Nationwide Coin Shortage

[storewanderer]

Kroger will no longer give coins as change at checkstands (will still give coins as change at self checkouts).

Now your "coin change" will be applied to the loyalty card for future purchases. It does not say if this is optional or not and also does not say what happens if you have no loyalty card.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kroger-cas ... y/33274079

Is this even legal to do this by force? This does not seem right. This is like a forced purchase of a gift card because they cannot provide coins as change. And only at regular checkstands and not at self checkouts? Makes no sense to do this at one service channel but not another.

I guess if there are no coins there are no coins...

[Super S]

Kroger will no longer give coins as change at checkstands (will still give coins as change at self checkouts).

Now your "coin change" will be applied to the loyalty card for future purchases. It does not say if this is optional or not and also does not say what happens if you have no loyalty card.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kroger-cas ... y/33274079

Is this even legal to do this by force? This does not seem right. This is like a forced purchase of a gift card because they cannot provide coins as change. And only at regular checkstands and not at self checkouts? Makes no sense to do this at one service channel but not another.

I guess if there are no coins there are no coins...

Interesting because Kroger is one of many that uses coin machines at the checkstands so the cashier does not have to count and gather the change.

This could also be interesting in areas where a lot of summer business is seasonal from people vacationing from areas which might not have a Kroger family store near where they live. There is no point to getting a loyalty card if you are just buying groceries for a weekend, to stock an RV, etc. A lot of those seasonal types of stores keep a "store" loyalty card at the checkstands for this reason so people at least get the sale prices.

[J-Man]

So I guess this place will be shutting down soon.

[BillyGr]

Surprising the businesses haven't tried to put a bit of pressure on the banks to get this fixed.

After all, they all have accounts with a bank - suggest that if they don't get their needed coins by a certain date (give them a bit of time) that the store will have to close their accounts and move to another bank.

That would encourage the banks to find the coins (so they don't risk losing accounts that no doubt they make a fair amount of money off of over time).

It could be even as simple as sending out an email to all their customers encouraging them to turn in coins, with a small incentive to do so (like the previously mentioned $0.55 for a roll of pennies - as I remember that got quite a flow coming in, for what is really a small cost to the bank and a small reward to the customer).

For those who have not had lobbies open (which may be part of the issue as well), set up a particular day(s) when people can come just for this and have the coins turned in, either for paper money or to keep it "in house" offer a slightly better bonus if you deposit them in the bank.

Ideally the banks would think of this themselves (as they did with the penny thing - I suspect stores weren't as concerned then as most people won't mind not getting 1-4 cents back, unlike someone not getting $0.99 back), but apparently they haven't.

[jamcool]

There is now also an aluminum can shortage...which is why the shelves are only stocked with the primary soda brands, like Coke, Pepsi, Mtn Dew, and their diet versions, the flavor extensions like vanilla, cherry etc are reduced or not in stock. Also the same in the canned beer aisle.

[storewanderer]

Haven't noticed this in NV/CA. The only place I've seen a shortage on soda is Kmart, and we know why that is, because they aren't paying the vendors.

Maybe part of the shortage on the cans is also because a lot of states suspended redemption of cans/bottles from the bottle deposit programs?

Guess they can switch to more plastic soda bottles. Plastic will save everything. Maybe we can go to plastic coins too.

I do think it is time to get rid of .01 and possibly .05 too and just switch to a rounding set up similar to some other countries.

[Alpha8472]

Canada stopped making pennies in 2012. Stores take pennies, but they do not give them out as change. The stores round the change to the nearest 5 cents.

Pennies cost more than it takes to make them. The U.S. government is too cheap to start making new coins.

Stores are really desperate for change. I do not mind a gift card, if there are no coins, but the stores need to make it clear that they have no coins at the register.

Stores should do a big advertising campaign to bring out your coins. Coinstar is the worst. They have done tests and those machine are inaccurate and give you less money than you actually put in.

Many countries use plastic dollar bills such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Plastics come mostly from oil. Big Oil wants everyone to switch to plastic whether it is money or food containers. A long time ago many items came in glass and that was easily recycled. Now plastic is everywhere.

[storewanderer]

Noticed at Walgreens signage stating if your change is in coins they reserve the right to issue you a store credit for the value of the change. This isn't much different than forcing it onto a loyalty card as Kroger is saying they will do.

I wonder how coin operated businesses like laundromats are handling this. Also those little candy machines or carnival rides at some grocery stores that are coin operated.

What a strange situation. I wonder if coins are being hoarded for some reason we do not know.

[Alpha8472]

I have a pile of change at home that I do not even want to touch because it is so dirty. There was a time when I would bring coins to shop, but I don't want to touch any coins right now.

[TW-Upstate NY]

Aluminum can shortage would explain why I couldn't buy my preferred variety of Coca-Cola the other day. Couldn't find it in the three stores I looked-very unusual. And now that you mention it, shelves were starting to look a little thinned out-not a lot but just enough to notice. Getting back to coins, I hear you about not wanting to handle them. I've got a pouch I put my change in when I'm shopping and empty it twice a year and wrap the coins and eventually take them to the bank-haven't done that since December and won't be doing that anytime soon. And honestly coins themselves, even before this, are just inherently dirty by their very nature. Just think about how many hands they've gone through before you get them and how many they will after you use it. Same goes for paper money as well.