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Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 4th, 2021, 11:46 pm
by Alpha8472
I checked at work again and our register is empty of quarters. The armored truck company has no quarters available. There are barely enough dimes, nickels, and pennies to make change. It is always a challenge to ask customers to pay with coins.
The cash recycler at work refers to the cash office which has a cash recycler instead of a safe. The safe has been replaced with a cash recycler which takes in bills and coins and stores it. When a cashier needs money for a cash register, the cash recycler dispenses used bills and coins. Sometimes the machine has no coins and tells you that no coins are available.
The Coinstar machine is an evil device. It takes coins and charges people a fee if they want to redeem it for bills. Coinstar takes these coins and who knows where they take it. The coins will have to travel all over before any of it can even make it back to the retail store. You can redeem coins for gift cards without a fee, but studies have shown that Coinstar systematically miscounts your coins. Coinstar repeatedly shorts you. You could put in $100 worth of coins, but the Coinstar claims you only put in $72. The company knows exactly what it is doing, and people are being ripped off.
Perhaps you would be better off using coins at the self checkout machine. The self checkout machines used to have a dump hole where you could dump handfuls of coins in. Then they changed the coin hole to a single slot.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 5th, 2021, 10:31 am
by BillyGr
Alpha8472 wrote: ↑August 4th, 2021, 11:46 pm
I checked at work again and our register is empty of quarters. The armored truck company has no quarters available. There are barely enough dimes, nickels, and pennies to make change. It is always a challenge to ask customers to pay with coins.
The cash recycler at work refers to the cash office which has a cash recycler instead of a safe. The safe has been replaced with a cash recycler which takes in bills and coins and stores it. When a cashier needs money for a cash register, the cash recycler dispenses used bills and coins. Sometimes the machine has no coins and tells you that no coins are available.
The Coinstar machine is an evil device. It takes coins and charges people a fee if they want to redeem it for bills. Coinstar takes these coins and who knows where they take it. The coins will have to travel all over before any of it can even make it back to the retail store. You can redeem coins for gift cards without a fee, but studies have shown that Coinstar systematically miscounts your coins. Coinstar repeatedly shorts you. You could put in $100 worth of coins, but the Coinstar claims you only put in $72. The company knows exactly what it is doing, and people are being ripped off.
Perhaps you would be better off using coins at the self checkout machine. The self checkout machines used to have a dump hole where you could dump handfuls of coins in. Then they changed the coin hole to a single slot.
OK - didn't know about that version of a cash machine.
What I was suggesting is that, if the store needs the change, they post a sign advising customers to bring in change (to the service desk or whatever) and the store will give them paper money for it in equal amount. The idea was to encourage the customers to do that, instead of using one of those machines, as that way they know they are getting back what they should, without a fee or any mistakes that the machine makes.
Alternatively, instead of just saying no cash (as apparently some places are doing), just post a notice that change is limited and change in coins is not guaranteed. That gives the customer the option to not pay with cash, or to go ahead and do so knowing they may not get the exact change back (or they can choose to provide the change to eliminate that issue).
Of course, the other option is for a store to deal with an actual bank - that way, if they refuse to give you the change you need, you can always threaten to move your store's account to a different bank. All it would take is a few stores doing that, and the bank would find the change, even if they had to send tellers to customer's homes and offer them a bonus for their coins (that works quite well - one major bank did that here years ago with pennies, giving 55 cents per 50 penny roll and stopped it within a couple weeks having gotten enough to solve the issue!).
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 8th, 2021, 7:25 pm
by mbz321
I've noticed new signs at a few fast food places in my area stating the same and to please pay in exact change.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 8th, 2021, 9:40 pm
by babs
Home Depot had a sign up today asking customers to pay in exact change due to the coin shortly.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 8th, 2021, 9:48 pm
by storewanderer
I went into a 7-Eleven that had signs up that said they had no quarters or dimes.
They also had no working air conditioning, the coolers that hold prepared foods were all broken, and the gas pump price was .10 higher than the price on the sign. What a trainwreck they are.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 8th, 2021, 10:22 pm
by Alpha8472
I would be scared to buy any food at that store for a while. Who knows if they will sell the unfrigerated items later.
I also noticed that the cash register at work only had pennies and nickels. We actually ran out of coins the other day. People were upset, but the customers grudgingly paid with cards instead.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 8th, 2021, 10:34 pm
by storewanderer
Alpha8472 wrote: ↑August 8th, 2021, 10:22 pm
I would be scared to buy any food at that store for a while. Who knows if they will sell the unfrigerated items later.
I also noticed that the cash register at work only had pennies and nickels. We actually ran out of coins the other day. People were upset, but the customers grudgingly paid with cards instead.
I suppose if people really wanted to pay with cash, another option would be, assuming they have a card, would be to process the "coin" portion on a card then take the paper bills and make change with just paper bills.
That idea is inefficient, and for some retailers would cause an increase in card processing costs, etc.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 9th, 2021, 5:07 am
by buckguy
There must be regional differences to this. If anything, I've noticed more welcoming of cash in DC. When the shortage peaked earlier this year, stores as varied as CVS and Whole Foods had all or most of their self-check-outs switched to "card only" and some smaller businesses were "card only". None of that now and I've heard checkers literally say they have plenty of change.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 9th, 2021, 9:00 am
by TW-Upstate NY
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.
Re: Coin shortage... is back
Posted: August 9th, 2021, 11:58 am
by veteran+
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.
Ditto.
I NEVER use cash or debit any longer!