Plan B Forum

Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?

Business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. While there is an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has reduced available inventories in some areas of the country.

The Federal Reserve is working with the U.S. Mint and others in the industry on solutions. As a first step, a temporary cap was imposed on the orders depository institutions place for coins with the Federal Reserve to ensure that the current supply is fairly distributed. In addition, a U.S. Coin Task Force was formed to identify, implement, and promote actions to address disruptions to coin circulation.

Since mid-June, the U.S. Mint has been operating at full production capacity, minting almost 1.6 billion coins in June and is on track to mint 1.65 billion coins per month for the remainder of the year.

As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, more coins will flow back into retail and banking channels and eventually into the Federal Reserve, which should allow for the rebuilding of coin inventories.

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

BoSoxGal wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:37 pm

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

They do take coins, but not in the pneumatic tube system from the drive up, because it can’t handle the weight. Where I live, lobbies just opened a couple of weeks ago.

datsunaholic wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:12 pm

BoSoxGal wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:37 pm

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

They do take coins, but not in the pneumatic tube system from the drive up, because it can’t handle the weight. Where I live, lobbies just opened a couple of weeks ago.

None around here take loose coins. Have to be rolled already (which costs to buy the empty rolls), or use the coinstar machine which takes 11.9%. Cheaper to buy the empty rolls at Office Depot than pay that 11.9% Last time I brought in coins it was close to $250. The rolls cost about $5.

I've been paying exact change for a couple weeks (when I don't use debit) and have been carrying a lot of change recently. When I have gotten change, I've been surprised by the number of older coins I've found recently (3 wheatbacks in the last month, I only find 1 every couple years most of the time). And a 1930s nickel. Unlike other parts of the country, no banks around here are paying coin premiums for folks to redeem their change, otherwise I'd jump on that as I've probably got $100 in change on the nightstand (couple years worth, easily).

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

Joe Guy wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 12:06 am

ETA: I did use paper money when I tipped the barber.

Gob wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:44 am

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

What? Can you explain this to a foreign person please?

Gob wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:44 am

Long Run wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:22 pm

Banks should be required to take coins. Here, they will only take rolls. If you want an auto count machine, you have to use a machine at the super market that takes about 8%

What? Can you explain this to a foreign person please?

Long Run wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:28 pm

If you have a bunch of loose coins that you would like to turn into useful money, i.e., paper or a deposit into your bank account, you have two options. You can get paper sleeves that you manually place each coin in to create a "roll" of coins. If you do it right, the roll will have a specific number of coins and value. Historically, this is how you had to do it when you brought coins to the bank. It's a tedious process and it is easy to make mistakes.

Then they came out with the coin counting machines. You just give them your coins and they dump them into their machine, which separates them by value and creates a total for you. A minute later you get your paper money or deposit slip.

However, banks have stopped the coin counting machine service. You have to go back to manually filling rolls if you want to change your coins at the bank. This gave rise to the private Coinstar machines that Datsun referred to, which you can find at most good-sized grocery stores. These work the same as the ones the banks used to have, but they take a hefty load (11% or so as Datsun said) for your usage. Bring in $100 worth of coins and you get only $89 for it.

My point is, the banks have a unique franchise granted by either the state or federal government, and are back stopped and supported by the taxpayers (borrow from the Fed at 0% and invest in U.S. Treasury bonds at 2% anyone?). So, it seems the minimal service they should provide for the benefit of society is to provide coin machines and encourage people to redeem their coins so the mint doesn't have to create more, rather than having all of us build up our coin "collection" in an ever growing jars full of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

There are also some restrictions when using small coins. For example, 1p and 2p coins only count as legal tender for any amount up to 20p.

Banks are entitled to turn you away with your jam jar of cash. But you can ask in advance for a few clear plastic money bags that should be handed over for free.

In each bag you can collect £1 in coppers – either 1p or 2p but not a mixture; £5 in 5p or 10p coins; and £10 in 20p or 50p pieces. For £1 and £2 coins the maximum in a bag can total up to £20.

Bank clerks do not count the coins one by one but simply put the bags on a set of scales. Banks usually only accept your sorted bags if you are a customer.