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many Walmart and other grocery self-checkouts began only accepting cards due to a ""coin shortage"" during covid, and it seems like they now have no reason to r

• zdragnar 5y ago
  No need for scare quotes; it was (still is?) a real thing. My local rural grocery store has had a hard time getting coins for making change basically since covid started.
  • adamrezich 5y ago
    they aren't scare quotes, we just never got a good explanation for why there was a shortage, aside from some vague hand-waving about covid.
    • zdragnar 5y ago
      A super quick search on google reveals two causes: - The US mint slowed production to protect workers - The shutdowns slowed circulation of existing coins Given that a large percentage of coins are irredeemably damaged or lost each year (I once knew a particularly spoiled college student who would simply throw change away rather than deal with keeping them) it doesnt seem like much explanation is owed beyond that.
      • adamrezich 5y ago
        and all of this right as the Federal Reserve is looking at making a digital dollar, what're the odds