Coin World: "Federal Reserve is ordering half dollars for general circulation"
Goldbully
Posts: 17,939 ✭✭✭✭✭
Should be a fun time for Kennedy half collectors.
Federal Reserve is ordering half dollars for general circulation
_By Paul Gilkes and William T. Gibbs , Coin World_ _Published: Jul 9, 2021, 9 AM_
Washington state collector Daryl Anderson reported to “Coin World” obtaining rolled 2021-D Kennedy half dollars from his local bank. Images courtesy of Daryl Anderson.
The Federal Reserve has been quietly ordering circulation-quality Kennedy half dollars for distribution into general circulation, reversing a trend that started in 2002.
It was widely believed that none of the Kennedy half dollars struck in circulation quality were routed for circulation release since 2002, and that the output from the Denver and Philadelphia Mints was all reserved for numismatic sales in bags and rolls, offered at premiums above face value.
What remains unclear is when the Federal Reserve began ordering new half dollars for circulation.
U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White confirmed to Coin World July 6 that the Federal Reserve has been placing orders for circulation-quality Kennedy half dollars. However, repeated requests for details about when orders first began have gone unanswered. Federal Reserve officials have also not responded to Coin World’s questions about its orders for half dollars.
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Comments
Quarter shortage? Now we gotta update all the commercial washing machines.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
As Sergeant Schultz would say "very interesting",,,,,,,, maybe that was a guy on Laugh In.
Hard to believe there is an actual demand for this denomination for commerce when cash usage is shrinking and it hasn't been used much for decades. I worked in a grocery store in the 80's and even back then, saw a rather limited number. We didn't include It in the cash registers at the beginning of each shift either.
Only reason I can see for retail demand is from increased CRH.
I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.
2020D rolls have also shown up.
I'll bet it's all the orders by roll searchers that have given the perception of demand that led to the Fed orders.
People have been getting $500 bank boxes of halves from their local branches that are all brand new 2021-D. So it seems they may well indeed be ready to be put into circulation again.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
The purchasing power of a half is what a quarter was, so the half will be the new quarter.
Now, in locations being served half dollars… are they appearing in stores?
Not Sgt Shultz, but Arte Johnson as Wolfgang the German classic "Very Interesting" from "Laugh In"
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Terrific!!
Not if you're looking for silver.
@GRANDAM... That was Laugh In... Sgt. Schulz said "I know nooottthiiinng!!"
That is really interesting about half dollars re-entering circulation. I have not received any in change as yet.
Cheers, RickO
I doubt it will stay in circulation. More like in someone's change jar or Coinstar and then back to the FRB after it is used once or a few times. It's a bulky denomination with no purchasing power.
Darn. Bought two rolls from the Mint in May to give out to my 5th graders for a graduation present. I have a denver mint roll left. Oh well, the premium was worth it, the kids loved it.😎
It’s too bad vending machines never really accepted the half. I’d love to see the half circulate.
Phasing out the quarter by increasing half dollar and clad dollar usage? Would still be able to make change for a dollar purchase. Once half dollar becomes mainstream, they can then reduce the size down to what the quarter is/was.
Inflation in action?
Actually, Apple pay is the new quarter.
I've suspected for years that there are not nearly so many half dollars and Ikes in storage as is supposed. This certainly suggests that there aren't any supplies in the western part of the country. It's hard to believe it's cheaper to make new coins than it is to ship the coins from where they are stockpiled suggesting that there are no piles of them anywhere. Of course government has their very own very curious accounting.
They made only a few billion of the cu/ ni clads and this culture consumes just about everything.
If they really want us to go cashless, they should eliminate the paper dollar and use Ikes.
How would you like to carry 5 of those around plus a few Kennedy halfs?
My Saint Set
You are right of course,,,,,,, now I remember,,,,,
In addition, I've hit many banks over the years. I can't tell you how many tellers have asked me if I want small dollars? They can't give them away! Well, maybe they won't give them away but nobody really wants them.
Any change to vending machines will be to accept electronic payments, not an essentially non-circulating denomination.
Are you claiming the coins have mostly been melted? If not, where is it? Is the public really holding that many?
It costs money to ship existing coinage.
New halves cost something like $0.18 to make, so with seigniorage the government makes money.
I'm not sure how they split things between the US Mint and the Federal Reserve, but I could see seigniorage potentially make it "cheaper" to mint new coins than ship around old ones.
I use my CC for everything just so I don’t get change.
YouTube commentary by the Silver Wolverine.
The Federal Reserve put Kennedy Half back in General circulation! That will make for Heavy pockets!
What's Apple Pay? Is that anything like $64,000 Bitcoin or $3500.00 Ethereum?
I think there are only two possibilities; the FED has issued all these coins or they are short only on the west coast.
That's what I mean by "curious accounting". It doesn't matter to the government that it's exceedingly wasteful to store coins in one place and even more wasteful to make more coins that aren't needed and will also need storage at some point in the future. Of course when you're spending other peoples' money and aren't held responsible for outcomes it doesn't really matter. Indeed, making new coins gets money flowing and even those responsible for minting more might get a piece of it.
I suspect they're really out and doing the right thing. Any stocks in storage are simply being held to satisfy existing or predictable demand. Of course they mightta had a few presses that are better geared to half production and they are trying to ease the shortage. I'm getting an awful lot of '21 coinage which is most unusual.
They'll probably say something before too long.
It's more like PayPal.
Most of my students don't carry any cash. They use digital payments like Google Pay or Apple Pay or Venmo.
Haaa! I know, just having a little fun. I hate digital currency and all the big tech players running more of the financial systems. I loved watching Bitcoin and the other digitals bite it over the past few months... may be better off taking that cash to the casino. Odds are much better at the blackjack tables.
One has to look no further than the headlines the past week or two in regards to ransomware attacks. Something tells me this will come back to bite hard one day soon. JMHO
Mark
You're picking random dates to make you feel good. Crypto currencies are up huge in the last 12 months even after the pull back.
All crypto are digital but not all digital is crypto.
I HOPE it's true, so I can finally get the 3 each P&D 2020's & 5 each P&D 2021's we need to keep our collections up-to-date..............
I'm guessing the second one.
Outside of CRH, I find it hard to believe that there has been any "meaningful" demand by the public for this denomination for decades. Probably a noticeable percentage of the most recent generation don't even know or remember that the Kennedy was or is still being minted. Many might never have seen one.
Unfortunately these are not worth the effort searching until you hit the lofty goal of MS68. What are the odds you’re going to pull a 68 or 69 from a bank roll?
I don't know but CRH does certainly cause attrition. Coins are also taken home by travelers and some are left in sock drawers. They are lost in fires and floods. It does seem like there are an awful lot that are unaccounted for but I might point out that a lot of coins were initially sent to the west coast and would ask where they went. In 2002 the mint said there wasn't enough demand to make them for circulation and resumption of minting might well imply this backlog has been worked off (at least on the west coast).
A lot of people spend half dollars in a vain attempt to get them to circulate but it's impossible because banks are the source of all coins and no banks pay them out. When people get a half dollar in change they are prone to save it since they are "rare". Some find their way back to bank but others have not.
I'd be most interested to know how many are in FED storage in aggregate but wouldn't be overly surprised if the number is under a hundred million so they began making a few more. Yes, it's entirely possible that they have a few billion in storage somewhere but the guy who has the key is on vacation or got laid off last year. Ya' just never know with government.
A couple of random thoughts:
The Fed has an inventory that slowly dwindled over time until it reached the point that the Fad said "Hmm! Guess we'd better order some more of these!" Think 1999 SBA dollars. Maybe 1881 three cent nickels, though I don't know if there was some other good reason why they were struck in such quantity.
The much ballyhooed "coin shortage" last year made somebody at Treasury think "I guess we'd better order more of every denomination next year!"
Coins are also taken home by travelers and some are left in sock drawers.
Probably some taken by travelers when the denomination circulated more often and widely. Doubt it has been noticeable in the last 20 years. A lot more in "sock drawers" or "change jars" domestically, most if not held in storage.
Collectors try to spend it to increase circulation as with dollar coins but it's presumably a rounding error. Anecdotally as I wrote earlier above, when I worked for a national grocery chain during high school and university in the 80's, it received some but the number was still very low. The store I worked at did about $450,000 in sales per week mostly with checks but still with a lot of cash. It had a bank branch starting in 1983 and the cash deposits were in the tens of thousands per day.
Isn't that the truth
If stores don't get half dollars from the bank, they'll never circulate. People get the coins they use in change from previous transactions. Nobody goes to the bank to get coins to spend.
The grocery store I worked at did not. When we prepared the cash registers with $100 for each shift, no half dollars.
I myself get half dollars to search and spend from the bank every two weeks. All not of interest for my collection are spent on my travels for my job.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
Don't make much sense to me... But I'm gonna love it when I'm detecting at the beach. Peace Roy
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And those coins go right back to the bank.
Coin drawers don't have a slot for them, so they go in the miscellany pile and back to the bank with the day's receipts.
Exactly. And since the store's customers got no halves in change, they had none to spend at their next stop.
When I said "Nobody goes to the bank to get coins to spend", I meant regular people, not coin collectors. Sorry for any confusion.
There's apparently a real coin shortage still going on since I'm seeing so many 2021 coins.
There are other possibilities but I'm guessing that working at home and covid have changed coin distribution patterns that are depleting FED inventories.
I wondered about the several 2017-D and 2018-D half dollars I got in rolls recently. I assumed they were from collectors via the mint - now I'm not so sure.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
A half dollar doesn't buy virtually anything anymore and hasn't for years. Makes sense that there is a coin shortage if it's essentially a one way trip from the US Mint to the "change jar".
Also wonder how long banks will accommodate CRH. Most bank customers aren't very profitable. It's been my perception that the larger banks at least would love to dump most of their customers if they could get away with it.
I’d wondered about the 2018-D halves I find when I occasionally pick up a roll or two.
Could it be a regional thing? I’m in the Pacific Northwest and I saw you mentioned the PNNA in your signature.
witty quote goes here
I'm still befuddled about where coins in circulation go. I occasionally see someone pay with cash and receive coins in change, but maybe in one transaction out of 100 do I see someone pay with coins to the merchant.
They only thing I can think of is that the average American has $100 in coins lying around the house that they can't be bothered to take to the bank or Coinstar.
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You are picking random dates as well when you say cryptos are up over the past 12 months. I like my chances better at the blackjack tables.
Mark
I am sorry if I was a part of the Feds decision to crank up the presses for Half Dollars. I have had no trouble getting $500.00
boxes of halves from my bank. I put into circulation as many as I can. I have found some people who say give me more, which I do. Then again one gas station said no mas. I pay in part bills mixed in with a roll or two of halves. At a couple of cars and coffee that I go to on Saturdays welcome the halves. One young cashier really has an interest. She was born in 2002 so I am going to give her a 2002 MS 64 (blurred beak/eye), still a nice coin. By the way, Walmart self check out stations TAKE half
dollars, I am surprised. I have only one roll with me and put it all in it. It is possible to get 67/68 from bank boxes. I have shown a few to a long time coin dealer and he agrees with the few that I have. I am getting a 10 coin lot together to send in.
I have been through 10 boxes so far, more on the way. Cheers. I am in SoCal.