ROANOKE, Va. – First there was a shortage of toilet paper, then meat and now coins. A nationwide shortage of coins is not something you may have been expecting when the coronavirus pandemic began. Snopes fact-checked the idea that the pandemic caused a coin shortage and found that indeed, the claim is well-founded. They pointed to a June 11 news release in which the U.S. Federal Reserve acknowledged the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic had significantly diminished the U.S. coin supply. Other businesses have put up signs offering to buy change from customers or asking customers to pay with exact change.