KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The new Alaska-themed quarters are just now making an appearance in Kodiak, but not yet in numbers large enough to satisfy the demand.
Officially released on August 29th at the Alaska State Fair, the quarter features a brown bear with a salmon in its jaws below a rocky cape – it’s a scene that could have come from anywhere on Kodiak Island. The Alaska quarter is the penultimate design in the U.S. Mint’s 50 State Quarters Program, which issued a custom coin for every state, and released in the order they joined the union.
Jody Spivey is the store manager for the Wells Fargo Bank in downtown. She told KMXT’s Jay Barrett the excitement is building for the new coins:
— (Quarters 1 29 sec "We’ve had lots of questions … been a lot of fun to have.")
Joyce Gregory is the branch manager for Key Bank in Kodiak. She says she’s been getting calls from Outside, even before the coin’s release:
— (Quarters 2 14 sec "I’ve had calls from … you get them will you let me know?")
There are some quarters trickling into town with travelers, but Spivey suspects people won’t be spending a lot of them just yet:
— (Quarters 3 24 sec "Usually we would have seen … end of next week, hopefully.")
Gregory says Key Bank should have a shipment in at about the same time. At this point, of the banks in Kodiak we’ve been able to contact, the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union inside the Safeway seems to have the largest supply, though a spokesperson in Anchorage says there is a limit of five rolls per person. Gregory says Key Bank is considering a limit of one roll for non-customers, but more for those who bank with them.
To meet the demand, some banks on the mainland have opened separate teller windows to sell the quarters. The demand at one bank in Soldotna has forced them to limit sales to just two rolls per customer.
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