ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) You may have noticed more businesses asking you to pay in exact change because the U.S. is currently experiencing a coin shortage that started around the beginning of the pandemic.
Winthrop University’s Chair of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Dr. Lou Pantuosco, explains why, “The demand for coins is usually when people go to stores with cash, they need coins. The supply side of course it starts with the Mint and goes through the banking system through the retailers and then into the consumers hands. It’s a circular flow. So the big question is what happen with the demand and why is that changed?”
He says the shortage began around the start of the pandemic because people are using and saving cash.
Dr. Pantuosco says, “people aren’t using credit cards as much and if you look it’s credit card debt is actually decreasing in this country right now. Cash purchases have gone up by over $200 billion over the last three months. So, people are using more cash and when you use more cash, you need more coins.”
When banks and businesses had to close due to COVID-19, many financial institutions were short changed. But many banks and credit unions in the area are finding unique solutions.
Select Bank & Trust Branch Manager, Geanina Neal says, “we are trying to think outside the box and be creative and have fun with it at the same time. We’re thinking to do employee coin drive where we actually encourage our own employees and our own families to go out there and find the loose coins.”
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with financial leaders about how the shortage has impacted our area.
