You’re talking about an era when an EM’s weekly pay was probably $20.
I remember being at a large national convention in San Diego 22 years ago and getting a couple of two-dollar bills. I was relatively young and naive and thought “these might be fake, let me spend them right away!” :smack:
When was the last time people here have seen a $2 bill? I see on the Wikipedia page that while $2 bills are currently circulating, they tend to be rare; I haven’t seen one in at least 10 years. OTOH I visit Canada frequently and the CDN $2 bills were common there until withdrawn from circulation; the replacement $2 coin is ubiquitous.
I have several in my wallet. There’s nothing special about them. Ask the teller at your bank if they have any you can buy. Chances are they do.
Okay, but besides the military, mountain rescue, the fire department, the police, and the coast guard, what other professions have sworn to sacrifice their lives to protect others?
I have some in my desk drawer, and this thread is reminding me to get some at the bank over the next couple of months. I give away $2 bills at Christmas, both to family members and to the newspaper carrier, trash collector and others as tips. I figure that the bills are odd enough that the recipients will remember where they came from more than if I gave standard currency, but also very easy to spend compared to gift cards and the like. And, yes, I’m giving away more than one bill at a time.
Well, my Dad use to line up and get his pay in cash. But yes, that was some time ago, when privates earned $50/mo +/-so I dont think this is a UL so much as outdated. At least the payment in cash part, that was certainly common done for decades and longer.
After allocations, a EM might get a pay envelope with 25 or so $2 bills. Could be done- maybe. Mind you, It also could have been just that a $56 pay envelope was 2 $20, a $10 and three $2, and still those $2 would flood the market.
You are forgetting that pay in the '50s was not as much as it is now. A private made $65. A Lt made $222.50 but normally used direct deposit. As a pay officer, I drew $40,000 for the entire company. I think Patton used the $2 bill in Ft Benning to prove a point to the local civilians. I believe it was mention in his book.
Military script was used in Germany. Korea and Vietnam. Coins were too expensive to ship and the script could be declared worthless overnight. Only authorized personnel could exchange the worthless bills for the new version. All the vendors outside the wire were just out of luck. MASH even had an episode about it.
When I was in grad school in a Boston suburb in the 50s, the possession of a $2 bill got the comment,
So,you’ve been to the race track!
Most cashiers don’t like and try to get them out of the cash register as soon as possible.
In the OP, it says mid 50s. And I can say from personal experience I heard by the time I was a teen long before direct deposit was available. It wasn’t too unusual back in the day for workers to be paid in cash in many businesses. Have you ever seen old movies or TV shows when the robbers are grabbing some payroll? You don’t think they were after checks so much do you?
I doubt very much the DOD ordered the $2 bills and distributed them. I’d assume each local base arranged for its own cash to pay to soldiers. That would be teh same process as a local factory.
(I realize this is an old post)
I’ve mostly heard that $2 bills were considered unlucky and avoided at the track. Snopes says the $2 bill is generally considered unlucky in the US. They also mention a illogical concept that holding $2 bills was a sign someone had been at the track and been paid winnings in the bills, except of course winnings rarely amount to just $2. At the same time I’ve known people who considered a $2 bill lucky, but I think that was based on their rareness.
I know someone that generally leaves one as part of the tip at restaurants for the same sort of reasons - people are likely to remember you if you do something unusual that helps them.
Did the bloody Roman Army pay its men with $2 bills?
2 oz. lumps of salt.
Lovely people, the Romans.
I got paid in cash (Deutschmarks) on an exercise in Germany in the 1980s, but that’s was the only time I can recall it happening. Rest of the time it was deposited into your bank a/c.
You know I had an relative over 60 back in the 80s that used "2 dollar whore "(eg " hes about as intelligent as a 2$ whore ) as a regular insult …I wonder if that’s where he got it from …
It sounds perfectly plausible to me when you look at the pay rates from 1955-1957. An E-1 Private with under 2 years of service only made $83.20 per month. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for them to be paid in cash, either. Even if not, they could certainly cash their paycheck on the base. Four 20’s, a $2, a $1 and 2 dimes. Not difficult.
My late friend Mike Darby always tipped with $2 bills. He said it made sure servers remembered him - to which I replied “Yeah. As in ‘that joker with the $2 bills is here again!’”
Old post and OP, but a cool story. I hope the town realized how much they were supported by their USAF guests.