Behind the Circulating Coin Shortage

By now, most Americans are aware that there is a shortage of circulating coinage in the country. A number of retailers I have visited over the past week now are pushing to take electronic payments because they don’t have coins to make change.

I have seen comments in a few circles claiming that this coin shortage was contrived as a way to eliminate the U.S. of coins and currency in everyday commerce. Such ideas reflect lack of familiarity with what has actually occurred. Here are the details of what is actually going on.

The best information I have is that about 90 percent of transactions