The State of the Coin

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal circulation patterns of the U.S. coin and has posed significant challenges for the U.S. coin supply chain. A number of factors contributed to these challenges, including changes in consumer payment behavior, stay-at-home orders by state and local governments resulting in many business and bank closures, as well as the slowdown of the ability to obtain raw materials for manufacturing new coins, the availability of labor across the coin supply chain, and changes to the coin-supply-chain-servicing infrastructure.  View the US Coin Task Force report here. For more visit, getcoinmoving.org

All of these factors contribute to hurdles for the American consumers and businesses to get the coin that they need to support cash transactions. Yet, like never before, the pandemic has emphasized the importance of cash for consumers. Millions of Americans rely on currency and coin as their only or preferred form of payment, and businesses rely on cash and coin to make change for those transactions.