In the summer of 2020 signs like the one below started to appear in shops and businesses. The pandemic created a shortage of a lot of things, including pocket change. The Federal Reserve acknowledged this in an article that appeared in the June 20, 2020 online issue of USA Today: “Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the shutdowns caused by the pandemic have raised concerns about circulation of coins, which the Fed’s 12 regional banks are in charge of supplying to commercial banks. ‘With the partial closure of the economy, the flow of funds through the economy has stopped,’ Powell said during a virtual hearing with the House Financial Services Committee. ‘We are working with the Mint and the Reserve Banks and as the economy re-opens we are starting to see money move around again'” (Tyko).
Social Media Trends as of May 10, 2022
Facebook #nationalcoinshortage: people are posting about this
Instagram #nationalcoinshortage: 355 posts
TikTok #nationalcoinshortage: 9.5 million views
YouTube #nationalcoinshortage: less than 100 videos and channels
Google Trends: “National coin shortage” peaked during the week of July 5, 2020 which coincides with the time “exact change” notices started to appear everywhere on shop windows and registers.
Sources:
Tyco, Kelly. “National coin shortage: Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters part of latest COVID-19 shortage.” USA Today. June 20, 2020. URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/06/20/coronavirus-shortage-coin-supply-pennies-nickels-dimes-quarters/3230828001/.