The Surprising Reason One Chick-Fil-A Gave Away Free Sandwiches
The novel coronavirus has brought on a variety of shortages within the United States throughout the pandemic. Things like flour and yeast were super hard to find on the shelves of local grocery stores. But now there's a new item that seems to be disappearing as well: coins. As more and more people have stayed home, the use of coins in the economy has become next to none (and production has been down as well), which has become a problem for multiple retailers, including one Chick-fil-A in Alabama in particular (via Alabama).
One of the chain's locations in Huntsville was on the brink of needing to go cashless due to their lack of coins, so they turned to Facebook to advertise an unusual promotion. While the promotion has already come to a close thanks to the Chick-fil-A location already meeting their need for coins instead of cash, some people were able to get a free lunch just by bringing their spare change to the fast-casual chain. However, they might have had to take the time to roll their loose coins (via Fox News).
How a lucky few got free Chick-fil-A sandwiches
In a post that has since been removed, the location advertised a flyer that read, "Help prevent Chick-fil-A from going cashless. For every $10 in rolled coins you exchange with us, you'll receive a free Chick-fil-A original sandwich!" To be clear, this wasn't an original chicken sandwich that the guest unwittingly paid $10 in change for. The promotion exchanged the $10 worth of rolled coins that customers brought to the location with $10 in cash, plus a free original Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich as an extra thank you.
Needless to say, the promotion captured the attention of many local Huntsville residents and Chick-fil-A fans. The post was updated to let everyone know that the location had received all the coins it needed and noted a big "thank you" to those who helped. It's easy to see why they had such a positive and quick response, too. No one wants to hang on to their loose change when they can exchange it for cash and a free Chick-fil-A sandwich.