The apparent absence of enough coins in the nation’s marketplace has alarmed the federal government enough that last month the Federal Reserve established a U.S. Coin Task Force to “mitigate the effects of low coin inventories caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The 22 members of the task force were announced Friday, representing government agencies, banks and businesses, and they will meet this month with the goal of sharing recommendations in early August to identify “actionable steps that supply chain participants can take to address the current coin circulation issue.”
Daniel Soques, an assistant professor of economics at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, called the situation a “perfect storm” of circumstances born out of the pandemic, during which businesses that deal heavily in coins, such as laundromats, may have closed, while the fear of getting the coronavirus by touching currency may have spurred people to avoid physical monetary transactions altogether. Coinstar, which operates about 22,000 coin-cashing kiosks nationwide, said volume slowed amid state and city lockdowns. New coin production was also hampered at the U.S. Mint’s production facilities in March and April.
And, when the economy started tanking with record losses in the spring, it was enough for some people to “start hoarding coins and hoarding money in general,” Soques added.