---

Dear Editor:
With all the shortages we've already faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, we can add one more to the list - a (nation-wide) coin shortage.
Who would have thought?
In fact, one merchant has sent out an email asking its customers to please use exact change when paying in cash or consider using another form of payment.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the flow of coins through the US economy has "kind of stopped."
What's being done? The Federal Reserve Banks have begun the "strategic allocation of coin inventories" this week to evenly distribute coins across banks and credit unions. Those "strategic allocation" measures include imposing order limits based on the historic order volume of those coins and how many coins the US Mint is currently producing.
Federal Reserve officials believe the shortage is temporary. They are confident that the coin inventory issues will resolve once the economy opens more broadly and the coin supply chain returns to normal circulation patterns.

Eileen Z. Fitzsimons
Dodgeville, WI