diggin4clad
Elite Member
So....if 81% of transactions are cashless, how is there a coin shortage?
Coin Shortage?
- Thread starter diggin4clad
- Start date
So....if 81% of transactions are cashless, how is there a coin shortage?
Fewer cash transactions mean fewer opportunities for people and businesses to get change.
HA, I had that happen last week at the ups store. The gal just gave me a dollar instead of trying to figure how much change. Pretty sad.
FreeBirdTim
Elite Member
My total at Family Dollar today was $13.45. I gave the cashier $23.45, so I would get a ten dollar bill back in change. She handed the money back to me and said "You gave me too much money!" She had no clue what I was trying to do. So sad...
I've done something similar, but when they get a confused look on their face, I have to explain to them what I'm doing.
It's been happening for decades though, so it's not a new thing.
diggin4clad
Elite Member
No need for change if transactions are done with plastic.
diggin4clad
Elite Member
Just the other night we got takeout at a local pizza restaurant. The bill came to $18.05, so to avoid a lot of coins in my change I gave the girl $18 in bills and a quarter because I didn't have any nickels. Should have given me 20 cents back.
She was totally confused and all she could do was offer a blank stare. Finally, I told her I needed twenty cents back and she gave it to me but still had a confused look on her face.
Sure, but with cashless transactions, there are fewer opportunities to transfer coins among businesses, people and banks. So it's not that there aren't enough coins out there. It's that it's now flowing as it should, so people, banks or businesses find themselves not having enough.
Kind of like shortages of goods. It's not there isn't enough "stuff." It's that there's difficulty in moving that stuff around, whether the "stuff" is a finished good or part of something else.
oldkoot
Elite Member
I have been paying cash for everything for over 20 years and saving my change for even longer, I currently have 4 five gallon buckets with lids on them that are completely full of coins, I carry a one gallon jug around in my car and every time I get change from a transaction all the coins go into the jug I carry in my car, once that jug is full I put the coins into my five gallon buckets, people would be really surprised if they only knew how fast a gallon jug fills up when you do that all the time on a regular bases they would also be really surprised how much a one gallon jug adds up to, yes I carry a bank card but I only use it if I want to make an online purchase or rent a hotel room I do not keep a lot of money in that bank account though, when I want to make a online purchase I get everything in my cart for what ever online store I am going to use and then I check the total it will be, then I go down to the bank and deposit what ever the amount is for the online purchase I am going to make, i keep just enough in my account to keep it open I have done this for 20 years now and it works for me
I dread the day I am hurting for money and have to sit and count out the coins I have in those five gallon buckets because it will probably take me months or years to count it all let alone put it into coin rolls
I dread the day I am hurting for money and have to sit and count out the coins I have in those five gallon buckets because it will probably take me months or years to count it all let alone put it into coin rolls
ToySoldier
Forum Supporter
https://www.verifythis.com/article/...ates/536-e2b7b5a4-9aca-4a24-91c5-374a379ce37b
No, there is not a coin shortage in the US but there is a circulation problem
“The Mint has produced over $40 billion in coins since 1960, and therefore, there is sufficient coin in circulation. However, Coinstar estimates approximately $18 billion in coins are idle, likely in people’s homes,” the company said in a statement to VERIFY.
No, there is not a coin shortage in the US but there is a circulation problem
“The Mint has produced over $40 billion in coins since 1960, and therefore, there is sufficient coin in circulation. However, Coinstar estimates approximately $18 billion in coins are idle, likely in people’s homes,” the company said in a statement to VERIFY.
My theory for going cashless is just another reason for big brother to be able to have a paper trail with people paying for everything with plastic. They can’t monitor petty cash transactions. Just another freedom among many we are losing every day along with any privacy. Sorry to say….
The government wants to better monitor our financial transactions, but it's less about "freedom" and more about catching tax cheats and money launderers.
As for losing our privacy, too many of us are fine with it. We let private companies get away with almost anything just so we get that free app, social media benefit or super duper smartphone at the lowest possible cost. As for the government's snooping, we can easily stop it...if we cared enough.
As Lord Beckett so aptly said, "People are what they love, Jack. And what they love...is cargo. They love spices, and linens, and silks, and plantains. And as long as it is delivered on time and in sufficient supply, they are content to be nothing more than figures on a ledger."
Foragist
Forum Supporter
WHY?? An average man either can not or should not lift a 5 gallon bucket full of us coins. Personally, I would not trust the plastic bucket to contain that much weight, that could make such a big mess if it burst. You have the potential to be part of a solution rather than being part of a problem now. Maybe bring in $100 bucks worth at a time, (no need to roll it) and hoard hundred dollar bills instead. The banks should be happy to buy your change nowadays.
I knew a guy who did this, thinking: "It works for me"...until he had to move. Horrible "helping-a-friend-move" experience for me! He learned his lesson then too.
Soon the coin "shortage" thing will pass, and you may have missed your opportunity to be a local hero. Cash that burden in!
GB_Detector
Junior Member
If you just separated the coins by denomination and weighed them you could get a fairly close estimate of the value. I am a coin roll hunter this makes me envious of what you have accumulated and what might be lurking in those buckets.
Martin_V3i
Elite Member
"The banks should be happy to buy your change nowadays."
Don't count on it. My bank still wants them rolled, plus a 5 percent added fee.
diggin4clad
Elite Member
Totally agree.......and in my opinion there's no need for the government to monitor petty cash transactions.
diggin4clad
Elite Member
My credit union doesn't take rolled coins. They have a coin machine and there's no charge to use it. AND........the machine is accurate because I count whatever amount I bring in and the amount it counts is always 100% accurate.
achaios
Forum Supporter
I think a lot of people rely on machines too much to do their math problems, but the problem goes deeper than that. I recall a guy who had the police called on him for trying to spend counterfeit money. It wasn't, but the cashier and the manager had no idea that $2 bills existed. On the flip side, I remember a manager at a Roy Rogers (middle aged, not a teen) who could calculate the change accurately in his head. I seem to recall that he had an accent, so he may not have been educated over here, which may explain that.
My hope for the future diminishes daily.
-- Tom
My hope for the future diminishes daily.
-- Tom
Foragist
Forum Supporter
Really? Crazy banks! To be honest, it's been a few years since I've even been in a real bank. I use a credit union. They use coin counting machines with no fee.
Maybe retail stores would be a better place to cash in a reasonable amount of coins these days. Talk to someone in charge first. Don't just dump a big container of coins on the counter for one of these clueless youngsters to have to deal with.
Martin_V3i
Elite Member
Actually my "bank" is a credit union I have been with for 30 years. They used to have a coin machine but got rid of it many years back.
A hundred pounds of cleaned coins would make for a nice nest egg to buy a new toy if converted into easy, spendable money. I have considered putting it all through a CoinStar which gives no-fee Amazon gift cards, but I don't trust the count with those. It really seems that all banks and credit unions would enjoy getting all of my coins. Win-win.
