Update From The Fed On The Coin Shortage

Got this message today at work, FYI I don't work for the Fed. This will help explain why people had about their banks not giving out boxes.

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NONCONFIDENTIAL // EXTERNAL

Good afternoon,

As you may be aware, due to the COVID-19 pandemic many banks and retail outlets have been experiencing low inventories of coins in recent weeks caused by the dramatic decrease in coin circulation through the normal supply chain. As of April 2020, the U.S. Treasury estimates that the total value of coin in circulation is $47.8 billion, up from $47.4 billion as of April 2019. While there is adequate coin in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has meant that sufficient quantities of coin are not readily available where needed. Given the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's role in distributing supplies of cash and coin to Federal Reserve FedCash® Services customers, I wanted to touch base to update you on recent actions by the Federal Reserve to address the issue.

In an announcement made today, the Federal Reserve will be convening a group of industry leaders for a limited-scope, limited duration task force, the. U.S. Coin Task Force, to work together to reduce the consequences and duration of COVID-19 related disruptions to normal coin circulation. This follows the implementation on June 15th of a temporary strategic allocation methodology intended to help resolve the near-term supply issues while ensuring fair and equitable distribution of existing coin inventories.

The coin supply chain includes many participants, from the U.S. Mint who produces new coin, to the Federal Reserve who distributes coin on the U.S. Mint's behalf, to armored carriers, banks, retailers and consumers, all of whom have a role to play in helping to resolve this issue. The task force will begin meeting in early July to develop recommendations for actionable steps our supply chain partners can take to address the issue.