[ti:US Faces Coin Shortage] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.28]The United States is facing a coin shortage, [00:05.44]yet another side effect of the coronavirus health crisis. [00:10.80]Coins are in short supply because many businesses have been closed [00:16.92]and many Americans have been going out less to buy things. [00:22.16]America's central bank, the Federal Reserve System, [00:27.00]announced in June that the supply system for metal money had been affected. [00:33.00]The U.S. Mint and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin [00:38.16]urged Americans to use coins when making purchases [00:42.48]or deposit the coins in to banks. [00:45.80]As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, [00:50.48]the coin supply is expected to return to normal. [00:54.92]Yet businesses have urged buyers to make purchases electronically [01:00.60]or use exact change whenever possible. [01:04.24]Some businesses will not give change. [01:07.76]Other businesses have offered products or services [01:11.92]to customers in exchange for their coins. [01:15.76]In exchange for $5 worth of coins, convenience store chain WaWa [01:22.28]offered customers a free drink at some of its stores. [01:27.40]If people brought in $50 or more in coins, [01:32.16]they could get something to eat: a free sandwich. [01:36.32]In Wisconsin, Community State Bank offered $5 [01:41.60]for every $100 worth of coins that people brought in. [01:46.88]Bank officials had to suspend the program after a week [01:52.36]because so many people were taking up the offer. [01:57.04]The coin shortage has hurt some businesses more than others. [02:02.32]Brian Wallace is head of the Coin Laundry Association, [02:06.76]a trade group that represents laundromats [02:10.60]- businesses where people clean their clothes. [02:14.20]Wallace described the coin shortage as [02:17.64]"at the minimum an inconvenience...at worst... a business challenge." [02:23.20]About 56% of laundromats take quarters as the only form of payment. [02:30.36]Laundromats often use coins, in part, [02:34.48]because many of their customers are "unbanked" or "underbanked." [02:40.40]These terms mean the customers mostly pay for goods and services in cash. [02:48.16]Daryl Johnson owns Giant Wash Laundry [02:51.80]— a business operating 11 laundromats in the Minneapolis area. [02:57.68]He says his company usually buys anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 in quarters a week. [03:06.72]The quarters are for change machines [03:10.28]- machines that accept dollar bills and give back coins. [03:15.76]Johnson got creative. [03:17.68]He offered to buy change from friends and family on Facebook. [03:23.40]He put up signs in stores asking customers to bring in their own coins. [03:29.52]He also programmed his change machines to only accept smaller bills. [03:35.60]Johnson even drove more than 4 hours to Omaha, Nebraska, [03:40.64]to buy $8,000 in quarters from another laundry operator. [03:46.84]"It's that or my business close," he told The Associated Press recently. [03:53.08]Since then, the coin shortage at his business has become less severe. [03:59.44]The coin shortage is even having an effect on some American traditions. [04:05.24]Jen Vicker, of Bollingbrook, Illinois has a 10-year old daughter. [04:11.08]Her daughter recently woke up with something not feeling right: a loose tooth. [04:17.28]She worried that the tooth fairy would not leave money for the tooth [04:22.44]because of the coin shortage. [04:24.72]The tooth fairy is an imaginary person who is supposed to leave money for children [04:31.48]while they sleep in exchange for a tooth that has come out. [04:36.00]So Vicker's daughter wrote a note. It reads: "Dear tooth fairy, [04:41.88]you may already know this but there is a national coin shortage in America. [04:48.40]You usually leave me dollar coins, but until this situation is resolved, [04:54.64]I would like cash for my teeth. I apologize for the inconvenience." [05:00.52]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM