It has finally come to my small neck of the woods too. Talked to my person yesterday (told her about the situation about five or six weeks ago) and she said Mechanics Bank just sent down the word. They are limited to ordering $2,000 per denomination each week. Not as bad as some of the stories I've heard, but still a limit on the coins.
Many merchants and restaurants are not accepting cash now. That is why. Some haven't for a while. It's all part of the plan to reset to a cashless economy. If your local store won't give exact change back, then I have a solution: Next time you go there, pay in all the coins you would have dumped at your dump bank from CRH. Problem solved...
I have just started spending the Dollar and Half Dollar coins that I hoarded in early March before the lock down. $200 in $1 and $100 in 50c. It's not much, but nobody in the small towns I frequent use them.
Just curious when did they start machine wrapping coins? like what year. There is no uncirculated liberty quarters if machine wrapping started 30's ..
so I was traveling through Georgia this past weekend, and stopped at a fast food place that had a sign up that said something along the lines of "PLEASE let us buy your coins from you! Please pay with coins!" I just so happened to have 3 rolls of nickels with me, and my total was about $6, I give the girl the nickels. She looks at me with this confused look and says "what are these". I said well it's $6 worth of nickels to pay for my meal. She just stares at me and there is an awkward 5 seconds of us just looking at each other and she says, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with these" I kindly tell her that the sign says to please pay in coins and thats what I'm trying to do. She finally says that she doesn't understand what I'm trying to do and going to have to go get the manager. They were wearing masks so I'm not sure what was said, but the manager looked at her like she was an idiot and she comes back to the window with my food and a few cents in change.
I'll bet you anything you want that the vast majority of millennials have never seen a JFK half dollar, an Ike dollar, an SBA dollar, a $2 bill (They're still being printed, BTW), and wouldn't know what to do with them if they got one. When I get JFKs, I like to spend the ones I don't keep (I don't buy whole boxes, just a few rolls at a time).
Grocery stores in my town are instructed not to give change back if a customer didn't pay the exact amount in cash, at least that's what Fred Meyer and the other large chain stores have told their employees. My parents both work at Fred Meyer and can confirm this.
I'm not sure 100% how it works. I think if you're within a few cents or a dime off the amount they can give it, and I've heard if you round up that difference can be donated to charity. I just went to a store today and the clerk asked if I wanted to round up doing that.
Here's an article on Kroger's change back comment https://abc7.com/coin-shortage-us-pandemic-covid-19-change-coins/6316672/
That's almost as interesting as the stories where $2 dollar bills result in the manager coming out and police get called on the customer.
If enough people told them to either give exact change back or they can put all the items back on the shelves and you tell them you'll shop elsewhere, I'll bet that policy ends in a hurry.
Here's hoping that there aren't "enough people" doing that, then. Most people are reasonable, and understand that these are unusual circumstances. I mean, if they can't get change from their bank, what do you want them to do? Close their doors? Cut out cash payments completely?
Kroger (the deserting jerks) had machines that wouldn't take halves, but then they pulled out of our state. Food Lion's machines took them, I think, but then they removed ALL their self-checkout lanes. Harris-Teeter's machines and Walmart's machines are happy to take halves, as are CoinStars, of course. I don't believe any of the machines will take Ikes. Five or ten years ago I asked at a bank if they had any half dollars, and they came out with an envelope marked "half dollars", but containing Ikes. They charged me a dollar apiece, but I wouldn't be surprised if they paid the depositor half that.