OT - Coin shortage

[Bruce K]

No FRN content, please :rolleyes: (unless it’s actually relevant), but...

Apparently this is a “thing”.

Has anyone here actually been impacted by this yet?

Supposedly some store are going cashless to avoid making change and others are adjusting prices to try and get even dollar totals where possible.

I have seen signs at grocery stores and pharmacies asking for exact change due to this but no price changes so far...

I have not actually seen an article that explains this phenomenon.

BK

[mdeth1313]

Here you go:

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/21/880958665/the-latest-pandemic-shortage-coins-are-the-new-toilet-paper

[SlowPokePete]

I don't like pennies much.

A penny for your thoughts?

SPP

[Bruce K]

Thanks - I figured it was something like that.

I am kind of curious why it was such a “surprise” that this might happen, and why only coins and not $1s and $5s?

BK

[jlwdm]

Pennies and nickels should have been eliminated a long time ago.

Jeff

[oldpotatoe]

When I owned, I always thought about a way to make all prices be, plus tax, multiples of 5..and do away with pennies. BUT..98-99% of my sales were CC...

[saab2000]

Switzerland eliminated their penny decades ago. All prices in stores include applicable taxes and all end in a 5 or a 0. The US is likely too regressive to adopt a policy like this.

[oldpotatoe]

Pennies and nickels should have been eliminated a long time ago.

Jeff

We will become cashless eventually, then when the internet crumps, 'real' money will be the most valuable along with stuff to barter..:)

[Big Dan]

Great time to get rid of the pennies.

[fmradio516]

ok im going to the coinstar today!

[Mike Bryant]

ok im going to the coinstar today!


I’m waiting for Coinstar to pay me 10% for my spare change.


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[Hilltopperny]

Where did they all disappear to? I have buckets full, but the amount of coins in circulation has to be astronomically large since they have been minted for a over a century.

I realize that there is a push for cashless since every transaction would be monitored and taxed proportionally, but coins just becoming short in supply seems like a bit of a stretch to me. Call me skeptical...


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[vqdriver]

not a problem from my viewpoint with 2 businesses on the ground. we actually have a surplus of coins and with decreased traffic we don't keep any to make change any longer and actually deposited coins for the first time in a decade. maybe it's a problems for the banks?

[Mark McM]

Switzerland eliminated their penny decades ago. All prices in stores include applicable taxes and all end in a 5 or a 0. The US is likely too regressive to adopt a policy like this.

Some US retailers do this. For example, all prices at REI are rounded to the nearest 5 cents.

As far using prices with applicable taxes applied and rounding to the nearest 0.05, this would be near impossible for US online retailers (even since the Wayfair decision). Online retailers now have to apply the taxes applicable to the buyers place of residence, and the US has complicated hodge-podge of state and local sales taxes.

[Spaghetti Legs]

We will become cashless eventually, then when the internet crumps, 'real' money will be the most valuable along with stuff to barter..:)

That’s when we Campy hoarders rule the ThunderDome!

[Asudef]

Wow, didn't know this was a thing. Could possibly be people not wanting to stand around and count out change or whatever.

I have a container for loose change thats filled to the brim now and weighs about 40lbs, maybe I should make a trip to my bank and give them back. :)

[Black Dog]

We got rid of pennies here in Canada years ago. It is simple. When paying with cash, if the final price including sales tax ends with 1 or 2 the price is rounded down to 0 and when it ends with 3 or 4 it is rounded up to 5. For online and cashless transactions the price is not rounded. On balance it works out even for retailers and consumers. We also do not have 1 or 2 dollar bills just 1 and 2 dollar coins (they last way longer in circulation than bills). Everyone seems to like it this way.

[Dead Man]

pennies are useless.. i tell em to keep em. i usually have a huge container of silver i cash in once a year or so.. guess i am the problem.

theres WAY too many people living cash-only lives to go cashless right now, and i've seen no realistic solution for changing that. i, for instance, have been almost completely cash only for a couple of years. if it werent for my measly little VA disability check directly depositing into my last bank account and the spotify bill thats drawn from said account, id be 100% cash-only.

[Toddtwenty2]

We put in a coin order with Chase to restart all of our locations, and they only sent 11% of our requested quarters. Apparently the federal reserve quit minting coins during Covid, so even the banks are out of change. Our representatives could not say when they would resume creating them again.

Quarters are still important denominations in competitive, mature industries. It seems coin presses could still be operated socially distanced.

[rounder]

We have jars of coins, where the coins get tossed at the end of the day, My wife picks up coins from parking lots and the coin machines at Safeway..me too. Have not counted them, but my guess is that they would pay for a new set of Super Record easy.

[Doug Fattic]

I've been a coin collector ever since the late 50's when one of my classmates bought his penny coin album to school and I wanted to do that too. At that time it was possible to find almost all the dates and mint marks for "wheat" pennies that started in 1909. What made it interesting was that some of the D (Denver) or S (San Francisco) mint marks were fairly rare but with effort could be found. Eventually as time went on the US mint made billions of the later dates and when Wheat pennies were collected out of circulation there wasn't much incentive to look through change because almost all dates were easily found. All dimes and quarters that were made of silver before 1965 were collected out of circulation too.

The US mint decided to try and make coin collecting out of circulated coins interesting again with the introduction to States quarters (5 States each year) and then in 2009 the US Territories (which are quite hard to find) and then the America the Beautiful quarters commemorating some national park or landmark. The mintage figures for 2010 to 2013 are not all that common but possible to find with some effort.

Starting in 2019 the mint upped its game for collectors and started minting quarters at West Point with a "W" mint mark. They are only minting 2 million for each model that represents one of the national parks. Instead of selling rolls to coin stores they mixed them up into S and D bags that they send out to Federal Reserve Banks that distribute them to local banks. That may sound like a lot but when mixed in with all quarters makes them a rare find. Prices on eBay for W mint mark quarters start around $12. In coin stores they are twice that or more depending on condition.

So look through your change for 2019 and 2020 quarters with a W mint mark. I'd be happy to pay market value if any Paceliners have any. I’m sure other collectors would too.

[Mark McM]

The US mint decided to try and make coin collecting out of circulated coins interesting again with the introduction to States quarters (5 States each year) and then in 2009 the US Territories (which are quite hard to find) and then the America the Beautiful quarters commemorating some national park or landmark. The mintage figures for 2010 to 2013 are not all that common but possible to find with some effort.


The U.S. Mint also tried to popularize dollar coins by introducing the U.S. Presidents dollars (a different coin for each U.S. President, starting with George Washington). These turned out to be a failure, and they stopped production of new coins for circulation after James Garfield.

[Allcarbon]

I don't think I've bought anything with cash in years, let alone pay with anything in change.

[jojobos]

And also

cost to make penny

2011 2.41 Cents
2018 2.06 Cents
2019 1.99 Cents

:help:

[oldpotatoe]

pennies are useless.. i tell em to keep em. i usually have a huge container of silver i cash in once a year or so.. guess i am the problem.

theres WAY too many people living cash-only lives to go cashless right now, and i've seen no realistic solution for changing that. i, for instance, have been almost completely cash only for a couple of years. if it weren't for my measly little VA disability check directly depositing into my last bank account and the spotify bill thats drawn from said account, id be 100% cash-only.

So, I guess you don't buy anything online or over the phone...(?)

[C40_guy]

I don't think I've bought anything with cash in years, let alone pay with anything in change.

Me either.

i used to keep a big jar on my dresser for the end of day spare change and every so often would cash it in. I'd typically get $250 back, just enough to fund something interesting bike related.

Last time i did it, it was mostly pennies and the haul was much less. The jar is still there, but I think it's just got cob webs in it now...

[C40_guy]

As far using prices with applicable taxes applied and rounding to the nearest 0.05, this would be near impossible for US online retailers (even since the Wayfair decision). Online retailers now have to apply the taxes applicable to the buyers place of residence, and the US has complicated hodge-podge of state and local sales taxes.

While that may be true, online retailers don't have to make change. :)

[redir]

On my side gig I get paid in cash a lot. I have a huge jar that I throw change in and every few years wrap them up and take them to the bank. Last time I did it I had $800 dollars in the jar and bought me a Moots Fork for my Compact. It's probably got another 800 in it now. Maybe I should take it down town to the bank they might appreciate it.

[jmoore]

I have a big change jar on the back of my shop bench as well. There are prob 20 rolls of quarters in there and at least that much loose. I should really take them all and turn them into $100 bills I can put in my stash envelope.

[Dead Man]

So, I guess you don't buy anything online or over the phone...(?)

correct.. or, in the rare cases i do, i can throw some money in the bank account and place an order.. but i buy pretty much everything local and preferably pre-owned

[MaraudingWalrus]

I've noticed and been hit by this in a dumb way.

We're currently staying at a short term rental while we try and find a house in a new state and town. The building we're currently in has coin operated laundry. Have struggled to find enough quarters to do a load of laundry (drier isn't good, so requires $3.50 to do a load all the way).

Multiple grocery stores wouldn't give me a dollar's worth of quarters, let alone a full roll's worth. Same deal at target, etc. A couple banks I called claimed they didn't have any rolls. Gas stations here all have signs saying "pay with exact change, we have no coins" or something to that effect - I went on a ride last weekend and stopped at like seven gas stations hoping to find quarters. I even offered to buy them at above face value from the manager of a Publix. $5 bill for $4 in quarters - no go. I guess my next step is to stalk an Aldi's parking lot and return people's carts and claim the quarters.

Did some reading on it as a result. For those who didn't read the articles linked, a large contributor is the fact that many/most banks don't accept big coin deposits in the drive through, and that because bank lobbies have been COVID-closed, the amount of coins going in to banks has plummeted. As a result, banks can't send them out to stores to stock the tills.

CoinStar says they're going to try and increase circulation by opening new distribution routes.

Evidently, vending machine owners just have oil drums full of coins they can't deposit anywhere. If anybody in the Augusta area operates a vending machine and has crap tones of quarters they want to get rid of...let me know.