# Have you ever gotten back a $2 bill, $1 coin or 50¢ coin in change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 2, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569 "2026-06-02T19:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/81 "2026-06-11T19:55:31Z")
I deny the antecedent. Get rid of coins, period. Round to the dollar for cash purchases and be done. And do something serious to get the unbanked banked. Even if we need to create a government-owned bank to take deposits and offer debit cards at an operating cost loss. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/82 "2026-06-11T20:49:00Z")
The local self serve car wash gives dollar coins as change. I primarily use a credit card so I save these to tip the pizza delivery guy or gal. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/83 "2026-06-11T22:05:44Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > But there is no paper fifty-cent unit, so why the hatred for the coins? We don’t really need them, but we could just as easily do without nickels, too, or use 50-cent pieces but not quarters. No hatred, but there are not a lot of them, and quarters are very useful. People still hoard them, for no good damn reason. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > We could clearly go to quarters only without affecting much, or just round to whole dollars if our math-phobic population could handle the cognitive strain. Yep, just go to the 25 cent coin only. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > And do something serious to get the unbanked banked. Many are undocumented, and you know how the current administration is on that issue. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/84 "2026-06-11T22:33:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > current administration This is MPSIMS. But as one of my baseline assumptions, anything anywhere discussing well-executed government anything assumes we’re dealing with a subsequent administration. It literally goes without saying. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/85 "2026-06-11T22:52:01Z")
If I see any of these things in a cash drawer, I ask for them. We get those sometimes in the cash box at the self-service library bookstore where I volunteer, and I buy them out of the box if I see them. When my brother’s kids were little, he had the bank order a pack of $2 bills for him, because that was the kids’ Tooth Fairy money. ---
**Author:** ![Xarrot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xarrot/32/21728_2.png) [@Xarrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xarrot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/86 "2026-06-13T02:01:24Z")
yeah when i spend money using cash i get 50 cent coins. but its in hkd so theyre pretty much worthless ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/87 "2026-06-13T18:35:16Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > $2 bills: When not at the (horseracing) track… I LOVE $2 bills, and I give them out a lot, but never get them given to me. But now you’re telling me I can get them if I start betting on horses? One bad habit, comin’ right up! ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/88 "2026-06-13T21:10:37Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But now you’re telling me I can get them if I start betting on horses? One bad habit, comin’ right up! DISCLAIMER: I haven’t set foot at a track since the Bush administration, so things may be different. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/89 "2026-06-14T02:28:40Z")
The LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) used to make change in Sagaqeya’s (sp?) dollar coin for cash payments. May have spent an Eisenhower 1$ or JFK 50 cent, yet never received them, or the £2 in change. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/90 "2026-06-14T05:36:56Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > or just round to whole dollars if our math-phobic population could handle the cognitive strain. Ghod, certain members of the public think they’re being ripped off when rounding to the nearest nickel. Can you imagine the uproar if it was the nearest _dollar_? > [@HeyHomie](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > But now you’re telling me I can get them if I start betting on horses? One bad habit, comin’ right up! > > DISCLAIMER: I haven’t set foot at a track since the Bush administration, so things may be different. I’ve been a horseplayer since way before Bush the elder and never gotten a $2 bill at the track. I wouldn’t count on it. Straight bets (win, place, show) have pretty much gone by the wayside with the real punters. With OTB bets going into a common pool it’s made making a living difficult for reasons I am unable to grasp and the exotic bets now rule. This is why you see the TV pundits talk about multi-race parlays so much. I specialize in exacta boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/91 "2026-06-14T14:58:07Z")
Tito’s Tacos in Culver City, CA used to give half-dollars as change all the time. I’ve received two-dollar bills before, but they’re less common since I used to eat at Tito’s a lot. (I work at a credit union now, and I have a bunch of $2 bills in my drawer.) I used to get $1 coins as change, mostly out of machines. I have a small pouch with (I think) 39 Suzies and Sackies in it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/92 "2026-06-14T16:53:22Z")
I already mentioned Tito’s. I grew up very close to them and first went there when they were located in that little shop on the corner. The building they are in now was purpose built for them in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/93 "2026-06-14T16:54:32Z")
Decades ago, we visited Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home). Admission was, if I recall, 4 dollars per person. We paid with a 10 dollar bill and, yep, got a 2 dollar bill in change. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/94 "2026-06-14T17:34:26Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Ghod, certain members of the public think they’re being ripped off when rounding to the nearest nickel. Can you imagine the uproar if it was the nearest dollar? I’d consider it a huge public service to brain asplode all the stupid people, and let the adults drive the bus for a few decades. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/95 "2026-06-14T17:39:52Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I already mentioned Tito’s. I posted without reading. 😉 Anyway, they were still giving out half-dollars as change when I moved up here in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/96 "2026-06-14T17:57:47Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > t recently occurred to me that I have never received a two dollar bill or a > fifty cent coin in change. I did get a dollar coin back on one occasion with > the cashier apologizing that he had run out of paper dollars. It’s been many, many years, but on rare occasions I’d have a cashier say, “I’ve got some .50 cent coins, would you like one?” From my time as a cashier, I didn’t have any place to put those coins and would have tried to get rid of them as soon as possible. I received $1 coins in change when using public transporation in Seattle, WA back in 2013. That’s the last time I saw a $1 coin in the wild. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/97 "2026-06-14T19:52:29Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Lately I’ve been on a kick of getting ten-dollar bills from my bank for use when I pay cash. They’re so rare now thanks to ATMs ubiquitously dispensing twenties that you’re more likely to get two five-dollar bills back as change rather than a ten. I’ve been encountering Bank of America ATMs that allow a choice of $10–$100. That’s where all my $10s come from now. It usually costs me ~$30 to take a taxi home from an airport and the drivers appreciate cash. I think this is pretty much my only cash transaction these days. I’ve gotten $2 as change a few times, never recently. I think the cashier was trying to dump it after recently receiving it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/98 "2026-06-14T19:53:10Z")
My old town had a factory that gave all their employees, as part of their Christmas bonus, a roll of $1 Sacajawea coins. They circulated well in that town, and I did hear that places that had large kid clienteles got a lot of them, because the parents would give them to the kids so they would get spent. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/99 "2026-06-14T20:14:45Z")
IMHO, the Kennedy half-dollars (not to even mention the Eisenhower dollars) passed a threshold where they were too large to be practical for vending machines. I don’t recall ever seeing any vending machine that accepted them. The current dollar coins are just slightly larger than quarters and that seems to be the practical size limit– unless anyone can cite a counter-example, maybe vending machines in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569/100 "2026-06-14T20:49:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’d consider it a huge public service to brain asplode all the stupid people, and let the adults drive the bus for a few decades. Their brains are too elastic to explode or maybe, like gnats, they’re reproducing faster than they’re expiring. Whatever the reason there is an endless supply of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gotten-back-a-2-bill-1-coin-or-50-coin-in-change/1030569.md?page=6)