So I went to this store yesterday. The cashier asked me if I wanted to donate the change to the Childrens' Hospital. By either brilliance or great timing, they started doing this about the time the coin shortage started.
Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
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Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#52The obvious solution is to make everything digital, but that impacts people who aren't digital. Never mind the anonymity aspect. The other solution could be to get rid of cents all together. This is what Vietnam has done and it is fantastic not having to deal with small metal change. Although, this created a new problem, they need to lose a few 0's. Being a dong millionaire (largest bill is 500k) means you've got abo…
The anonymity aspect is a huge deal.
I wasn't discounting it being a huge deal, which is why I mentioned it. But we don't need metal change for that when we can use 'paper' bills (airquotes because in Vietnam they use plastic bills).
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#53I feel like a smart country would take this opportunity to develop electronic, no-fee payment wallets, not just bring up a coin task force...
Not all smart people want a no-currency economy. Having all transactions being electronic means that it's super easy for financial institutions and the feds to track every single purchase you make. It's none of their business to know that much detail.
Who says it has to be all-or-nothing? I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to pay with bills, just that more people would use electronic means of payment of it were free, and that the government might come out ahead. I'm not thrilled by taxes going to pay for all the logistics of dealing with pennies and quarters, which are evidently nontrivial.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would kill important business models that prey on poor people.
You're going to have to give us more information than this. Sure, lots of business models "prey on poor people", but which ones of those are threatened by electronic wallets?
Payday loan sharks are the big one. Universal banking puts them out of business.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#55If the Fed would put Coinstar type machines in Post Offices without charging a fee or taking a cut, I think they would find a lot more people who are willing to get their coins back into circulation. It would have to be cheaper on an ongoing basis than constantly minting coins. Wrapping coins and exchanging them at a bank is just too tedious and time consuming.
A large number of banks have coin machines inside that will take unrolled coins and deposit them into your account for free. Coinstar unfortunately largely targets people that don't have bank accounts.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#56The obvious solution is to make everything digital, but that impacts people who aren't digital. Never mind the anonymity aspect. The other solution could be to get rid of cents all together. This is what Vietnam has done and it is fantastic not having to deal with small metal change. Although, this created a new problem, they need to lose a few 0's. Being a dong millionaire (largest bill is 500k) means you've got abo…
The anonymity aspect is a huge deal.
There's Monero, but even Bitcoin (which has a 5 year headstart and is not anonymous) is barely supported.
Though I think I would still prefer physical cash over digital cash even if it was just as ubiquitous.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#57My bank told me the reason is the feds are capacity limited on coin decontamination. Bills they just burn and print more, but coins cost too much to re-smelt.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#58Why are coins more impacted than bills? Shouldn't a slowdown in the movement of cash throughout the economy affect both coins and bills roughly equally?
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#59My mom took change into her metro area bank last week because they were giving 10% over face value for change. She got an extra $9.
Nobody keeps change as an investment, but compared to interest rates the bank was offering on savings accounts, this was an incredible return. I'm curious if anybody with accounts at other banks tried withdrawing change to deposit in this bank?
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#60My bank told me the reason is the feds are capacity limited on coin decontamination. Bills they just burn and print more, but coins cost too much to re-smelt.
Seems reasonable