Coin shortage... is back

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BillyGr
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by BillyGr »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: August 9th, 2021, 9:00 am I hit the stores much less than I used to but the only place I've seen locally that even mentions a shortage of any kind is a small sign I saw at a CVS drive thru when I picked up a prescription last week. When you think about it though, why is there a shortage in the first place? Here's my logic-don't know about any of you, but in the past year-plus I've pretty much switched to credit card only-no cash. The last time I went to an ATM was probably last fall when I withdrew a few hundred dollars and I've still got probably half of that cash left. I've mostly used a credit card and when the bill comes I write a check once a month and I'm done with it. I would presume I'm not alone here on my non-use of cash vs. my previous spending habits. I just don't understand why the shortage.
That actually could be a partial cause - even though less people are using cash, those who fairly suddenly stopped likely have at least some change at home. May not seem like much, but when multiplied by a quantity of people it probably adds up, and that change isn't being returned for reuse.

There was also (at least at one point) the thought that when many banks weren't allowing people inside, change wasn't getting returned to them (as it would be hard to do via drive thru). Seems that shouldn't be as much issue now, but perhaps still people who haven't gotten there to return what they do have is having some impact.
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by mburb1981 »

Kroger has put up new signs as a result of this new shortage, though the round up/donate sign is still there.
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by Alpha8472 »

The coin shortage is not the only problem. We ran out of 100s, 20s, 10s, and 5s. All we had were 1 dollar bills. Customers were angry. The armored car company must be in dire straits. What I notice a lot these days is customers using debit and wanting tons of cash back. They are hoarding cash. When people think that the economy is unstable they get as much cash as they can and hold onto it.
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by Alpha8472 »

A friend who works for Walmart told me Walmart only had nickels and pennies. The armored car company is out of dimes and quarters.

Walmart cash registers are now doing an automatic rounding on your receipt. Say you owe $9.99. You pay $10. Walmart will give you back $1 since the register has no change. This causes Walmart to lose money on each cash transaction. The cashier cannot change this. So Walmart is asking for exact change or card if at all possible.

Free money!
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by storewanderer »

What a mess. I wonder if they will take the hit for all those rounding benefits. Or somehow blame whoever isn't getting them the coins. Well, coins are a trivial issue with everything else going on.

In NV the Wal Marts just operate very, very few registers. Then there will be a couple self checkouts that accept cash. I recently got to cut in line in front of 5 people at a self checkout who wanted to use cash, since there were 4 card only self checkouts wide open. Meanwhile they waited for 1 of the 2 cash self checkouts to function. Basically the coin situation has made it much harder to pay with cash.
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Got another prescription at that same CVS I mentioned earlier in this thread and asked the person who helped me if they would accept rolled coin in the future because I've got a decent amount of it at home and she said OK but it wasn't necessary because they weren't having any supply issues at this time. Maybe it's now a regional thing-who knows?
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by storewanderer »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: August 29th, 2021, 10:34 am Got another prescription at that same CVS I mentioned earlier in this thread and asked the person who helped me if they would accept rolled coin in the future because I've got a decent amount of it at home and she said OK but it wasn't necessary because they weren't having any supply issues at this time. Maybe it's now a regional thing-who knows?
Aren't coins made at a few mints regionally?

It may also be issues with the coin business not able to process coins, roll them, deliver them, etc. due to staffing issues. Maybe the issue isn't a shortage of coins in the physical sense (I'm sure that is what the government would like us to think) but rather the blame the staffing shortages of the private businesses that roll coins/count coins/deliver them to stores.
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Re: Coin shortage... is back

Post by Alpha8472 »

It could be a regional issue or it could be the armored truck company. I believe Walmart uses Loomis for its coin and bill supply. Which company does CVS use?

Loomis probably blames a coin shortage when in real life they have an employee shortage. Either the employees can't source enough coins or they have a problem with their suppliers. No one wants to work for a armored car company. There are many attempted robberies and the drivers are probably under extreme stress. It really isn't worth your life to get killed on the job.

A few years ago someone dressed in a fake Loomis uniform tried to rob a store near me. The real Loomis employee showed up and they had a fight. The real Loomis employee almost got killed because he could not use his gun inside the store with dozens of customers nearby.

This led to Loomis redesigning their uniforms.

It might not be a lack of coins. It is possibly a distribution issue. Some areas have too few coins, while other areas have too much. The armored truck company can't seem to deliver it to the right areas in time.
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