# How much (US) money has been lost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976 "2003-12-19T15:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/1 "2003-12-19T15:31:22Z")
Change in junked cars, under vending machines, hidden in the grass, under the water, etc… Like, if I could somehow find every piece of change or bill that has been misplaced how much would I have; How much US currency has been considered lost on this planet?? ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/2 "2003-12-19T15:49:09Z")
Poop, this should be in GQ not GD, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/3 "2003-12-19T17:46:32Z")
[Moderator Hat ON] To GQ. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/4 "2003-12-19T20:44:25Z")
No-one`s willing to take a stab at this? ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/5 "2003-12-19T20:50:44Z")
I’d say somewhere between a medium-sized ass-load and a helluva large shit-load. I think that’s about as factual as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/6 "2003-12-19T21:09:55Z")
Let’s count, shall we? A one, a two-who, a three. _crunch_ Three. Seriously though, I’d have to agree with **TaxGuy**. For starters, how would you know that a particular bill that hasn’t shown up in a while is actually lost? Maybe someone has kept it as their lucky dollar bill or something. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/7 "2003-12-19T21:17:47Z")
Hey, that twenty you found in the couch? I’ve been looking for that for AGES. Fork it over. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/8 "2003-12-19T21:37:35Z")
Well, I’ve been looking around the US Mint site, but I haven’t found much. They do give their 2002 production totals, though, so we can assume that the rate of loss of coins is lower than that. [http://www.usmint.gov/about\_the\_mint/coin\_production/index.cfm?action=production\_figures&allCoinsYear=2002#starthere](http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&allCoinsYear=2002#starthere) [Here](http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/e-library/uscoinfacts3.asp)’s a site that says workers at Chicago O’Hare find an average of 6 cents per passenger in the seats. It shouldnt be too hard to find the values for how many coins the mint produced to account for the assumes loss of coins, should it? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/9 "2003-12-19T22:08:56Z")
> [@](#): > > **It shouldnt be too hard to find the values for how many coins the mint produced to account for the assumes loss of coins, should it?** How many people have 100’s and 1000’s of pennies and other change in jars at home? How would anyone know if those were lost or just out of circulation? I think this question is darn near impossible to answer with any accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/10 "2003-12-19T22:22:51Z")
First, we must come to some sort of agreement that requires all money to be all lost in the same place… There’s no way to measure it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/11 "2003-12-19T22:42:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Telemark \* > \*\*How many people have 100’s and 1000’s of pennies and other change in jars at home? How would anyone know if those were lost or just out of circulation? > > I think this question is darn near impossible to answer with any accuracy. \*\* Well, the mint makes gets N worn-out coins per year. They put M new coins into circulation, of which P are intended to increase the amount of money in circulation. I’m guessing we could have our answer (for a given year) if we find the number Q = M - N - P No? The mint makes more coins than it gets, and the difference exists becasue they assume a certain rate of attrition. What’s that rate? ---
**Author:** ![nth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/12 "2003-12-19T23:05:34Z")
what about those money supply indexes the fed keeps track? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-us-money-has-been-lost/219976/13 "2003-12-20T03:21:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolfstu \* > \*\*The mint makes more coins than it gets, and the difference exists becasue they assume a certain rate of attrition. What’s that rate? \*\* That only tells you how much is “out there”. There’s no way of knowing how much is still in circulation and how much is behind seat cushions, dropped into the Charles River, and squished flat on RR tracks.