If you have at least $10 in spare change, a Chick-fil-A in Virginia will offer you free food for them.
Amid the nation’s coronavirus-caused coin shortage, franchise owners in the city of Lynchburg are running a special on Wednesday. The chicken restaurant is offering a free entree voucher to customers who exchange $10 of rolled coins for $10 in paper cash.
The Chick-fil-A is running the special between 9 a.m. and noon, and again from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The location announced the news on Facebook Sunday.
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«We need coins and you can help!» the store said. The store will run the promotion until its coin need is met, and coin toters are limited to 10 coupons.
The incentive isn’t nationwide, Chick-fil-A told USA TODAY. Each of the chicken chain’s restaurants are independently owned and operated.
«Due to the decrease in coin circulation nationwide, some restaurants may choose to offer incentives like this one to ensure they maintain enough coins to provide guests proper change, should they choose to pay with cash,» Chick-fil-A said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Customers can order and pay for meals on the chain’s mobile app as well as with cash, credit and debit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay, the company said.
Still, the location in Virginia isn’t the first business to incentivize customers to bring in change.
Select 7-Eleven stores have started offering a free Slurpee to those who trade $5 in change for $5 in cash. Others are encouraging customers to pay with exact change.
Since the start of the pandemic, many companies and medical experts have encouraged people to cut back on using physical money because it can transport germs. Instead, they advised using more contactless payment methods in a bid to curb infections.
That has contributed to America’s current COVID-19 shortage of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Last week, the Mint, which manufactures the nation’s coin supply, issued a statement encouraging consumers to «start spending their coins, depositing them, or exchanging them for currency at financial institutions or taking them to a coin redemption kiosk.»
