CINCINNATI (WXIX / Gray News): If you pay in cash at one of Kroger’s boxes, you won’t receive a currency exchange for a while, and this is indirectly due to the coronavirus.
Kroger spokeswoman Erin Rofles confirmed on Friday that the grocery store will no longer return the currency exchange to customers. Instead, the rest of the cash transactions will be applied to customer loyalty cards and will automatically be used on their next purchase.
Customers are also encouraged to ‘Round Up’ to support the company’s Zero Hunger / Zero Waste Foundation.
The reason for the change in policy, according to Rofles, has to do with the current shortage of Federal Reserve currencies.
A June 11 Federal Reserve press release explains that the pandemic has “significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns of the US currency.”
Fed President Jerome H. Powell explained the issue June 17 in a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, according to the Washington Post. The newspaper quotes him saying:
“The places where you go to give your coins, get store credit and get cash, you know, double money, those haven’t been working. Stores have been closed. So the whole system has stopped. We are very aware of this. … As the economy reopens, we see currencies start to move again. “
At the same time, the Federal Reserve said that its measures aimed at replenishing the currency inventory will not be enough to solve the shortage in the short term.
The result? If you go to Kroger, for now you can forget your exchange bag.
Copyright 2020 WXIX through Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
.
