, Columnist
Covid-19 Leaves Less Change in Our Pockets, Literally
Coin shortages often follow desperate times — and the need has more than once provided an opportunity for private enterprise.
Priceless.
Photographer: Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images
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As if a deep recession and a never-ending pandemic wasn’t enough, the U.S. now faces another crisis: a coin shortage. Thanks to the lockdowns, fewer coins are in circulation, leaving businesses unable to make change when customers hand over paper money.
Coin shortages, though, are nothing new. In fact, they were the norm until modern times. As we grapple with our own version of a perennial problem, it’s worth contemplating how people in the past dealt with the issue — and the ingenious methods they used to solve it.