US Postal Service is reliable and fast

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, kurtsara said:

I see none of that here in Minnesota. 

Here in the west Minneapolis suburbs at food pickup places and at Methodist Hospital parking they are requesting cards instead of cash.

Linda Sand

[Ray,IN]

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Right now, many businesses are expressing a preference for other types of payment because there is less contact with the customer and there is a coin shortage. Even drive-up food is posting that request.  In addition, when you travel it can be a nuisance to get more cash as well as the fact that many credit cards now return 1% or even 2% to the card holder. We use very little cash even when not traveling. 

Here in Indiana, there is no coin shortage. I asked my bank about it, the reply was "where are all the coins supposed to have gone? W have a  section of our vault occupied with coins".

Many local business's have a sign displayed next to the cash register saying " there is a 4% surcharge for using a credit or bank card" Apparently the card companies have raised their rates to business's for accepting them. Large corporations around here are the only ones without said sign displayed.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Ray,IN

[Kirk W]

38 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

Here in Indiana, there is no coin shortage.

At a truck stop in Van, TX yesterday, there was a sign asking for exact change or card transactions if possible due to the coin shortage. But there are also stores here in the Dallas area that are emphasizing card transactions because they are less hazardous for their employees with the covid problem still around and presently showing some increase again. 

[kurtsara]

You would think small businesses would want cash. 

[Barbaraok]

They will gladly take cash IN FULL.  They just don't have coins in this area for change.   And for a lot of restaurants where we do pickup, I will tell them to put the cash in the tip jar.  

[kurtsara]

Bremer bank tells me they have no coin shortage. 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, kurtsara said:

Bremer bank tells me they have no coin shortage. 

I read that it is claimed to be caused by people not spending their coins and so they are not in circulation, but that does seem difficult for me to believe.  The following comes from the federal reserve website. Doesn't make much sense to me. 

Quote

Why do U.S. coins seem to be in short supply?

Business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. While there is an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has reduced available inventories in some areas of the country.

The Federal Reserve is working with the U.S. Mint and others in the industry on solutions. As a first step, a temporary cap was imposed on the orders depository institutions place for coins with the Federal Reserve to ensure that the current supply is fairly distributed. In addition, a U.S. Coin Task Force was formed to identify, implement, and promote actions to address disruptions to coin circulation.

Since mid-June, the U.S. Mint has been operating at full production capacity, minting almost 1.6 billion coins in June and is on track to mint 1.65 billion coins per month for the remainder of the year.

As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, more coins will flow back into retail and banking channels and eventually into the Federal Reserve, which should allow for the rebuilding of coin inventories.

 

[Jaydrvr]

I have some personal knowledge of where a fair amount of quarters are going. We have a couple family members who are buying quarters by the hundreds and thousands. They spend many hours going through them looking for collectibles. Currently, their big thing is the new W quarters, from West Point, featuring America The Beautiful. They then list their findings on eBay. They're making more from that than I would've imagined. In the meantime, quite a few coins are out of circulation. I'm sure there are quite a few others doing that as well. Jay

[Twotoes]

I have had a coin shortage ever since I retired 6 years ago, lol lol lol. 

[soos]

On 10/11/2020 at 12:38 PM, sandsys said:

So, if a cop asks you for proof of insurance, you send him to the cloud? Or ask him to wait while you go to a local copy shop to get a print out?

Linda

Actually Linda, many states, including Texas, accept an electronic insurance ID card ie....I can have my Progressive App and that’s all I need.

[jcussen]

28 minutes ago, soos said:

Actually Linda, many states, including Texas, accept an electronic insurance ID card ie....I can have my Progressive App and that’s all I need.

Got stopped last week in Texas, if cop runs your plate or looks at you sticker he will see you have registration and insurance, can't get inspection without insurance, and can't get windshield sticker without getting inspection. But agree they will take insurance off my phone app.

[Barbaraok]

11 hours ago, jcussen said:

Got stopped last week in Texas, if cop runs your plate or looks at you sticker he will see you have registration and insurance, can't get inspection without insurance, and can't get windshield sticker without getting inspection. But agree they will take insurance off my phone app.

Oh we have windshield sticker without the inspection, because we are out-of-state.  

[jcussen]

9 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Oh we have windshield sticker without the inspection, because we are out-of-state.  

So you can just renew your registration every year from out of state and never get an inspection?

[mptjelgin]

Just now, jcussen said:

So you can just renew your registration every year from out of state and never get an inspection?

Yes

 

[jcussen]

2 hours ago, jcussen said:

So you can just renew your registration every year from out of state and never get an inspection?

Good to know, have an old pickup that will not pass emissions. How do I go about doing it? 

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, jcussen said:

How do I go about doing it? 

If you take it out of state they really don't care. If you do drive in in TX and an LEO happens to run the license plate number, he will immediately know that you didn't get it inspected and will probably pull you over. 

[jcussen]

9 hours ago, Kirk W said:

If you take it out of state they really don't care. If you do drive in in TX and an LEO happens to run the license plate number, he will immediately know that you didn't get it inspected and will probably pull you over. 

I live in Texas, so won't work for me.

[bigjim]

24 minutes ago, jcussen said:

I live in Texas, so won't work for me.

correct.  If you are traveling out of state even for extended periods it works good.

[Kirk W]

On 10/16/2020 at 10:41 PM, jcussen said:

have an old pickup that will not pass emissions.

Is it eligible for antique plates? I got this from the DPS website.

Quote

Vehicles registered as "Antiques" are exempt from annual inspection. To see the restrictions on the use of antiques or to obtain more information on how to register your vehicle as "Antique," visit the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Vehicles registered as "Classic" are required to have an annual safety inspection.

 

[jcussen]

12 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Is it eligible for antique plates? I got this from the DPS website.

Thanks Kirk, its an 2007 so won't meet either qualification. Might just sit on it for 2 more years.

 

[Ray,IN]

13 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Is it eligible for antique plates? I got this from the DPS website.

 

So that's why my buddy kept his 1966 Ford pickup. He lived in Van and operated the oil museum.

[soos]

On 10/15/2020 at 8:48 PM, jcussen said:

Got stopped last week in Texas, if cop runs your plate or looks at you sticker he will see you have registration and insurance, can't get inspection without insurance, and can't get windshield sticker without getting inspection. But agree they will take insurance off my phone app.

We are not physically in Texas.

[Kirk W]

13 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

He lived in Van and operated the oil museum.

Wow! Until last year our address was Lindale but we were actually closer to Van. We still do some business there and were in Van just last week.