Coin shortage has some breaking open their piggy banks | Coronavirus


Coin shortage has some breaking open their piggy banks | Coronavirus

WINCHESTER — Local shoppers may have noticed signs near cash registers requesting that they pay with a credit card or with an exact amount of cash. This inconvenience, like many of this year’s problems, can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus has interrupted the circulation of coins nationwide.

According to The Associated Press, the Federal Reserve has seen a significant decline in the number of coins in circulation because people are not spending them as regularly at businesses, some of which are closed, operating in a reduced manner or not accepting cash. The Federal Reserve also announced last month that the U.S. Mint’s production of coins has decreased due to measures put in place to protect its employees during the pandemic.

The Federal Reserve is encouraging banks to order only the coins they need and to make depositing coins easy for customers, The AP reports.

Scott Harvard, CEO of Strasburg-based First Bank, told The Star that First Bank currently has an “adequate” supply of coins. At most of the bank’s branches, there are coin machines where customers can exchange coins for credit to their account or cash, he said. A fee for non-customers who want to use the coin-exchange machine has been waived for the time being.

John Hudson, executive vice president of Berryville-based Bank of Clarke County, said in an email that the bank is encouraging its customers to bring in coins from their piggy banks, Mason jars and whereever else they stash them for a chance to win a $250 prize. He said the bank is trying to be “more creative” to meet the coin needs of its customers.

“We, like all banks, have experienced a coin shortage imposed by the Federal Reserve,” said Hudson. “It has really highlighted how money flows through our economy from banks to businesses and back and how something like closures and business interruptions can have a profound effect on cash flow in a short period of time. We see things getting a little better as the Mint produces more coins, which is causing the Fed to loosen some of their restrictions.”

The Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz convenience store chain is currently seeing a “decent amount of cash transactions,” according to Nick Ruffner, public relations manager for Sheetz. He said while Sheetz is not in an emergency situation, it is asking customers to help out so that it doesn’t end up facing a coin shortage.

“The easiest way that they can help us is to use a debit or credit card when they are making purchases inside our store locations,” Ruffner said. “Another way that they can help us is that, if they are paying with cash, they can round up to the nearest dollar and donate the change to ‘Sheetz for the Kids.’ Sheetz for the Kids goes back about 30 years. It’s an employee-run charity that helps underprivileged children.”

Ruffner said customers can take advantage of the “SHcan & Go!” feature on the Sheetz app, which allows customers to scan and pay for items in the convenience store. He also said customers can order online and pay with credit or debit.

Ashley Flower, public relations manager for Pennsylvania-based Giant, which operates Martin’s grocery stores, said in an email that Martin’s locations are still accepting cash, but due to the national coin shortage, certain registers can only accept credit, debit, or electronic payments at this time. At the Martin’s on South Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester, for instance, the self-checkout registers do not accept cash.

The situation is similar at the Walmart on South Pleasant Valley Road, with self-checkout registers not accepting cash payments. But a store employee said the regular registers do accept cash payments.

“Like most retailers, we’re experiencing the effects of the nationwide coin shortage,” said a statement from Walmart. “We’re asking customers to pay with card or use correct change, when possible, if they need to pay with cash. Cash is welcome at all of our stores. However, we have converted some of our self-checkout registers to card only registers. Customers also have the option to donate their change to charity.”

Victoria Kidd, owner of the Hideway Cafe coffee shop on the Loudoun Street Mall in Winchester, said people frequently ask for change to feed the downtown parking meters. Due to the coin shortage, she said the cafe has greatly reduced doing that.

Kidd said the Bank of Clarke County has been able to supply the cafe with the coins it needs and has “worked hard to make sure we have everything we need to operate.” She also said that a handful of customers who heard reports about the nationwide coin shortage have brought their piggy banks to the cafe and offered to pay for their goods with change.

“And, of course, we completely accepted that,” Kidd said. “I certainly don’t want to construe that we have a hoard of change on hand, but we have enough to get us through the next three weeks of service to ensure that we don’t have to put any unnecessary burden on our customers and any unnecessary burden on our local bank that has done such a good job of handling things so far.”


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