#[1]Economy [2]The Coronavirus Crisis [3]Economy [4]The Coronavirus
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  The Latest Pandemic Shortage: Coins In another sign of how the
  coronavirus crisis is disrupting commerce, banks are running short of
  nickels, dimes and quarters. The Federal Reserve, which supplies banks,
  is having to ration change.

  [62]The novel coronavirus, first detected at the end of 2019, has
  caused a global pandemic.
  Special Series

The Coronavirus Crisis

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  [63]NPR logo [64]The Latest Pandemic Shortage: Coins Are The New Toilet
  Paper

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The Latest Pandemic Shortage: Coins Are The New Toilet Paper

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  June 21, 20208:00 AM ET
  [71]Scott Horsley 2010

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  Banks around the U.S. are running low on nickels, dimes, quarters and
  even pennies because of problems with production and distribution
  caused by coronavirus pandemic. Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg via Getty
  Images hide caption
  toggle caption
  Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

  Banks around the U.S. are running low on nickels, dimes, quarters and
  even pennies because of problems with production and distribution
  caused by coronavirus pandemic.
  Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

  Updated at 1:25 p.m. ET

  Just as supplies of toilet paper are finally getting back to normal,
  the coronavirus has triggered another shortage of something we
  typically take for granted: pocket change.

  Banks around the U.S. are running low on nickels, dimes, quarters and
  even pennies. And the Federal Reserve, which supplies banks, has been
  forced to ration scarce supplies.

  "It was just a surprise," said Gay Dempsey, who runs the Bank of
  Lincoln County in Tennessee, when she learned of the [75]rationing
  order. "Nobody was expecting it."

  Dempsey's bank typically dispenses 400 to 500 rolls of pennies each
  week. Under the rationing order, her allotment was cut down to just 100
  rolls, with similar cutbacks in nickels, dimes and quarters.

  That spells trouble for Dempsey's business customers, who need the
  coins to stock cash registers all around Lincoln County, Tenn.

  "You think about all your grocery stores and convenience stores and a
  lot of people that still operate with cash," Dempsey said. "They have
  to have that just to make change."

  Rural banks in particular seem to be getting shortchanged, according to
  Colin Barrett, CEO of the Tennessee Bankers Association.

  Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., sounded the alarm last week during a hearing
  before the House Financial Services Committee.

  "My fear is that customers who use these banks will react very poorly,"
  Rose said. "And I know that we all don't want to wake up to headlines
  in the near future such as 'Banks Out of Money.' "

  The congressman warned that if businesses are unable to make exact
  change, they'll be forced to round up or round down, "in a time when
  pennies are the difference between profitability and loss."

  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell assured Rose that the central bank
  is monitoring the situation closely.

  "We're working with the mint to increase supply, and we're working with
  the reserve banks to get that supply where it needs to be," Powell
  said. "So we think it's a temporary situation."

  The U.S. Mint produced fewer coins than usual this spring in an effort
  to protect employees from infection. But the larger problem — as with
  many other pandemic shortages — is distribution.

  During the lockdown, many bank lobbies where people can recycle coins
  were off limits. And coin-sorting kiosks in retail stores saw reduced
  traffic. With many businesses closed, unused coins piled up in darkened
  cash drawers, in pants pockets and on nightstands, even as banks went
  begging.

  "The flow of coins through the economy ... kind of stopped," Powell
  said.

  The Fed chairman stressed that this clog in the financial plumbing
  should clear quickly, now that businesses are reopening, and that
  supplies of coins should soon be back to normal.

  Coinstar, which operates 17,000 coin-sorting kiosks around the country,
  says people have started cashing in more change as stay-at-home orders
  are lifted.

  "We've been making more frequent coin pick-ups to help get coins back
  into circulation," said Coinstar CEO Jim Gaherity.

  In the meantime, Dempsey, the banker, has secured an emergency stash of
  coins from some of her business customers who run vending machines and
  laundromats.

  While a growing number of people rely on credit cards or smartphone
  apps for many transactions today, the coin crunch is a reminder that
  sometimes you just need change.

  "Cash is still king, I guess," Dempsey mused.
    * [76]rationing
    * [77]coronavirus
    * [78]coins
    * [79]banks
    * [80]Federal Reserve

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  [81]The novel coronavirus, first detected at the end of 2019, has
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