“Like most retailers, we’re experiencing the affects of the nation-wide coin shortage,” spokesperson Avani Dudhia said. “We’re asking customers to pay with card or use correct change when possible if they need to pay with cash.”
Some self-checkout registers have been converted to card-only registers. Dudhia added that some stores have been moving registers to card-only on an as-needed basis.
The coin shortage was caused due to a supply chain disruption since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, government officials have explained.
“What’s happened is that, with the partial closure of the economy, the flow of coins through the economy has gotten all — it’s kind of stopped,” Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said during a virtual hearing with the House Financial Services Committee last month.
This coin shortage won’t last forever. The Walmart spokesperson says their issues won’t either. But in the meantime, you’re being asked to “charge it”.