Dear Spenders and Hoarders,

Have you heard of the coin shortage? When you pull up to the drive-thru at McDonald’s there’s a sign asking you to use a card or pay with exact change because they don’t have enough coins to make change. Because we’re running out of coins!

Well it’s been a weird time over the past few months. And it’s impacted every part of our lives, including coins. People aren’t spending them, businesses aren’t turning them into banks, banks aren’t returning them to customers. There’s been a small decrease in number of coins produced because the Mint has to follow social distancing guidelines too and has been slowed down because of it. But this is a circulation problem. This is about flow.

And it makes sense that this problem shows up in our money because money is all about circulation. Money moves quickly and easily and that’s what makes it a useful invention. It’s also nearly universal, meaning everyone accepts it.

In that sense, money is a lot like virus. It moves along the same pathways as viruses. And in taking steps to slow the spread of the cornoavirus, we’ve slowed the spread of everything that moves along those pathways. At least for a while.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck