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This small Washington town is printing its own currency. Here’s why

Tenino, Washington, is printing its own currency during the COVID-19 pandemic

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
SHARE This small Washington town is printing its own currency. Here’s why
Bryan Fisher, 16, left, and Stephen Smith, 15, of Tenino, Wash., keep occupied by playing video games in a stall near their cattle at the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, Wash., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003. The largest fair in Washington will continue through Sept. 21.

Bryan Fisher, 16, left, and Stephen Smith, 15, of Tenino, Wash., keep occupied by playing video games in a stall near their cattle at the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, Wash., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003.

Laurie Matinich, Associated Press

A small town in the state of Washington decided to print its own currency amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Hustle.

What’s going on?

  • Tenino, Washington, has decided to release its own currency during the coronavirus pandemic, which damaged the city completely.
  • The pandemic hurt local businesses. “Residents couldn’t afford groceries. Long lines snaked outside the local food bank. For more than a month, the downtown area looked almost abandoned,” The Hustle reports.
  • And then it happened: the town’s mayor, Wayne Fournier, encouraged the town to create its own currency. He put $10,000 aside to release to low-income residents.

How it works

  • So how does this idea work? Well, the town will give out these printed notes to their own residents. The notes can be spent at local businesses, per Decrypt.
  • The town is using a newspaper printer to print the money — a practice not uncommon during the Great Depression.
  • Per The Hustle:
By reinstating the old currency now, Fournier has accidentally become part of a much bigger movement. With businesses worried about keeping the lights on and people scrambling to find spending money, communities have struggled to keep their local economies afloat.

So they’ve revived an old strategy: When in doubt, print your own money.

What happened before:

  • Tenino, Washington, embraced something similar in the past. In 1931, the town had no currency so it had no way to do businesses. So the town created its own currency, handing out to people so they could conduct business, according to KNKX.