The vending machines at work hand out change in one-dollar coins; about 80% of them are Sacagawea and Presidential golden dollars, and about 20% of them are Susan B. Anthony dollars.
Last week, I went to a local convenience store to buy a fountain soda. The total came out to 75 cents. I handed over a Susan B. Anthony coin, and the cashier did not know at all what it was. He accepted the coin after I explained what it was and showed him that “one dollar” was embossed on the back, so his ignorance was fought, anyway.
That gave me my idea for the week. I was going to limit myself to spending only two-dollar bills, one-dollar coins, half-dollars (and the odd-quarter here and there) I went to the bank, and withdrew about $100 in two-dollar bills, $20 in half dollars, and have been making a point to grab dollar coins out of my jug at home before I leave. Any one-dollar bills I get have been going into the vending machines at work to be exchanged for the coins.
So far, it’s actually made the usually boring and mundane activity of checking out a little bit more interesting. It’s kind of funny, in a way. If I pay my mechanic with 100-dollar bills, nobody bats an eyelash (although I often wince a little from the pain), but when I handed over a two-dollar bill for my $1.99 purchase at the grocery store, the clerk was all giddy over it. I get similar reactions with the half dollars.
Yes, I really am that easily amused sometimes. And also bemused that the two and half don’t see more everyday use. After using them all week, I’ve found them to be quite convenient denominations.
Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger (motto: “cheaper than food”) makes it a point to use $2 bills and 50-cent pieces whenever possible when handing out change. A few months ago I used one of these $2 bills to buy coffee at a local shop and the cashier (maybe 18-22 years old), having never seen (or perhaps even heard of) one before, was very suspicious. He ended up accepting it, but with an overt attitude of “I may be getting defrauded here, but if so it won’t be for much.”
I recently picked up an order of 100,000 Japanese yen (worth about $850) from our bank. It was a mix of bills, including common 10,000-yen and 1000-yen denominations, but it also included several 2000-yen notes. I’ve been to Japan several times now and I’ve never seen a 2000-yen note in circulation; I didn’t know they existed.
They sure are; I use them all the time. That is, I use them along with all the more common sizes, whenever the math of the amount makes them practical. (And yes, often people are delighted to see them. Occasionally dumb kids are stumped, which is also kinda fun.)
I wouldn’t go around using only these denominations.
When my kids were little, they wanted their allowance in $2 bills. I asked why and my youngest said “We like to find clerks who are 20 and confuse them.” So after [some rapper–citation needed] used the phrase “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby”, I got the little guy telling the clerks “It’s awll about the Jeffeh-sons, bay-bee!”
Meh. That isn’t really a story of “Heh heh store clerks are teh st00pidz!” It’s more about a guy being a belligerent ass drawing sufficient attention to himself as to be deemed suspicious.
I’ve searched the keywords and found other reports of the incident, and it seems all reports go with a favorable take on Mr. $2 Bill Guy. Understandable enough, as “Kids These Days Don’t Know What a $2 Bill Is” makes for reliable and likeable click bait. We all like to read stories that allow us to say “Ha! I am so much smarter than that idiot!”
But really, we’ve got a guy who’s pissed off that store management gave him conflicting reports about his balance due so he decides to bully the person who’s on the lowest rung of the ladder. He’d have raised several red flags for me as a possible scammer.
Most cash scams attempted upon store cashiers are based on creating confusion then applying pressure to make the cashier feel stupid until they follow along with the customer/scammer’s instructions just to get the transaction over with and to move the troublesome person through the line and out of the store.
Was this guy a scammer? No. But I can see how he easily could have appeared as one.
Instead of registering a formal complaint with either that store’s management or with corporate about poor customer service, he decides to stage a “comic protest” about having to pay his installation fee. Instead of dealing with management, he presents a (probably) minimum wage employee with an unusual situation then pressures that employee to not question him on the matter. The cashier initially asks for a different form of payment and he refuses so she makes a point of marking each bill with the standard counterfeit-detecting marker.
Again, this guy was not a scammer but he’s presenting what feels like a scammers set-up: he creates confusion with an unusual situation then applies pressure to a low level employee to try to make her rush through the transaction according to his instructions. I’d say she was right to pull out the counterfeit marker. The story says the ink smeared on some of the bills and that this was when they called the police. The police then noticed that many of the bills had sequential numbers on them and that’s when they arrested him.
Did this guy do anything illegal? No.
But he was acting like a total asshole and drawing attention to himself in a suspicious manner. He completely controlled the chain of events that got him arrested.
Of course, it’s much more entertaining to write a story about stupid minimum wage drones with limited capacity for critical thought. That’s a story that makes us feel good about ourselves for some reason.
In the UK the banknotes issued by England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are all interchangeable but all look different so it’s common to get confusion when using (for example) a Scottish fiver in England. A while back while tidying up some files I found an old pre-Euro Republic of Ireland £20 (Fiche Punt) note. For fun I tried using it at my local pub. The bar maid (who happened to be the owner’s daughter) was curious about it but was going to accept it until I told her what it was.
I kinda agree. It’s obnoxious to use 57X any denomination (unless the amount is $5,700). $114 cash ideally should be a hundred, a ten, two $2s.
This, however, is ridiculous. Sequentially-numbered is how currency comes. Anyone with multiples of brand-new bills should be expecting to see sequential numbers.
I don’t know how much of an expert regular officers are meant to be on determining suspicious bills, and I don’t know exactly what cause they cited for holding him (since every article I’ve found wants to cover it as a “Jeez! People don’t know what $2 bills are!” story), but it’s possible the sequential numbering was a final tipping point with this guy who had already been making a disturbance for quite some time.
The articles do note, however, that once they decided to hold him they immediately called in Secret Service (Treasury Dept.) to consult. So, it seems an admission that this was not an area of expertise for the arresting officers as the very next step they took was to contact the department that could send in an expert.
I really doubt it would have escalated to such measures had the guy been behaving himself to begin with.
And yet, this is the same chain from which I once bought a TV with over $200 in rolled coins (plus the remainder with bills). They clerk said it is fairly routine for people to come in with spare change they had been saving all year long. They didn’t seem to mind taking it at all.
I have spent two dollar bills at a certain blue big box store. While the Secret Service did not speak to me, by the time I walked out the door, there was three managers around the cashier, trying to explain to her where the bill would go in the till.
True story, when I used to work in fast food, a customer handed me 12 Susan B. Anthony coins for a $3.00 order, believing he was giving me quarters. Being the honest guy I am, I pointed out his mistake and only took three of them. If I had had $9.00 on me, I would have bought the rest from him.
Evidently, there are enough twos to add up into the billions of dollars. Next time you’re at the bank, try asking for some. Odds are pretty good they’ll have some.
The first time I ever saw a two dollar bill, the guy who was showing it to me said, “Check out the hitchhiker on the back!” and walked away. I studied the back of that bill for a good long time. When my friend finally came back again, I confessed myself beaten and asked him to point out the hitchhiker. He took the bill, glanced at it, and chirped, “Oh! He must have gotten a ride.” :mad:
Every time I get a two dollar bill, I pull that joke on somebody.
You should enter all those 2 dollar bills into Where’s George and see where they go next :). I’ve had a bill turn up in geocaches in the UK, a few in Puerto Rico, and others all over the US.
When we visited Monticello 3 decades ago, the admission for 2 was something like 8 dollars (apiece or for both, I forget) - somewhat deliberately so they could give change in two-dollar bills (i.e. Jefferson’s portrait).
Once the golden dollars were introduced I started using them instead of bills. I carry around a small purse-like thing for change anyway so why not put dollar coins in it? That way I have no dollar bills, just larger denomination bills. I occasionally get 2’s if I’m traveling, just so folks know I’ve been there.
I can’t get into the half-dollar coin habit, but I would if vending machines took them.
My locally owned bank always has every kind of bill in circulation available. Getting dollar coins or 2’s is a snap.
I’m pretty sure I kept recycling the same few dollar coins from the vending machine when I was in college. I actually started actively keeping them so I could use the soda machine to get a bunch of quarters from a $5.
And also bemused that the two and half don’t see more everyday use. After using them all week, I’ve found them to be quite convenient denominations.