but it is actually more silver colored. It features the the Mercury dime design on the obverse, and a new eagle design on the reverse, pictured on the second page of the link. The mint is selling it for close to $3000 now that metal prices are near highs. I paid $2000 last year so I guess that maybe it’s time to sell!?

Pierre, you tempter, you! I just bought a proof set of America the Beautiful quarters so I can remember this year with a bat quarter. I'll put it in the china cabinet next to my Harry and Meghan commemorative coin.

I had to beg my bank last week for a roll of quarters. They finally gave me one, when I wanted two. I had run through all of my quarters for laundry, and I was getting desperate. When I use cash at stores these days, I rarely get quarters in my change. They all say they don't have any. Grumble. Grumble.

A PSA announcement needs to go out letting people know that coins are desperately needed. If anyone is stockpiling in their piggy bank coins over $3, they should go to the bank or one of those coin machines and exchange for bills.

Once people know this, they can help. I have some coins that I'll count up and deposit on Monday.

First of all if a bank would give you $1.25 for every $1.00 turned in, the coin shortage would end overnight.

Second the article says there is no real shortage, but the problem is distribution. Some locations have more than enough change whilst other locations are short. The distribution and the ability to move the coins is the issue, especially with the quarantines states are now instituting.

It's 2020.

Who in the hell pays with CASH anymore...???

R12, bats hang upside down. If their position in the picture bothers you, just turn the coin around.

I have a huge bowl of pocket change. Banks won’t take it unless you roll it and have an account and I’m not dragging that shit by foot to a branch that actually has live tellers and wait in a Covid line out in the rain. The coinerator at the supermarket takes a big chunk, but is at least convenient.

I’ll just spend it little by little.

I have about $500 in change, but none of the banks in my town are open to anything but drive up, and they won't take change. Coinstar takes how much?

r22 Last time I looked, CoinStar was taking 8.9%. If they lowered the percentage more people would turn in their coins.

I see, about 11%, unless I get a giftcard to amazon.

thanks, r23. It appears to be higher now. You're right- I am not interested in hauling them and dealing and being charged $50.00.

r25 The store I worked in had two of the CoinStar machines, and they were put to good use, sometimes there was a waiting line. Most people would usually come in with a small plastic container of coins, maybe two. The oddest incident I ever witnessed was an elderly woman who came in pulling a child's wagon, in which she had 9 gallon milk jugs filled with coins. I think she "worked" more hours than I did that day, getting everything into the counting hopper.

I never understood why people were willing to pay that percentage.

TD Bank used to have coin machines(called Penny Lane, Penny Arcade, something like that) and you got a printout for everything you put into it. You then took the printout over to a teller and got your cash, no percentage taken. They got rid of the machines after awhile, I haven't been in a TD Bank lately, so they may have returned.

I know volunteers with non-profit animal rescue groups who put their kids to work counting and rolling coins that are dropped in donation boxes at pet supply stores and adoption fairs. Sometimes the task is a chore designed to make a kid hold still and shut up and focus, sometimes it's a lesson to teach counting and arithmetic and the history of American Presidents and states, sometimes it's just fun to pour the coins out (noisely!) and look at all the different pictures and race with each other to complete a roll. Other than that, rolling coins is a pain in the ass -- so give yours to a charity and estimate the total for a tax deduction.

When I lived in the midwest, some of the US Bank branches had coin machines that were free if you had an account there. Just dump in your coins and it prints out a slip, which you can take to the teller and have it deposited in your account.

I'll give CVS all my pennies, but I do not want to roll them up.

I've never had a bank that charged you to count coins as long as you had an account there. As for wrapping, again, I never have seen that as if you bring them wrapped they unwrap it and put it in their machine.

Coinstar you can get an e-gift card and you get to keep all your money.

I can just see you coin freak gays at Hole Foods or Trader Ho's and digging in your little coin purses, frantically searching for one last dime.

R26, yes, we had a Penny Arcade at our TD bank. They removed them because supposedly they jammed up too often. But there was also a question about their accuracy. The error was always in the bank’s favor, wouldn’t you know...

When paying for groceries, you can pay a portion in cash and pay the balance by card or check. I had a customer whose late father had been in the habit of throwing loose change into the trunk of his car. For years. She inherited hundreds of dollars in change and car with fucked-up suspension. She regularly paid me a few dollars in change that she had counted out in advance of her visit, then put the balance on her debit card.

Decades ago, I had a system. The Post Office lobby was open late, and I’d go in and dump all my coins into the stamp machine. Well, those days have passed.

I would also use my quarters at the self-cleaner power-washer car wash. I suppose that might still work today, though I use my credits cards so often for everything, that I have and accumulate almost no coins.

I don’t like paying for other people to make money off me unnecessarily. Once exception is that I put out my deposit soda and other deposit cans on the sidewalk for the less fortunate to collect and cash in. They earn it.

I want the bat quarter!

Christ, I have a 5 gallon glass water jug full of change in my closet and my map pocket door in my car is full of it. I hate carrying it around so everytime I bought a coffee or something, I'd just toss the change in the car door pocket.

My bank will take change, but you have to send it off to their main branch for processing. I wondered about the accuracy....

I've heard that some places are so low on change that they're giving out Jolly Ranchers instead of pennies.

I'm surprised the libertarians and gold standard folks aren't more OUTRAGED by the push to shift to electronic payment and away from cash.

As crazy as their objections are to "fiat" printed money, electronic money that doesn't exist at all other than as bits and bytes must make them truly unhinged.

Has anyone checked the trunk of Mary Trump's Rolls Royce?

I'm skeptical about this change shortage also because something like that would reverberate to dollar bills at some point.

I have a weird relationship with my change. I have a jar from a long time ago which at last count was around $60. I have a bunch of the dollar coins because I can't get them anywhere else and I think they're so pretty.

I keep a bunch in my door jamb for exact change but I find it so annoying to grab a bunch of coins to pay exact change and still not have the right combo/come up short so it collects there. Good for the vacuum or air pump, but I'm so cheap I go to the free air pumps most of the time. Fast food is paid by CC.

I have a bunch of pennies collected on my table by the couch that I started rolling up last summer and don't have the energy to finish rolling up. I have no shortage of change. Maybe I'm the problem....

Who the hell uses cash/coins anymore except old people? Even debit cards are becoming old-fashioned, with people paying on their phones.

R41, I like cash. It’s tangible and self-limiting. And it doesn’t leave you beholden to greedy corporations.

But I’m a relic. A liquid one.

I think cash/coins are one more thing that will be gone with the Boomers, like newspapers and other print media.

Time to clean out the fountains.

I still like paying with cash in small denominations since I spend less. If I want a pack of TicTacs, I don't want to use a charge card, and I don't want to break a $20 bill. I always have some change and some small bills on me, and use my credit cards for larger purchases. I've never paid for anything using a debit card.

[quote]Who the hell uses cash/coins anymore except old people? Even debit cards are becoming old-fashioned, with people paying on their phones.

Cash has two distinct advantage that cannot be replicated by electronic payments:

- Anonymity and inability to track transactions - there is no paper trail for where you've spent your money.

- Finality and inability to reverse without active participation of payor -you cannot get your money back unless I give it to you.

[quote]Anonymity and inability to track transactions - there is no paper trail for where you've spent your money.

But nobody who's under 100 years old cares anymore, gramps r46.

[quote]Finality and inability to reverse without active participation of payor -you cannot get your money back unless I give it to you.

You've never heard of crediting an account from the vendor? Or a bank stepping in and reversing the charges? Honest to god, I don't know what decade some of you are still living in.

I've made lots of "cash" deals at independent stores that for some reason include the tax....

That's called skimming r48.

Paying in cash can help the small business owner save a bit on swipe fees.

[quote]I never understood why people were willing to pay that percentage.

Because it's difficult for those of us with mobility issues to get the coins in their wrappers. I've never seen a coin machine at any bank I've gone to.

As long as people are buying drugs and sex, there will be a need for paper money.

[quote]But nobody who's under 100 years old cares anymore, gramps [R46].

Well, I can't help stupid, r47.

[quote]You've never heard of crediting an account from the vendor? Or a bank stepping in and reversing the charges? Honest to god, I don't know what decade some of you are still living in.

Your fundamental lack of understanding is astounding. But, thanks for the laughs. Honestly, I don't know where some people learn about basic life skills.

I got rid of $5 in a roll of dimes as CVS today. No, they weren’t busy.

I also got $20 in ones for the hobos at the traffic lights.

R52 cryptocurrency could fix that

I have a penny collection. Can I get a lot for it??

[QUOTE] Honest to god, I don't know what decade some of you are still living in.

Well, R47, I don't know what world some of you are living in.

[quote]" ... Coin Laundry Association (we swear this is an actual organization)...."

With nearly 30,000 coin laundries in the US, generating nearly $5 billion in gross revenue annually, why wouldn't there be an industry association?

[quote]This will not be done because it takes effort and organization and that is not possible in the USA, apparently.

It's been a while since anyone has accused the USA of having a lot of cents.

R46 said this: [quuote] Cash has two distinct advantage that cannot be replicated by electronic payments:

- Anonymity and inability to track transactions - there is no paper trail for where you've spent your money.

- Finality and inability to reverse without active participation of payor -you cannot get your money back unless I give it to you.

Then R47 said this: [quote]You've never heard of crediting an account from the vendor? Or a bank stepping in and reversing the charges? Honest to god, I don't know what decade some of you are still living in.

Really? How the fuck would a bank "step in and reverse charges" if a customer PAID CASH? And you're accusing people of being stupid? Oh my.

Please excuse my horrific formatting errors

R60

I've been making it a point to pay with exact change for the last several weeks. Put those coins sitting in my 'coin bowl' back into circulation.

[quote]I've been making it a point to pay with exact change for the last several weeks.

Wow what a selfless and noble person you are.

The signs saying there is a coin shortage leads to hoarding. I rarely use cash, but I do have a couple containers of coins that I have accumulated. I don’t want to exchange it for bills, since there is a shortage.

I'd hate to be stuck in line behind R62 while he paws through the huge bag of coins that he's hauling in a little red wagon, counting out nickles and dimes and pennies for his $34.28 grocery bill (the quarters were all used up early in the "several weeks" that he's been doing this, because they're the easiest to count out). Stores should have a separate "exact change" line for people like him.

R65, it takes me no longer to pay for things with exact change than you... especially since nobody needs to make change. I have coins in my hand ready to go, a small selection that can make any change (four pennies, a nickel, a couple of dimes, three quarters pretty much covers every possibility). It's fast and efficient, and IT HELPS THE PROBLEM rather than contributing it. And nobody has ever once waited behind me for even a second longer than they would have if I had paid any other way.

Dumbass.

Cash is privacy protective.

I can't believe Trump isn't being bashed for all these shortages, coins, toilet paper, PPE, I heard now there is an aluminum can shortage because since the bars have been closed more people are drinking more at home.

I didn't have many coins but what I had I use at the self check out line at Target, put in all my coins and then changed forms of payment and paid the rest with a credit card, I now official have no cents.

R66, when you said at R62 "I've been making it a point to pay with exact change for the last several weeks", I thought you meant that you paid the full purchase price with coins (for example, $34.28). But now it sounds like you pay the full dollar amount ($34) with bills and only pay the cents amount ($0.28) with coins. Of course that wouldn't take long, but it also doesn't help as much as paying the entire price with coins would. In any event, thanks for not making things any worse!

So... when you see a sign that says "exact change only" you think you have to pay all in coins?!?

No, R71. I just thought that's what R62 meant.

They can also start focusing on making quarters and dimes and nickels by ending production of pennies and banning sales of items that don't end in a 0 or 5. Who uses pennies anymore? Just end the .99 scam and round up.

Oh my god, why would anyone be so offended by CASH? That’s hilarious.

R74

Because much like Clay Aiken, we don't know where it's been

My building has a coin laundry. I ran out of quarters and asked the landlady whether she could convert them to card payment (she’s looking into it, but the company that services the machines is very busy... because everyone else with a coin laundry in their building has the same issue).

I called my credit union, and they said they had no quarters.

Finally I mentioned my predicament on a local forum (no, not Nextdoor) and found someone who sold me $50 worth of quarters.

What a ridiculous problem to have!

[quote]I have a huge bowl of pocket change. Banks won’t take it unless you roll it and have an account and I’m not dragging that shit by foot to a branch that actually has live tellers and wait in a Covid line out in the rain. The coinerator at the supermarket takes a big chunk, but is at least convenient.

Take it to a coinstar and get an Amazon gift certificate.

Not coins, but bills in my area aren't exactly easy to get either.

Our bank had ATMs for a few years now that distributed smaller bills, but they shut 80-90 percent of their branches down when COVID hit, and those ATMs were inside. They have a few external ones that only give out 20's and we were getting cash mainly for tips - 20 was a bit too generous a tip, needed 5s and 10s. Drive through lines are around the block.

Luckily we can add a tip to most of the orders and services we use via card, but there are a few we can't.

Cosign what R77 said - Coinstar does NOT take their usual counting fee IF you use the funds to buy a gift card from them. I have used it for iTunes and Amazon in the past but I think there's usually a Lowe's or Home Depot kind of store....I want to say Kohl's, maybe.....it can vary by machine so check it out before dumping them in to count.

I'm not going to coinstar, I'm just trying to pay with exact change when I can.

I haven't used cash here in the UK (or abroad) since 2015. Now they've changed to polymer notes and shrunk half of the coins (which everyone says they hate) I doubt that I will again.