Would like to get some feedback... are you still encountering the “coin shortage”? Seems to be more likely at fast food or convenience stores (places where cash is still more frequently used), and it is still a thing here (southeast US).

On one hand, I think there might be small grift operations in place: Crew at Taco Hell decides “let’s just not give out any change this shift and we’ll split the overage when we tally the drawer”.

And then I’ve heard people say it’s something about copper and coin content, but I don’t quite get the “why” part. (I was amazed to learn that while I knew the penny contains almost no copper, that it is the bulk of the other coins’ content.) Meanwhile I am seeing good evidence for copper values increasing in the market across the last year.

Third theory is that it’s part of the transition to cashless.

Would like to hear more thoughts on this or other ideas. And one last question: Is it time to break the piggy bank and offload that pile of change I’ve been hoarding.