Since some time in 2020, and the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States of America, and possibly other countries, have had a coin shortage. I have noticed it predominantly with quarters, which are the most useful coins, but it is probably been across all coins. Other countries may have similar problems.
The reason for the coin shortage is clear: during normal times, one of the main ways that coins circulate is through dining, entertainment and other forms of service-oriented businesses. Basically, in normal time, people spend their quarters in bars and restaurants, and waitresses and bartenders bring big bags of quarters to their bank every week or so. Since the beginning of the pandemic, even during more "normal" times, such activities have not returned to normal, and coins are still circulating at a slower rate. There is not actually a "shortage" of coins, the same amount of coins is out there (actually, a greater amount), but they are not circulating at the same rate.
Most major transactions in the United States are done with credit or debit card, or through even more newfangled means of payment. However, coins are very important for some activities. For me personally, and probably for many other people, it is laundry, because I live in an apartment complex and our laundry room still runs on quarters. So when I go to the bank, I can only get one $10 roll of quarters at a time. There are probably many other people, in such a state of inconvenience.
The United States Mint is aware of the problem, and has been doing several things to end the coin shortage, including running the mints at full capacity for over a year. They have also convened an industry-wide task force which has suggested several other measures, including encouraging people to use the hashtag "getcoinmoving". But it looks like until the pandemic is over, the shortage will continue.
It is hard to remember now, just what those first few weeks of the pandemic were like. I had recently seen Snowpiercer, and I remember thinking, in all seriousness, back in March of 2020, that I would die before I resorted to cannibalism. And from that point, in six more months, my ethical dilemmas had switched to whether it was morally permissible to make two separate small trips to a grocery store in a row to get quarters enough to do laundry. The coin shortage of the pandemic is a sign of how many unforeseen consequences there was to a global public health emergency, and how what started as an apocalyptic pandemic turned into a grinding misery that would make every aspect of life harder.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/why-do-us-coins-seem-to-be-in-short-supply-coin-shortage.htm
https://getcoinmoving.org/