Coin Shortage?

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dales
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Coin Shortage?

Post by dales »

I went grocery shopping today.

The automated checkers were inoperative due to their lack of ability to make change.

Found a trusty human in which to make my purchases,

Anyone else run into the so-called "coin shortage"?

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


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BoSoxGal
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by BoSoxGal »

Yes, the few places I have frequented in recent months have signs up asking folks to use debit/credit or exact change when possible due to the coin shortage. That’s just a few places - CVS, a couple of grocery stores.

This is from the federal reserve’s webpage:
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.
This does make sense, since banks in my area have only very recently reopened for lobby service and we all know they don’t allow rolled coins in the drive through pneumatic tube system. I suspect many businesses have struggled to get adequate coin supply in their regular transactions with their banks.
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Long Run
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Long Run »

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%

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by BoSoxGal »

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.
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datsunaholic
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by datsunaholic »

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).
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Joe Guy
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Joe Guy »

I haven't used paper or coins since the pandemic began but I rarely use coins anyway. I figure exchanging money is just another possible way of getting the COVID virus.

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

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by BoSoxGal »

It’s been so long since I brought coins to the bank for redemption - not since I last waited tables in 1989. Back then the bank gave out the coin paper rolls free to customers, and when you brought them back they had a special scale that weighed the roll and could be sure it was filled with actual coins of the right number.

Do they not provide the papers anymore or weigh them, or are folks just not patient enough to roll their own coins at home anymore?
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datsunaholic
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by datsunaholic »

My credit union doesn't give out empty rolls, nor do they weigh the full rolls I bring in. Weighing would be problematic with pennies, as pennies made after 1982 are 20% lighter than ones before 1982. Some banks still provide empty rolls, I've been told.
Death is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by BoSoxGal »

So these machines that roll coins, where do they live and how to they sort real coins from plug nickels?
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Bicycle Bill »

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).
Haven't done it lately, but I used to save up my pennies and nickels in a jar, then when it was full would roll them up.  Last time I took them in to the bank, however, they made me break open each and every one of the rolls and run it through a counting machine because they had been shorted on some of the rolls in the past, so their new policy was "no rolled coins redeemed".  And of course, even if you counted your own coins before bringing them — rolled *or* unrolled — to the bank, you still have to accept their count.

So fuck that noise.  I'll still save my quarters (they're useful at the laundromat), but I'll turn over my pennies and nickels as fast as I get them.  So if something costs $6.57, I'll be the guy pissing you off and making you wait while I count out two dimes, five nickels, and twelve pennies.

And then I have to tell the cashier/clerk what it adds up to because they never learned to count higher than "one, two, three, another, another...", but that's a rant for another thread.
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dales
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by dales »


Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


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Gob
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Gob »

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?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Gob
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Gob »

Joe Guy wrote:
Fri Aug 07, 2020 12:06 am


ETA: I did use paper money when I tipped the barber.
You tip barbers?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

I was once (just once) in a unisex salon in London, c 1982. The long blonde haired woman ahead of me looked at herself in the mirror and threw her arms around David and gave him a big kiss. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

When it came to my turn I sat myself down in the chair and said "Mind if I just tip you in the normal way?"

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Long Run
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Long Run »

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?
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.

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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Big RR »

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?

Apparently some US banks do not accept loose change for deposit or exchange for paper money, requiring it to be placed in rolls (in standard amounts 50 pennies, 40 nickles ($2.00), 50 dimes ($5.00), 40 quatrers ($10.00) some banks hand out the rolling tubes, others do not.

Some supermarkets also have publicly available coin counters which will dispense cash or a credit slip for the supermarket (and many also charge a % commission for this).

From what I recall, even though US money is legal tender, federal laws allow merchants (and apparently banks) to refuse to accept for than a minimal number of coins per transactions (I think $1.00 worth). It does make sense for merchants ans paying, say, $20.00 in pennies could cause a pretty big delay in the line (not to mention that 2000 pennies would not fit in the register).

ETA: Sorry I cross posted. By the way I have a couple of 5 gallon (21 liter?) water bottles filled with coins (mostly pennies); one day I will cash them in, but (thnakfully) I'm in no rush.

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eddieq
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by eddieq »

A local bank here takes your loose coin and counts it for you and gives you cash providing you have an account with them. My church has accounts there and I'm on a few of them, so I fall into that courtesy category with them. I cashed in my jar right before the corona lockdowns in PA.

The Wawa's all have signs up offering free coffee and such if you bring them at least $5 worth of coin.

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Gob
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Gob »

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.
Wow, amazing, I've learned something new there, (you lot are even more bonkers than I thought ;-) )
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

Big RR
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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by Big RR »

Gob--as I recall, there are more coins used in the UK than there are here--the pound coins and even 5 pound coins are fairly common. I imagine your cash registers have to be quite different from ours to accommodate them as notes take up a lot less space than coins (as I've only rarely gone into supermarkets where the registers are out front, I really don't recall).

and even then, what does it have to do with being cheap or stingy? Niggardly does not mean poor.
Last edited by Big RR on Fri Aug 07, 2020 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Coin Shortage?

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

Did you know this, Gob? You people are weird! :lol:
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.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowled ... gal-tender

or this?
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/new ... -them.html

or this?
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.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bet ... -finds.htm
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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