Washington Post: A penny pinch: How America fell into a great coin shortage. “When the nation’s coin shortage trickled down to Giant Wash Coin Laundry, chief executive Daryl Johnson plastered his stores with signs urging customers to bring in loose quarters and reprogrammed the change machines at his Minneapolis-area chain to take only smaller bills. At one point, Johnson crossed state lines to head to Omaha on a critical mission to acquire $8,000 worth of quarters from another laundromat owner who had coins to spare.”

Mass Live: A ‘strange effect’ of the COVID-19 pandemic: Coin shortage leaving stores, banks begging for loose change. “When the cash registers ran dangerously low of quarters this month, the owners of Fruit Fair supermarket took the drastic step of raiding their gumball machines. They aren’t alone in seeing coin supplies run dry. With many businesses shut down for months and customers concerned about spreading the coronavirus through cash, people are using coins less frequently — leading to a shortage of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in circulation.”