Two Chick-fil-A locations have gotten creative to combat coin shortages at the restaurants as they offered free food in exchange for $10 in change.
The restaurants in Huntsville, Alabama, and Lynchburg, Virginia, announced the special offer for bringing in $10 in rolled change and set a limit of 10 trade-ins per customer.
The Huntsville location recently posted on Facebook that it now has enough coins to last for the next few weeks, but there may a need to bring in coins again soon.
"We can't say this enough but we have the absolute best customers," the post reads. "Because of all of you we were able to get enough coins to last us a couple of weeks."
The Lynchburg Chick-fil-A posted online that it will have a similar offer on Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m.
Both locations will give customers a $10 bill in exchange for the coin, as well as the special offer. The Huntsville location specified a free sandwich card as bonus, whereas the Lynchburg restaurant's post listed multiple options that include a voucher for a free fried or grilled chicken sandwich or eight-count chicken nuggets.
Chick-fil-A said locations may offer incentives to ensure they have enough change on hand for customers, but it is at the discretion of individual owners. The company said these two offers are not part of a national promotion.
Both locations attributed the need for change to a national coin shortage, which has been linked to less money flowing through the economy as a result of coronavirus-related closures, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in June. The state-imposed business closures prompted a slowing in the rate at which physical cash and coinage is exchanged as many used online payment systems.
The U.S. Mint, which manufactures coins, in a statement last week asked the American public to start spending or depositing their coins to help keep the supply up.