Banks need your coins

Time to empty out the piggy banks to help small businesses. Missouri banks are asking consumers to deposit their spare change at their local banks or use change when shopping as the pandemic-related shutdowns have created a slowdown in coin circulation. The Missouri Bankers Association reports when COVID-19 restrictions went into place, establishments like retail shops, bank branches, and laundromats closed, it significantly slowed the normal rate of coin circulation. Consumers then migrated to shopping online or, if in person, using debit and credit cards to avoid physical contact associated with using cash. The coins they would have received in change were then not being circulated back into the system. According to Max Cook, President, and CEO of the Missouri Bankers Association “At the beginning of 2020, more than 4 billion coins were deposited or recirculated each month, but those numbers dropped to less than 2 billion beginning in April.”
As businesses are reopening, demand from merchants to stock their coins at higher levels is increasing, but many coins remain with consumers. This is creating a critical issue because recirculated coins represent more than 80% of the supply, with the remaining amount being new coins produced by the U.S. Mint. The Federal Reserve projects the gap between supply and demand between 2.3 to 3.5 billion coins each month through the end of 2020.