# American $2 Bills **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579 "2012-09-13T05:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/81 "2012-09-14T16:48:50Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > This is why I like GQ. Now I don’t have to start a new thread with a query for prices. > > But I don’t get the money. Two dollars for five blowjobs? Or 2.50 for one? clarification: two-fifths of $5. Or a half-dozen of an exotic fruit not native to the Phillippines: apples. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/82 "2012-09-14T16:49:29Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Someone has been marking the edges of $2 bills in red. > Anyone else heard this? When I google it, this is the only mention of it I see. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/83 "2012-09-14T16:53:15Z")
I hate dollar coins because I hate carrying jingling coins. The idea that I’d switch from paper bills to coins is dumb. I have some $2 bills though, just because they’re kinda cool to have around ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/84 "2012-09-14T21:39:10Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > 18 dollar coins weigh 8.1\*18=145 grams. My cell phone–a pretty typical smartphone–weighs 135 grams. Together with your quarters, your coinage weighed nearly a half pound. Unless you have a brickphone from the 80’s, I don’t see how the coins could be less noticeable. They also jangle. Current load of coins: Four pennies, four nickles, three dimes, eight quarters, six dollars. Which don’t jangle at all - they’re in a nice, compact bunch. The wallet can be painful to sit on, and the phone is a large lump that moves around in my pocket, unlike the coins. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/85 "2012-09-14T21:57:31Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Interesting note: I once gave a $50 bill as change for a $100. Earlier in the day, someone had paid me with a $50. When I received the $100, I didn’t have any $20s, so they got the $50 (plus smaller bills). Am I missing something? Why is that interesting, or even worth mentioning? Isn’t that what every cashier does in America, every day? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/86 "2012-09-14T23:36:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I hate dollar coins because I hate carrying jingling coins. The idea that I’d switch from paper bills to coins is dumb. I have some $2 bills though, just because they’re kinda cool to have around Do you want 25¢ bills? Or maybe penny bills? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/87 "2012-09-14T23:52:32Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Do you want 25¢ bills? Or maybe penny bills? Just scrap everything under a dollar. The last time a unit of currency was removed in the US was 1857, when the half-penny was discontinued. There was no great disaster. An unskilled laborer in 2011 makes [172 times](http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/relativevalue.php) one in 1857. So as a fraction of total income, a penny back then was worth more than a dollar today. We could eliminate all units under a dollar while still having relatively lower transaction waste. Even if you count only inflation (a factor of 26), you could eliminate anything under a quarter while retaining similar transaction waste as back then. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/88 "2012-09-15T00:13:49Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Oooh, a money thread. We haven’t had one in a few months. > > Interesting note: I once gave a $50 bill as change for a $100. Earlier in the day, someone had paid me with a $50. When I received the $100, I didn’t have any $20s, so they got the $50 (plus smaller bills). > > A couple weeks ago I was told this by a bank teller who wanted me to pass it along to my boss. > > Someone has been marking the edges of $2 bills in red. They had a couple as examples; the red is only on the margin, not obscuring anything. According to her, the Fed will not take these marked bills since they’ve been defaced. I asked if the same applied to those “where’s George” bills, since they are being defaced too. She said no, just the outlined ones. The outlined bills will still be read by money counting machines, so that’s not the issue. In fact, she couldn’t really give me a rational reason why, just that the Fed won’t take them. Which means the bank doesn’t want them, so we should refuse them from our customers. > > Anyone else heard this? I was told by a teller once that the reason a stack of bills I got was marked on the side (not the whole side) - was so they could identify it from the side in ATMs (this bank did 5s and 20s. This was before different colors for different denominations, but I could see banks doing this to new bills so they could be noticed from a distance in a safe or whatnot. I wasn’t sure if I bought this explanation for all the times I have noticed it, but I can’t think of a more logical one. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/89 "2012-09-15T00:38:15Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Canada has $1 and $2 coins instead of bills. Currently they work pretty good; JZ has it right - the key to acceptance is to stop making the bills and force everyone to convert. (However, $2 were widely circulated bills in some areas of the country before the switch). > > The USA has a bigger problem though - in Canada, they simply announced the small bills would no longer be accepted as money after a certain amount of time (IIRC, 2 years). No such announcement was made. $1 and $2 bills remain legal tender in Canada. However, they fell into disuse because with the Bank of Canada destroying them when they got any back, and the bills having a short lifespan in circulation, eventually they just weren’t around anymore. But if you have any, they’re perfectly legitimate money to this day. I personally love the coins. I detest going to the States and having a stack of filthy $1 bills, and if the USA switched I predict exactly the same thing would happen as happened here; people would whine and bitch about it for a few years but eventually they’d realize it was better. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/90 "2012-09-15T03:00:47Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Am I missing something? Why is that interesting, or even worth mentioning? Isn’t that what every cashier does in America, every day? Given a $50 bill in someone’s change? I’ll wager 99.99% of all tellers have never done that. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/91 "2012-09-15T14:36:03Z")
I see $100 bills used in Canada for items like groceries all the time. If you take out $300 at a time (to avoid excessive transaction fees) the ATM will give at least 2 $50 bills. Of course, they had full colour, the shiny holographic strips and now we have see-thru plastic bills, so counterfeiting was a job more sophisticated than firing up the inkjet printer. Sorry, I thought I recalled that after a certain date small bills were no longer accepted. I guess they are, then. However, other than hoarders I haven’t seen one since not long after the coins came out. I’m surprised nobody brought up Steve Wozniak. [http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html](http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html) He gets sheets of $2 bills (perforated) and has them glued into pads; makes a production of tearing one off a pad as a tip for drink in Vegas. Much hilarity ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/92 "2012-09-15T14:56:14Z")
**ExcitedIdiot** mentioned that story earlier in the thread. > [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > I read a similar story about the Secret Service investigating Steve Wozniak for counterfeit bills. He bought some of those sheets of uncut $2 bills and had them perforated and made into pads. When he tipped a waitress, he’d just pull out a pad and tear off a few bills. > > [http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html](http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/93 "2012-09-15T16:01:22Z")
Doh! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/94 "2012-09-15T22:56:41Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The last time a unit of currency was removed in the US was 1857, when the half-penny was discontinued. There was no great disaster. Incorrect. The denominations which were discontinued after 1857 are the two cent piece–1872 three cent piece–1889 twenty cent picec–1878 $2 1/2 coin–1929 Three dollar coin–1889 $20 coin–1933 All of those coins, including the half cent, are legal tender. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/95 "2012-09-15T23:47:38Z")
> [@core\_dump](#): > > The real question is how did the $3 bills come to be associated with one’s sexual preferences? Did you know that in the 19th century the USA issued three cent pieces for many years? The silver ones were called “trimes” because they were like small dimes and worth 3 cents, the value of postage in 1852. By the 1860’s they were made out of nickel and referred to as three cent nickels. Banks keep two dollar bills in stock. They make nice little presents for kids. I wonder if they’d be good for strip club patrons? Look nicer than ones and still aren’t very much. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/96 "2012-09-16T01:17:33Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > the denominations which were discontinued after 1857 are the > > two cent piece–1872 > three cent piece–1889 > twenty cent picec–1878 > $2 1/2 coin–1929 > three dollar coin–1889 > $20 coin–1933 > > all of those coins, including the half cent, are legal tender. $5 - 1929 $10 - 1933 ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/97 "2012-09-16T02:11:40Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Given a $50 bill in someone’s change? I’ll wager 99.99% of all tellers have never done that. I’m not a teller – I work a customer service counter at a supermarket – but I do this all the time. Often enough that I don’t even think to remark on it. You give me $100 for a $10.76 purchase, you’re getting a $50 back if I have it to give. ---
**Author:** ![Two-Bit\_hoarder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@Two-Bit\_hoarder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two-Bit_hoarder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/98 "2012-09-16T04:03:36Z")
My local bar/restaurant does this, but they round everything to the nearest quarter. No other coins in their registers, and in ten years I’ve never heard anyone complain. They don’t round on credit/debit transactions, though–no need. ---
**Author:** ![cynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/99 "2012-09-16T04:21:46Z")
FWIW I have 2 sets of 4 consecutive uncirculated two dollar bills 2003. Am I rich? LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579/100 "2012-09-16T04:53:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I personally love the coins. I detest going to the States and having a stack of filthy $1 bills, and if the USA switched I predict exactly the same thing would happen as happened here; people would whine and bitch about it for a few years but eventually they’d realize it was better. I don’t think there was very much whining about the transition to $1 and $2 coins in Canada. And it’s not that Canadians won’t bitch about things real or imagined. It’s just that the transition to coins didn’t create any problems. Nor were there any issues when the announcement was made that the Canadian penny was being removed from circulation. Reaction from the public was almost universally “it’s about time”. It would be interesting to me to find out how much cash is exchanged now compared to 10 and 20 years ago. The vast majority of my retail purchases are electronic. In a normal month, I probably use less than $50 of paper or coin currency. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-2-bills/634579.md?page=6)