OUT OF CHANGE
 

So my wife stops at Popeyes chicken drive through and orders 2 sandwiches,
The girl says $8,71. My wife gives her a $20 bill and 1 penny.
The girl hands her $11 and says we're out of change, Here's your chicken. Have a nice day. And yes the girl kept the penny.

WTH ?

There's been a change shortage for months now, but typically places like that will put up a sign by the order speaker to warn customers.

Go back in a week and order the same thing. When they ask for $8.71, give them $8.41 and tell them you’re even.

Ever since the supposed "Change shortage" started, I always ask beforehand if they have change, if I'm paying with cash. If not the debit card is used.

I believe the restaurants are using this to make their increased covid losses less to their bottom line. In my experiences it seems only restaurants have trouble getting change. The big box store stores always seem to have plenty of change, but that's just my experience.

Local scrapyard will round up, if the total is .50 or more, and round down for less than .50. But they tell that to you up front. Total $37.67 gets you $38.00. $37.41 gets you $37.00

I was working north of Seattle a few months ago and a few places had signs up that they were looking to buy your change.

We had the same around here. Some businesses still have signs posted about the change shortage, but seem to provide the change anyway.
I would like to know if a person shows up to make a purchase and is short a bit of change if they are turned away. I doubt the seller will say "it's okay, the last guy over paid by XX amount."

I can go one better...When this first came up a few months ago I was in the gas station or somewhere and the girl asks if I mind rounding up...they were out of change. It was only a few cents so I agreed and didn't think much about it..
My dumb ass didn't think about it until later...I was paying with a debit card..lol.

Our local Wal Mart has been limiting the self checkout area to card use only, periodically. If you want to pay with cash, you have to wait in line at a regular lane.
I rarely have more than 3-4 items, and never use plastic, so it's a hassle.
Been using the self checkout since they first became available because it's so much quicker.

If they'd stop making pennies and $.50 coins (and take them out of circulation) they could probably keep up with the demand for real change. But that makes too much sense so they probably won't do it.

Eliminating the penny would never cost anyone more than $.04 at the till and drop the wasteful use of the copper nickel alloy - not to mention the actual cost to produce them. Eliminating the $.50 cent coin would cut the cost to produce a coin that is rarely actually used.

Coming from a banking back round, there is no change shortage

Change shortage. What a bunch of BS.


I haven't run into any of that nonsense yet

Over the last 10 months, I have been using my debit card much more than I ever had. Retailers and fast food all seem to prefer you use the cards and make it more difficult to use cash to lessen the handling of "virus infused" cash. OK , so being the "good citizen" I complied. So far, 10 months later, the bank has paid my wife and I back a little over $700.00 because we have both had our accounts hacked and had to replace our cards. This began with the no change available and the change "shortage"

Back in the late '70's I took a vacation to Mexico. I decided to take a bus and paid in Pesos expecting Centavos in change. The drive handed me a piece of gum in lieu of change. Change is almost as meaningless here now. I use a debit card for everything.

Exactly what I've thought right from the beginning. My daughter and my X wife both worked in banks for many years. From what they told me, the Fed doesn't run out of money, for any length of time. They could be short for a day or so, but never months.

People don’t want to handle dirty money right now it’s the touchless service thing. I ask at my local stores if they have a change shortage non of them do.

If the change is going to transfer disease, why don't the dollar bills? No place has trouble dealing with dollar bills, which have much more surface area on them than a coin does. Also the surface of paper has many more cracks and crevasses for a .125 micron virus to nestle in, than a smooth metal surface. Which is same type surface the food prep is done on, and sterile surgical surfaces use.

When the clerk takes you card to run it, there is also the possibility of transfer from them handling it, along with the paper receipt they hand you. If you use the card terminal, instead of handing the clerk your card, hundreds of people a day touch those same keys you're using. They used to sanitize the keypads at the beginning of covid, that has pretty much gone by the wayside now. I've not seen anyone sanitizing keypads in a retail store for months now.

Also noticed no one is any longer wiping down the handles of shopping carts as they once were, and many times there isn't any supplies for the customer to wipe the handles down either.

There was a short period that change was hard to get but not now. When the "change shortage" occurred me a couple other older workers had large stashes of change and cashed it out. After 5 years I had $70. worth of change in my console. lol People are all over the place when it comes to their change some will wait for that penny like they will die without it and some just say keep it. When we get our change order from the armored car it is all new coins and bills.

Great point.

In addition, copper has some antimicrobial properties...think about the old copper AC coils vs. new aluminum ones and 'dirty sock syndrome' (ie, mold)..

I mainly use a card everywhere I go and my bank pays me back for the dollar fees incurred at ATMs and gas stations. I have been trying to convince my wife for years now that we need to switch to a credit card that pays us cash back even if it is just 3%. She thinks the more stuff we put out in the internet the more likely we are to get hacked. She still calls the bank on a landline to check bank transactions:confused:, never check it online. I like to keep a few dollars on me but they say paper money is dirtier than a household toilet seat.

Up here in Canada the penny was discontinued in 2012.everything is rounded off to the 5 cent.

Here in Australia, the one and two cent coins were withdrawn in February 1992. Paying in cash the total is rounded up or down to the nearest 5cents. But if you pay by card, the actual amount to the cent is taken out.

Now there is talk they want to remove the 5 cent coin out of circulation!!:confused:

Just another test. Manufactured crisis.

I have found myself going almost 100% cashless over the last 5 years or so. No particular reason other than the fact that it's just so much more convenient. The problem is that it makes me spend more. If I go to a gas station to get a cup of coffee, I find myself picking up snack items just because I don't want to run the card for $1.30...so, I'll spend 3 or 4 bucks.
The smarter thing to do is use a credit card if you don't want to use cash. For one thing, it makes you pay more attention to what you're spending when you have to pay that bill at the end of every month. It's probably more secure also.

okay
that was a REALLY good one :D
Can't make that up

If Seinfeld was still filming , they would use that material and pay you for it.

I would be tempted to say "that's okay, just give me a receipt for the additional amount you are collecting".

Think about this, that round up money never gets taxed, or reported that it was a sale. Tax free income with no investment or added overhead.

An establishment that has been doing this since last March is making pretty lucrative extra income. :eek: Nobody in the gubermint is paying any attention to it either.

If you use a card, the business pays a 2.5-3.5% finance charge for using the credit card service. I'll bet they would really prefer that you pay cash and accept the bogus round up policy.

Hy Vee, a grocery chain with more than 240 retail stores in eight Midwestern states, including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, actually has cart sanitizing machines in their stores.

All carts are brought back into the store from the parking lot and are run through the cart wash prior to being placed into the cart area in the entrance area of the store.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/site...?itok=46n6syY7

https://www.supermarketnews.com/issu...itizing-system

No shortage here.
And try not to let change pile up.
The fuel station and other small stores I frequent say don't worry about not having enough coins. Your good to go.

BTY, I'm way behind on tech...
My son showed me how he scans groceries with his phone before putting in cart. No waiting in line for check out.
And phone turns on the fuel pump, and billed thru it also.

We went out for beer and pizza last night. On the way home we stopped at a Kwik Trip (convenience store) to pick up a half gallon of milk. Paid for it with a $5.00 bill and got two $1.00 bills, six quarters, two dimes and one penny in change.

They didn't have a coin shortage, they had a shortage of dollar bills....

Society seems to be getting more dumbed down with each passing day.

I've noticed that a few local restaurants that were "CASH ONLY" (Translates to "we don't like paying taxes") have moved over to "credit cards only because Coronavirus." With that added 3% credit card fee, sales and income taxes, that's gotta be quite a hit to the bottom line.

In our building, we have a business that sells filtered water and car washing supplies. Pick-up trucks and vans frequently come by for supplies and water to detail their customers' cars at their homes. They empty their vacuum cleaners into our dumpsters and it is amazing how many coins are sucked up from car floors and end up in the dumpsters. When people receive their change from a fast food drive thru, it's easier to just throw the change on their car floor and leave it for the "sweepers" .

coin shortage ?
 

I visited my US BANK branch in Kingman, AZ the other day to deposit a money order. Because I have collected pennies (Lincoln Cents !) since I was a kid in Detroit, I asked for $5.00 in pennies. 'Hattie' told me she didn't have any to give me, not even ONE ROLL. I kept my cool and just went on home. I do not believe there is any kind of coin shortage. Another 'conspiracy theory' probably.