Change Leads to No Change

Peggy O’Neal Elliott

September 5, 2020

Buddy, can you spare a dime? Can you find a nickel in the couch cushions? Did you just roll up the pennies in your jar?

If so, you might help resolve one of the pandemic’s unpredictable predicaments: the Unites States is facing a coin shortage. That’s right. A shortage of change.

With everything else under undulating rules, zigzagging restart dates, and clouds of masking, one would think that things that clink in our pockets and rattle in the bottom of our purses would be something we can count on.

Not so. The Fed convened a US Coin Task Force in July because it was so serious. Closer to home, Dollar Tree won’t give change, and I heard that one bank is even paying people to bring in their spare change.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell explained it to a — virtual, of course — congressional committee: since people have been staying home, shopping online, and avoiding physical currency because of the pandemic, the normal flow of coins through the economy was interrupted. Well, it didn’t help that the United States Mint stopped making coins for a couple of months in order to follow shutdown orders, but it started back stamping metal in June. Still, pennies are scarce.

And quarters. When I went to the bank to get quarters for the laundromat, the teller gave me a sideways glare, finally calling a manager to approve getting them out of the vault. I felt so special! When I took one of the rolls back to the bank because I didn’t need it, I met smiles much wider than when I bought a significant-sized certificate of deposit. I didn’t shake my head in puzzlement until back on the street.

So, everyone reading this — grab that sock full of coins and take it to the grocery store. The people standing 6 and 12 feet behind you may not be terribly happy about it as you count out your $46.37. Just tell them you’re doing your part to get the economy back on track.

This is real, folks. If we don’t change the way we’re dealing with change, we’ll have no change to make change with.

(This author has obviously been spending too much time sequestered — with her change.)

Peggy O’Neal Elliott

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