Coins in short supply....

[Roz]

Received a call from bank on Friday that per Federal Reserve instructions they are cutting back on all large quantity coin withdrawals. Not an issue since we are one of the few companies to take quarters to the bank. Next change is that we now need to roll the coins into coin wraps instead of a bag of loose quarters - OK a little more work for us. Last change is that dollar coins are no longer available (in bulk) period. We changed all our changers, vacs, bays, playstation machines to use dollar coins so it is easier for customer to hold $20 in change. May need to reintroduce our $1 tokens to customers...

Today on NPR they report for 5 minutes about a national shortage of change due to CV19. With bank branches closed (to general customers) for the past 3 months (&perhaps longer) consumers and businesses are not taking their coins to banks to have them counted and deposited. Retail shops are feeling the issue the most as they try to reopen.....

Guess we all have an opportunity to make new friends with our local retail shops......waiting for the first to stop by to ask if we can break some bills for them....

 

[Randy]

Before the COVID-19 pandemic I always have coins to take to the bank weekly. Now I’m getting a lot more $10 & $20’s and I have very few coins to take to the bank. We’ve always rolled our coins before taking them to the bank, we have machines so it’s no big deal. Going to the bank hasn’t been a problem, I just call make an appointment and go in, lately I can get in about 15 minutes so when I leave I call and there’s someone at the door to let me in when I get there, they’ve been locking the lobby. I needed a box of Dollar coins last week to test a Hopper and I didn’t have any problems getting them. The shortage must be an East coast thing

 

[Twodose]

Received a call from bank on Friday that per Federal Reserve instructions they are cutting back on all large quantity coin withdrawals.

So are you saying that you can't purchase bulk coin from the bank? The bank I used stopped taking bulk quarters on 04/03/20, they are opening their lobbys back up on 06/22/20 and they called last week and wanted me to bring any quarters down that I wasn't able to deposit for the last 2.5 months, they were afraid they were going to be swamped when they re-opened. < it was drive through only, I also have been getting less quarters since the virus started.

 

[DakotaHoskins]

Our local branch told us yesterday they hadn’t received any coin orders and were worried about running out completely of change.

 

[Twodose]

Hmm...maybe I will keep my quarters for awhile.

 

[soapy]

I have always built a surplus of quarters but the frequency of taking them to the bank has slowed during covid. I get many groups coming with 10s and 20s to get quarters. Banks re calling me while they were closed asking me to bring them 1s and 5s.

 

[Roz]

Bank is not getting normal coin deposits (rolls) from Fed Reserve. Probably will take several months to return to normal again as retail places start to reopen. Could be an opportunity to make the jump to only change bills for tokens.

 

[Dan-Ark]

Maybe we need to sell quarters for $11. or $12 a roll.. might be price gouging during an emergency. Guess I'll put tokens in our second location which is finally getting close to opening.... I have been on the fence since my first wash sells tokens only, but we take in about half our revenue in quarters in spite of that fact. New wash will have bill acceptors on all bays and vacs so might not be a big deal to offers tokens instead of quarters there.

 

[Roz]

Maybe we need to sell quarters for $11. or $12 a roll.. might be price gouging during an emergency. Guess I'll put tokens in our second location which is finally getting close to opening.... I have been on the fence since my first wash sells tokens only, but we take in about half our revenue in quarters in spite of that fact. New wash will have bill acceptors on all bays and vacs so might not be a big deal to offers tokens instead of quarters there.

We cash only tokens in the changer in our wash where every vac and bay accepts bills and CC. People using tokens like the 20% bonus for a $20 bill however most customers are not price sensitive. The detailers who want to increase their margins are the primary users of the tokens.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I know a local guy with a vending route. He was happy to sell me quarters since the bank lobbies were closed and not taking them. If you need qurters check stickers on local vending machines and call the operator. They my be happy to sell you some.

 

[KleanRide]

Great, my bill changers already get way too much drive off traffic. Hope this doesn't turn into a toilet paper panic.

 

[STXCW]

We are limited to $200 a day.

 

[srr5008]

Our bill changers have been getting way more use than usual. People are emptying both hoppers in a day. The local banks are still drive through only and people don't want to wait in line. So they come to our place and clean us out. We're debating taking ours offline, as we are having trouble scrounging up enough coins to keep the change hoppers in our IBA's full.

 

[mjwalsh]

There should be more people shedding light on some the twisting of facts when it comes to mitigating factors for the Covid-19.

From my perspective .... for coins that are 88% copper being replaced by other transactional means ... especially during the pandemic is a bad faith path. It is not only illogical but also dangerous IMHO. Definitely should be part of the criteria for who people vote for ... educating in the best possible way is what we need to strive for!

Swaying public opinion for the greater good based on actual scientific facts .... needs to carry the day ... responsible journalists are you paying attention?

Why are some pandemic mitigation factors paid way more attention to than more worthy pandemic mitigation factors???

Does copper kill germs? Yes, it's effective against COVID-19 within 4 hours

Copper kills most germs within hours because it disrupts a pathogen's protective layers that keep its cells alive.

www.insider.com

 

[Earl Weiss]

From my perspective .... for coins that are 88% copper being replaced by other transactional means ...

There was no shift from coins for pandemic mitigation. It was a side effect of bank lobbies being closed as a pandemic mitigation effort as well s lobbies and branches closed due to riots.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I bank with Wells Fargo ( unfortunately ). I had to special order $2K in $1 coins since they didn't have more than $100 in the branch for weeks and I was running low.

 

[MEP001]

responsible journalists are you paying attention?

There is no such thing anymore. It's all half-truths to outright lies. They want to create public outrage just to get viewers.

 

[Roz]

I bank with Wells Fargo ( unfortunately ). I had to special order $2K in $1 coins since they didn't have more than $100 in the branch for weeks and I was running low.

We special order $1 coins too with our bank but was informed that those coins are not available for ordering for the foreseeable future. May need to shop around for another bank.

 

[mjwalsh]

There was no shift from coins for pandemic mitigation. It was a side effect of bank lobbies being closed as a pandemic mitigation effort as well s lobbies and branches closed due to riots.

Earl ... I don't totally agree with you on this one. There are other mitigation concerns. I was pointing out that the ability to use coins can help mitigate the pandemic more than other modes of payment such as too many one dollar bills! IMHO ... I think the merchant fee masters of manipulation are using the pandemic as an excuse to further their agenda of their version of society without proper & facilitation of access to cash (waterproof coins included). The following article sheds light on the increase of the general public's near helplessness when it comes to increased cyber crime relating to the pandemic:

COVID-19 pandemic caused increase in cyber fraud and changes in banking

As millions of Americans have shifted their daily workplace and shopping to remote online networks and mobile devices, a new wave of cyber threats has emerged focused on targeting banks, e-commerce and other daily financial activities.

www.atmmarketplace.com

Based on my experience with our ATM for over 8 years now ... they are more on top of fraud prevention because of the maturity of its industry. It is a shame that sometimes I am sadly thinking that I could be the only one lobbying the ATM Industry to include a coin hopper. That could mean less dependency on our bill changers with the same amount of physical theft-vandalism danger ... albeit built into wall & other considerations etc. A properly set up ATM also mitigates Dan-Ark concern about addressing our cost of handling coin ... except he referred to quarters only ... which does not make any sense at all considering past & recent inflation.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Earl Weiss said:
There was no shift from coins for pandemic mitigation. It was a side effect of bank lobbies being closed as a pandemic mitigation effort as well s lobbies and branches closed due to riots.

Earl ... I don't totally agree with you on this one. There are other mitigation concerns. I

Apparently my message was not clear. My point is the shortage was not intended to facilitate mitigation. It was a consequence of other mitigation factors. Your post only relates to how using coins as opposed to paper can be a mitigation factor. Surprised you didn't somehow try to figure an angle about coins being better than plastic for this as well.