My 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.
Ha, b.s. you can warm coins moderately to denature the virus...
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?
#72Why 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?
There’s always a ton of cash moving around. People don’t pay for weed and cocaine with nickels and dimes, they use bills ;)
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Fed's stated goal is to create jobs, not destroy them.
> The Fed's stated goal is to create jobs, not destroy them. That’s not true. Here’s the truth: https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed.htm
I think they are referring to quantitative easing.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#74My 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.
Why do they need to decontaminate the coins? Just let them sit for a week and the virus will be completely dead.
2 weeks if you are really worried.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#75Why 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?
My guess:
Tha article states that closure of bank premises is driving the shortage. You can get new coins at banks. You can't get coins from ATMs or grocery store cash-back.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#76If 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.
Banks I used back in the midwest growing up always had change machines and it was a routine to bring in our change whenever the container got full, they'd turn it into cash or deposit it free of charge.
It seems way less common in CA, at least according to my experience.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#77My 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.
That’s... not even true at all.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#78If 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.
Pro tip: Coinstar wont take a cut if you get it as a gift card. The times I've used them I just opt for an Amazon Gift card or one for the local grocery chain that I'm already going to be spending money at.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#79My 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?
As a percent it was a great return, but as an absolute number it's rather poor. How long did the whole process take her (including collecting the coins and getting to the bank)? Half an hour? Longer?
There's just not enough money in that to be worth it.
Re: Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?
#80Will this hasten the, presumably, eventual move to a 100% digital economy? I’d like to see statistics on how often people use analog money. Is there correlation by certain socio economic classes? I imagine drug dealers are 100% analog while CEOs are 100% digital. Where does everyone in between land?
> I’d like to see statistics on how often people use analog money.
Probably heavily skewed right now compared to normal. As of a week ago, my grocery store does not accept cash (at least at the self-serve lanes, which seem to take about 1/3 of customers) because they don't have the coins to make change.