# National Shortage of Coins?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982 "2020-07-01T19:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/161 "2020-07-29T15:38:21Z")
Always remember that half the people you meet are dumber than average. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/162 "2020-07-29T23:28:01Z")
My brother used $2 bills as his kids’ tooth fairy money. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/163 "2020-07-29T23:30:05Z")
A big employer in my old town gave out rolls of Sacajawea dollars (among other things) as their Christmas bonus. From what I heard, quite a few of them ended up at an arcade that gave an extra play if they used a dollar coin. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/164 "2020-07-29T23:36:30Z")
I used to get $2 bills and dollar coins around Christmastime. I’d spend them to amuse myself with cashiers’ reactions. However, the last time I tried to get some, the bank wanted a $5 service charge since I had no account there so it just didn’t happen. I use a credit union, and they don’t bother with twos or dollar coins. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/165 "2020-07-30T01:39:56Z")
Every money thread eventually devolves to a discussion of two dollar bills and dollar coins. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/166 "2020-07-30T03:07:11Z")
About a year ago, I was at an estate sale and bought a bag of sewing patterns. When I inspected them to list on my Amazon resale account, I found money in some of them. It eventually added up to about $80 in crisp bills from 1984, which of course don’t look like current money, so when I spent it, the cashiers would always look at it oddly. Had I found the money while I was there, I would have turned it into the people running the sale, but I didn’t find it until I got home, so it was mine. And I almost didn’t buy those patterns! I was glad I did. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/167 "2020-07-30T08:36:46Z")
That’s the reason I am methodically going through my deceased spouse’s things before selling anything off - sometimes you find important things. But then, I’ve had the luxury of time in which to do this. Not everyone does, or the desire/mental ability to do this. Hence estate sales and occasional fortuitous finds for the buyers. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/168 "2020-07-30T15:36:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Every money thread eventually devolves to a discussion of two dollar bills and dollar coins. I think you just set forth Kayaker’s Law. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/169 "2020-07-30T15:40:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > Every money thread eventually devolves to a discussion of two dollar bills and dollar coins. > > I think you just set forth Kayaker’s Law Heh, now all I need is to come up with some corollaries. 😷 💰 ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/170 "2020-07-30T15:47:34Z")
It can also devolve into eliminating pennies. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/171 "2020-07-30T18:42:01Z")
Followed > [@Ruken](#): > > It can also devolve into eliminating pennies. Followed by the statement that they are officially “cents” and not “pennies”. And now primarily consist of zinc rather than copper… ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/172 "2020-07-30T18:54:06Z")
The discussion must argue that cents cost more than a cent to make, and be refuted by the fact that coins simply aren’t single use items and circulate for decades. Then people will pointlessly argue that eliminating cents will force all prices in a supermarket to be rounded to end in a zero or a five, when the only thing that needs to change is that the total purchase be rounded to the nearest five cents. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/173 "2020-07-31T02:17:37Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I can’t be bothered to get them bound, and wouldn’t want to carry around that many anyway. But on the rare occasion that I actually go to a physical bank, I’ll get a $200 bundle of $2s. I usually keep 5 or so in my wallet for tips. I’ll get the occasional roll of $1 coins too. > > I was on a long call last week that didn’t require much attention, so I sorted and rolled a big pile of coins. The non-pennies (I’m not going to bother rolling pennies) added up to about $100. Not worth a trip to the bank on their own, but I’ll be sure to bring them next time I need to go. > > There were a ton of foreign coins in there. I must have raided a pile that belonged to my wife, because I’ve never used Euros. There was some older stuff too. Deutschmarks, Czech koruna (I had to look that up), etc. Before leaving for the Czech Republic some years ago I went to the bank & took out cash from teller, specifically $50’s & $100’s because that was much thinner wad than getting a bunch o’ $20s from the ATM . Small talk ensued about why I wanted those denominations & I said that I was going away & was to exchange them for korunas the _next day_. Her response was, “Oh, you’re going to Mexico”. 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/174 "2020-07-31T02:38:36Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > It can also devolve into eliminating pennies. Not “can”, “will”. And at least one Canadian will point out that they got rid of their pennies and dollar bills. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/175 "2020-07-31T07:14:35Z")
How exactly did “getting rid of pennies” work? We’re they declared unusable after a certain date? Did the government simply stop putting them into circulation and just let the supply dwindle to nothing? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/176 "2020-07-31T11:34:09Z")
They stopped minting Canadian pennies in 2012 and distributing them in 2013. Retailers deposited coins as they received them. They have not been demonetized and can still be deposited at a bank. As the end approached many retailers adjusted their point-of-sale software to print the rounded amount as $20.02 (Round down to $20.00) If you pay cash, it’s rounded. If you use anything else - gift cards, credit, debit, etc - you pay the actual total. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/177 "2020-08-02T16:28:46Z")
Coin shortages are causing a liquidity crisis at laundromats: [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technology/coin-shortages-are-causing-a-liquidity-crisis-at-laundromats/ar-BB17rwCh) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/178 "2020-08-02T16:59:03Z")
As the article notes, it’s not so much a _shortage_ as a _distribution problem._ For our most recent delivery from the bank at my store, where we requested $800+ in coins, the bank delivery $115 in coins and… gave us the rest in singles. Um… _that’s not what we ordered._ I appreciate the desire to somehow fulfill our request, but we needed coins, not singles. The corporate office continues to get us deliveries from CoinStar itself, which is working out better. So far we’ve managed to make change for everyone who want/needs it, and some some customer continue to unload their coins on us. Yay! So… we’re making it work. It could be worse. Just one more think in this jacked up year. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/179 "2020-08-02T18:22:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > How exactly did “getting rid of pennies” work? We’re they declared unusable after a certain date? Did the government simply stop putting them into circulation and just let the supply dwindle to nothing? I honestly cannot remember how it came up, but one time I asked a bank teller about $1000 bills. The answer was that they would take them, but would not give them out, and, moreover, were instructed to turn them in to be destroyed. Coins can last for decades, though. I’m sure I still have some old £1 coins somewhere, for example, and would have to deposit them at a UK bank if they turn up. But they are not in circulation, and once deposited (and you can’t do anything else with them) they would disappear as well. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982/180 "2020-08-02T21:34:05Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Coins can last for decades, though. I’m sure I still have some old £1 coins somewhere, for example, and would have to deposit them at a UK bank if they turn up. But they are not in circulation, and once deposited (and you can’t do anything else with them) they would disappear as well. I’d suggest just dropping them into the boxes at museums/churches etc next time you visit the U.K. Easy enough for them to deposit into their U.K. bank accounts [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-shortage-of-coins/913982.md?page=10)