Credit: Michel Curi
Some stores in the Levittown area have advised customers there’s a coin shortage.
The signs and messages are a flashback to last spring and summer when a COVID-19-related coin shortage hit retailers and banks.
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In a recent statement, the Federal Reserve said the 2021 problems aren’t caused by production, but they are related to circulation issues with coins.
“There is currently an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy. But business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. This slowed pace of circulation reduced available inventories in some areas,” Federal Reserve officials said.
While there was a gap in production in the early days of the pandemic, the Federal Reserve said the U.S. Mint has been operating at full production capacity since mid-June 2020. Last year amid the coin shortage, the mint produced 14.8 billion coins, a 24 percent increase over the 11.9 billion coins produced in 2019.
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During the 2020 shortage, the Federal Reserve put temporary caps on coin orders, but those ended. In May, those caps were reinstated as circulation continued to have problems.
“As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, more coins will flow back into retail and banking channels and eventually into the Federal Reserve, which should allow for the further rebuilding of coin inventories available for recirculation,” Federal Reserve officials said.
Last year, the U.S. Coin Task Force was convened by the Federal Reserve. The group encouraged Americans to use change when paying for items and put spare change to circulation by exchanging it for cash.
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