Latest COVID Shortage: Coins?

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic kicked off back in March, we have run into a few shortages. Some have been silly and some have not. We have run short on N95 masks and other PPE gear, which is starting to run short again, and we have also run short on toilet paper which only happened because people panicked about a shortage of toilet paper.

The latest shortage probably lands somewhere in the middle on the seriousness spectrum. The new thing in short supply is coins.

You might stop into a store and find a sign that says something like "Sorry, we can only accept cards, exact change, or donate your change to a charity." HyVee is among the businesses that are doing this due to the pandemic.

The Federal Reserve has said that a shortage of coins in the system has caused problems for certain businesses that rely on them, such as laundromats. Staff at First Premier Bank are keeping tabs on the situation.

“The circulation of coin through our economy has just slowed as businesses have closed throughout the country. We’ve just seen coin not move through the system and there’s plenty of coin out there, it’s just not where it needs to be,” said Tony Nour, Senior Vice President of Relationship Banking.

Staff at First Premier say you don't need to worry about hoarding your coins. Just use them as normal. So I'll keep walking around with it in my pocket weighing down my pants until I finally unload it on lunch.