#65 The Coin Shortage That Wasn’t · Think First

Remember those little signs at checkout in 2020?

“Due to a national coin shortage, please use exact change or pay with card.”

Was it really about supply chain disruption — or was it a quiet nudge to push us further into a cashless society?

In this episode of Think First, Jim Detjen unravels the strange story of the “coin shortage” — why it appeared everywhere at once, how it shaped our payment habits, and what it reveals about crisis-driven behavior.

Was it a shortage of coins… or a shortage of truth?

Support the show

Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Think First, where we don't follow the script
.
We question it Because, in aworld full of poetic truths and
professional gaslighting,someone's got to say the quiet
part out loud.
Remember the year 2020?
Why did every store in Americasuddenly have a coin shortage at

(00:25):
the exact same time?
Seriously, was there anationwide epidemic of people
hoarding quarters in undergroundbunkers?
Did the treasury forget how tomake nickels?
Or was something else going on?
Because here's what happened Inthe middle of a global pandemic
, while businesses were closing,schools were remote and hand

(00:51):
sanitizer was currency, acurious little sign started
popping up at checkout counterseverywhere.
Due to a national coin shortage,please use exact change or pay
with card.
It wasn't just one city.
It wasn't just Walmart.
It was everyone all at once.
Walmart, it was everyone all atonce.
So let's think first.
Who decides there's a coinshortage and why does it

(01:16):
conveniently nudge us toward aworld where cash becomes
optional?
Was it really about supplychain disruption at the US Mint
or a test run to see how easilywe'd accept a cashless society?
Were we being informed or beingconditioned?
A few questions worth yourspare change.
If coins were really in shortsupply, how did Coinstar
machines still work just fine.
Why were banks still givingrolls of quarters to commercial

(01:37):
laundromats but stores claimedthey couldn't break a $10 bill?
Why did this shortagemysteriously resolve itself
without fanfare once peoplestopped noticing?
And how did we go from pleaseuse exact change to we no longer
accept cash in less than twoyears?
Let's back up.

(01:58):
In June 2020, the FederalReserve issued a formal
statement acknowledging whatthey called a temporary
disruption in coin circulation.
Not a minting problem, not ametal shortage, just a
circulation issue.
Meaning coins were out there,they just weren't moving.
Why?
Because businesses were shutdown, people weren't spending

(02:19):
coins and banks weren't orderingthem in bulk.
That's the official story andfine, that checks out on paper.
But here's the thing thoselaminated signs at checkout
didn't say circulation slowdown,they said shortage.
And that one word, swapped inlike a sleight of hand, framed
the whole event as a crisis.

(02:41):
Meanwhile, digital paymentadoption skyrocketed Tap-to-pay,
qr menus, apple Wallet, venmo,all convenient, all trackable.
We were told.
This was for our safety, toreduce touch points, to protect
workers.
And hey, maybe that was true.
But it also primed a newbehavior Cash equals dirty, card

(03:04):
equals clean.
And just like that, we nudgedinto a new economic posture
without a single vote, debate orpolicy shift.
That's not a conspiracy, that'smarketing.
Here's where it getsinteresting.
Several behavioral economists,including folks at Harvard's
Kennedy School, have writtenabout crisis nudges, moments

(03:27):
when fear or urgency allowsinstitutions to test consumer
flexibility.
Now, to be clear, that doesn'tmean the coin shortage was
planned, but it does raise thequestion once a shift is
triggered, who benefits fromletting it linger?
Because, no matter what causedthe signs, there was very little
public messaging to bring themback down.

(03:48):
The US Mint even released aweird animated PSA that summer
With cartoon coins beggingAmericans to use them again.
You probably didn't see it.
No one did, because by thatpoint the message had already
sunk in Coins were a hassle,cash was a relic, tap-to-pay was
the future.

(04:10):
Now ask yourself if you were agovernment facing rising debt,
or a tech firm cravingtransaction data, or a retailer
looking to reduce theft andspeed up checkout.
Wouldn't removing cash solve alot of problems with fewer costs
, more control and fulltraceability?
In other words, what looks likea harmless policy can actually

(04:33):
become a silent shift in power.
And the best part, you don'thave to ban cash, you just make
it inconvenient.
That's not tyranny, that's userexperience design.
So was the coin shortage, realKind of.
But what made it powerfulwasn't the lack of metal, it was
the story we were told and howquickly we believed it.

(04:56):
Because if a single sign atcheckout can change our habits
that fast, what else are we onepress release away from
accepting?
I'm Jim Detchen and you don'tneed all the answers, but you
should question the ones you'rehanded, because sometimes the
most valuable currency is aworking memory Until next time.
Stay skeptical, stay curiousand always think first, want

(05:23):
more.
The full six-step framework weuse is at gaslight360.com.
You can also dive into thedeeper story, the bio, the
podcast and the mission atjimdetchincom.
And if you like this one, tagit, save it, share it.