# Are $10 bills becoming rarer in circulation?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 30, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835 "2006-08-30T21:30:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/21 "2006-08-31T13:52:07Z")

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[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni]  
Y’all have one and two dollar coins up there, right? I think that would change the equation quite a lot. Since we’re talking about bills and cash register slots, how do Canadian cashiers handle the “extra” coins? In the US, some of the resistance to dollar coins is because cash registers don’t have a bin for them.  
[/QUOTE]  
Tills I’ve seen either have[ul][li]One row of coin slots with adjustable dividers, divided into five compartments (1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, and the $1 and $2 sharing one compartment divided back-to-front), or[\*]Two rows of four compartments.[/ul] The other two compartments in the 2x4 arrangement contain things like rolled coins or the occaisional 50-cent coin (very rare).[/li]  
There tend to be four banknote slots: $5, $10, $20, and “everything else” ($50 and $100, cheques, debit-card receipts). A LOT of places don’t take $100 banknotes, even with the new hologram bills.

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**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/22 "2006-08-31T14:29:38Z")

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The federal reserve data **MEBuckner** posts pretty much confirms the trend: The ratio of $10 bills to $5 bills has dropped in the past 15 years.

Although, as most people have pointed out, ATMs commonly dispense $20 bills and not $10, this alone doesn’t account for the bill’s lack of use. My WAG is that, with the increase of $20 bills in circulation thanks to ATMs, these are used more frequently for smaller purchases (\<$10) than they have been in the past, so you actually have more opportunity to get a $10 in change than you had in the past. Still, $10 bills are clearly being used less frequently, so what’s going on?

I think **Joey P** ’s explanation–that stores can always make change with $5’s and $1’s, so they stockpile these–is best. There also seems to be a general trend (at least in the US) that, if there are two currency denominations in circulation such that one has value x and the other has value 2x, one is used much more frequently than the other (The $2 bill and 50 cent piece are almost unseen in the US), the $100 bill is nearly five times more common than the $50 bill, and now the $10 is decreasing in frequency). Nickles and dimes may be the exception that proves the rule (let’s not go off on that thread again 🙂 )

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/23 "2006-08-31T15:22:01Z")

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I think there might be a better explanation. Since most people have as their largest bill $20, the largest bill you will probably need to make change is $10. n fact the only time you will need to make change with a $10 is when somebody pays you with twenties. Meanwhile, fives can be change when somebody possibly pays you with tens or twenites. So you will need more 5s in general, so why not just get lots of fives and not bother with the tens at all? If you run out of tens, you can always use two fives to replace them. But if you run out of fives, you need five ones to replace them.

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**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/24 "2006-08-31T15:25:31Z")

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[QUOTE=Joey P]  
There’s also no reason to buy 10’s or 20’s unless your business sells alot of small ticket items and the clients use big bills. We can ALWAYS make change with 5’s and 1’s and it’s the 5’s and 1’s you don’t want to run out of. In fact those are the bills I stock pile in the safe, if I have to buy bills from the bank those are the only ones. BTW while the fee is obnoxious, it’s not a huge deal. I think it’s about nine or fifteen cents per strap. I’ve never bought 10’s but I’m guessing there’s $1000 in a strap of tens. And now that I think about it, if the fee is causing people to buy fives instead of tens from the bank, it won’t make any difference. If they have to give a client back ten dollars, what difference (from the standpoint of the fee) does it make if it’s two fives or one ten?  
[/QUOTE]

True it’s not a large fee, but for a bank it can add up and could make a difference in the long run. The straps of 10’s are $500.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/25 "2006-08-31T16:05:42Z")

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[QUOTE=Antinor01]  
The straps of 10’s are $500.  
[/QUOTE]

How much in a strap of 5’s?  
I know my coin boxes, but when I buy bills it’s usually in odd amounts.

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**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/26 "2006-08-31T16:19:42Z")

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[QUOTE=Joey P]  
How much in a strap of 5’s?  
I know my coin boxes, but when I buy bills it’s usually in odd amounts.  
[/QUOTE]

I didn’t get a chance to ask her a lot of details, I only just remembered I wanted to ask about this like the last 30 seconds I saw her. She did say that it was cheaper to buy 5’s and 20’s though. Sorry for the lack of specifics.

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/27 "2006-08-31T17:42:38Z")

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I worked retail until about a year and a half ago, and we rarely saw 10’s. We kept a few, and sometimes we’d get some, but really, not very many. In fact, the only counterfeit bill I ever found (when we were counting up, of course - it felt different, but no idea who gave it to me) was a 10, and I thought that was strange because I’d counterfeit a more common bill, myself. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t do a 20 if you were going to make fake money.

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**Author:** ![JonSea31](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7c8e57/32.png) [@JonSea31](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonSea31)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/28 "2013-10-03T12:21:07Z")

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Yes, I have noticed for about two decades now that where I live (Newfoundland), $10 bills are very few and far between. I think the main reason why there are so few $10 bills is because they are not as useful anymore. $10 bills can be more useful in places like Starbucks, or any coffee shop; and $10 bills can buy a lot less stuff than other denominations can. I find it quite annoying that I get back two or more $5 bills in my change despite the $10 bill existing in the till, but I noticed that this happens later in the business day when so many customers were served and accumulated a lot of $5s in a matter of hours. Plus I think that cashiers believe that $10 bills are not standard change denominations in this day and age (unless it’s a place like Starbucks, or at a place where the most common items cost between $5.01 and $10.00 including taxes). Apparently, I am more probable to receive a $10 bill in my change early in the business day (morning, usually, when hardly any customers were served, and no accumulation of $5 bills existed) than during or after peak time.

Plus, most people that I have seen pay with a $10 bill, end up getting a $5 bill back in their change. I think, if $10 bill usage continues declining, I can see the $10 bill going the way of the half-dollar (or U.S. $2 bill) sometime down the road, at least in Newfoundland (either all the banks in my region will cease ordering them in favor of more $5 bills, or the Bank of Canada stops printing them if usage hits an ultimately low level across the nation).

Funny thing? Canada is going to have a new $10 bill coming out in a few weeks’ time, and it’s made of durable Polymer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new $10 bill coming out soon will be the last.

Most of the items I buy either costs $5.00 or less, or greater than $10.00 - so really a $5 or $20 bill is useful to me, whereas a $10 bill is considered redundant in my case. Personally, I think it’s redundant across the board.

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/29 "2013-10-03T13:18:27Z")

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> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> Y’all have one and two dollar coins up there, right? I think that would change the equation quite a lot. Since we’re talking about bills and cash register slots, how do Canadian cashiers handle the “extra” coins? In the US, some of the resistance to dollar coins is because cash registers don’t have a bin for them.

Not a big deal - The $1 and $2 slots can hold those coins instead of bills, so there’s a $5, $10, $20 and anything larger goes under the 20’s or they pull out the drawer insert and stuff it underneath.

Of course, we’ve dumped the penny too, now.

The simplest way to make the $1 coin work is to stop making the $1 bill, and then suck up all the $1 bills when they reach the bank and de-circulate them. We’ve had a $1 coin - only - for about 15 years now.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/30 "2013-10-03T14:53:13Z")

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> [@md2000](#):
>
> We’ve had a $1 coin - only - for about 15 years now.

Actually, [it’s been 26 years](http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/economy-business/banks/banks-general/introducing-the-loonie.html).

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**Author:** ![JonSea31](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7c8e57/32.png) [@JonSea31](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonSea31)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/31 "2013-10-03T15:41:24Z")

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> [@md2000](#):
>
> We’ve had a $1 coin - only - for about 15 years now.
> 
> > [@KarlGauss](#):
> >
> > Actually, [it’s been 26 years](http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/economy-business/banks/banks-general/introducing-the-loonie.html).

And the $2 coin has been around for greater than 15 years now - 17, to be exact.

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-10-bills-becoming-rarer-in-circulation/370835/32 "2013-10-03T17:13:49Z")

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Half dollars are obsolete for pretty much the same reason: four quarters are easier for change machines.

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