You may have noticed signs in businesses across the Valley asking for correct change only, and that's not a mistake. A national coin shortage is the latest implication from the COVID-19 crisis.


"During COVID the banks closed, you couldn't go into the lobbies anymore, and you can't push coin rolls through the machines so you can't put them through the drive-thru which interrupted the flow of small currency as in quarters, halves, dimes, nickels, and cents," says Mike Miller, owner of The Coin Shop of Youngstown. 

Miller said there was a national stoppage of the use of small currency all at once, and once everything opened, it was challenging to find coins.

If you're now in the market to sell gold or silver, Mike says now is your chance.

"The gold prices have gone through the roof, silver has come up quite a bit too, but gold has literally gone through the roof. We have had a flow of customers selling off their gold coins, their gold jewelry, anything made of gold right now is literally golden. We are approaching the second all-time high gold has ever seen," adds Miller.

Miller says it will take a few months for the flow of small change to get back to normal.