Spare some change? Businesses are desperate for your coins

Businesses are desperate for people to dig through that piggy bank, couch cushion and center console to get those forgotten-about coins back into circulation. Apparently, the country is missing its pocket change, driven largely by a push for cashless transactions during the pandemic. 

Trade groups representing banks, grocers, retailers and truck stops asked the Treasury Department to help spread the word on spending coin. In a letter, they said circulation was boosted when the Federal Reserve convened a coin task force two years ago with the same mission, but the payoff was short lived. 

The lack of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters is felt most by those who can’t pay electronically, they said. According to the Federal Reserve, about one in five Americans is unbanked or underbanked, meaning they don’t use traditional bank accounts or credit cards. 

Stores are worried they won’t be able to give cash users proper change. Cash-run businesses like coin laundromats could also struggle, along with the people trying to use the machines.

“The consequences of a coin circulation slowdown fall hardest on consumers that do not have the ability to pay electronically. If retailers are not able to offer change for cash purchases consumers who rely on cash will be vulnerable,” trade groups wrote in the letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

To help, Americans are being asked to spend their coins, bring it to a bank or credit union or use a coin-recycling machine at the grocery store. Trade groups say the issue isn’t a coin shortage, but a circulation problem.