This Chick-fil-A will buy your coins from you — and give you free food
What’s the value of highly sought-after pocket change in the midst of a nationwide coin shortage?
A chicken sandwich with waffle fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade, apparently.
For one day only, a Chick-fil-A in Lynchburg, Virginia, will give customers paper bills and a $10 voucher for a free meal in exchange for any combination of rolled coins worth $10, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page.
The stunted economy coupled with a slowdown in coin production during the coronavirus pandemic has left businesses in the lurch when making change for customers, prompting some to ban paying with cash altogether, McClatchy News reported.
But this Lynchburg restaurant — a mere 55 miles from the North Carolina border — had a more creative solution.
The offer was posted Saturday, advertising a coin exchange from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. on July 29 with a maximum of 10 coupons per guest.
More than 800 shares later, the restaurant had to amend its initial offer.
“WOW! We had no idea the response we’d get from this request,” the Chick-fil-A posted in the comments section on Monday. “Due to overwhelming response, we are updating this opportunity to 9 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 7/29 ONLY!”
But the restaurant anticipates offering the same deal again, according to the post.
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson told Fox Business a “decrease in coin circulation nationwide” prompted the Lynchburg restaurant’s proposal.
“Some restaurants may choose to offer incentives like this one to ensure they maintain enough coins to provide guests proper change, should they choose to pay with cash,” the spokesperson said, according to Fox.
The Federal Reserve announced a coin shortage in a statement June 11, pointing to a disruption in the supply chain and the normal circulation of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, McClatchy News reported.
“The Federal Reserve is working on several fronts to mitigate the effects of low coin inventories,” the statement said. “Although the Federal Reserve is confident that the coin inventory issues will resolve once the economy opens more broadly and the coin supply chain returns to normal circulation patterns, we recognize that these measures alone will not be enough to resolve near‐term issues.”
On an FAQ page last updated Monday, the Federal Reserve said the U.S. Mint “has been operating at full production capacity” since the announcement about a shortage was issued last month.
It’s now on track to mint 1.65 billion coins per month for the rest of 2020, according to the reserve’s website.
“As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, more coins will flow back into retail and banking channels and eventually into the Federal Reserve, which should allow for the rebuilding of coin inventories,” the website states.
