“As it relates to coins, so many businesses shut down, a lot of coins got stuck in the system, so we are a little bit far behind on coins,” Mr. Mnuchin said at a virtual investment summit sponsored by Bloomberg. “But I know they are redoubling their efforts and that will work out fine.”
The Fed began to ration its coin supply on June 15, giving banks a portion of their requested change supply depending on what they had historically requested, among other factors, a move that the central bank says is a “temporary measure.”
The strategy will remain in place as long as necessary, a Fed spokeswoman said Wednesday, pointing out that change needs to begin circulating through commerce for things to go back to normal.
“The coin shortage has been mainly caused by coins not re-entering distribution,” Michael White, a spokesman for the Mint, said in an emailed statement. “With businesses opening back up, we expect that the situation will improve as Americans return their coins to banks or recycling machines for redistribution.”
Coin shipments are also ramping up, he said, as the Mint puts safeguards into place so manufacturers can work safely. Facilities in Denver and Philadelphia returned to full production staffing levels on June 15 after reducing employees per shift earlier in the pandemic, he said.
The Mint will ship 1.2 billion coins during June, Mr. White said, and is on track to increase that to 1.35 billion coins every month for the rest of 2020. Typically, the number is close to 1 billion per month.
Still, there’s a risk that the crunch in cold hard cash in the United States could touch off literal penny hoarding as businesses become nervous that they will not get the coins they need to make change for customers.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/business/economy/coin-shortage-coronavirus.html
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