Pictures on social media of signs in stores all over the country asking people to give exact change because of the national coin shortage is raising questions about America’s monetary policy. But why is this happening?
According to the New York Post the Federal Reserve revealed last month the cost that Covid-19 is having on the federal agency. “The Federal Reserve revealed last month that the pandemic had “significantly disrupted” the supply chain and circulation patterns for America’s metal money.” Due to this disruption the Federal Reserve decided that “The US Mint has slowed production of coins because of measures meant to protect workers amid the crisis, while coin deposits from banks have also fallen in the past few months.”.
Have you seen signs at stores that ask for exact change or limits on cash? Well, the pandemic has caused a nationwide coin shortage. I reached out to the Federal Reserve and spoke to a couple banks to see if this is a huge concern.https://t.co/LaLIoaQs4t
— Briana Brownlee (@BreBrownleeTV) July 2, 2020
The coin shortage is being reported by local news all over the country.
The QT request is due to a shortage of coins from the Federal Reserve, according to the signs. https://t.co/DA5yxYn3V9
— FOX4 News (@fox4kc) June 26, 2020
Many reports question whether this is a move towards a “cashless” society.
"What's happened is that, with the partial closure of the economy, the flow of coins through the economy has gotten all — it's kind of stopped," Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said.https://t.co/NiUOGtkLmE
— WWMT-TV (@wwmtnews) July 1, 2020
Why is this the first the general public is hearing of this story? Like other reporters have pointed out this is a story that is very concerning. How did the embroiled Federal Reserve just decide they are going to stop printing trillions in coins?