Where Do You Get the Quarters During the “coin Shortage”?
Did you know that there are not enough coins in the USA? You probably haven’t noticed, unless you need them for your laundry.
The Federal Reserve monitors the supply of coins because change is running out at banks across the country. The US Mint has issued fewer coins this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, but circulation is also an issue, NPR notes. Although people filled orders to stay at home, they didn’t drain their banks, full of change, into calculating machines, and they didn’t use cash at all to pay for purchases at many businesses that remained open but tried to cut contacts.
Some stores asked customers to pay in exact change if they used cash, or turned off cash transactions at self-checkout counters.
As people start spending more money on personal purchases and coin distribution by the Federal Reserve, this problem is likely to disappear into our memory. That is, if you have not run out of socks and underwear, and you have already fished between the cushions of the sofa in search of a place.
I got yelled at from my laundry section for dipping in to trade a crisp $ 10 for a few blocks before slipping out to do my laundry in my own building. So when I desperately need a block and am far from the bank, I usually go to the grocery store’s customer service counter to request an exchange.
But if Reddit discussions like this are an indicator, some grocery stores have stopped serving rolls of quarters or drastically reduced the number of rolls they exchange.
If your local convenience store can’t help you out of this laundry stuck, it might be time to start paying for whatever you can with cash and cross your fingers so that some of the change comes back in blessed, cherished quarters.
Or you can try hacking a vending machine. While your chance of success may vary, Reddit user IWBSedatedRightMeow swears by this:
Go to any vending machine and put in your dollar bills, then press the return button. They usually have a lot of rooms.
I also like to collect my dimes and dimes and put them in the machine until I hit $ 1, then hit the change back button to get more quarters. Repetition.
Are you always looking for a place to wash? Other than begging cashiers, changing semi-dirty shirts, or washing things by hand (or maybe at the salad counter), what solutions have you found?
Share your laundry success stories and workarounds in the comments.