# What coins, bills, do you want to use? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247 "2004-05-09T02:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 13, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/41 "2004-05-13T19:44:21Z")
Most cash drawers I’ve seen here in Canada have either an adjustable coin compartment with addable insert dividers, five compartments with a two-compartment insert, or eight compartments. We have 6 commonly-circulating coins. We had the same mix of commonly-circulating coins as the US ($0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.25), but then introduced $1 and $2 coins. Space for these was yielded by eliminating the $1 and $2 notes, so that wasn’t as much of a problem as it might have been. The banks took in $1 nad $2 notes in the daily course of events, and did not give them out. In each case, the changerover happened naturally in less than a year. The $0.50 coin is very rare, and prior to the loonie, the $1 coin was quite rare as well. I wouldn’t mind knocking a decimal point off the value of the dollar as well. Let’s return prices to the way they were in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/42 "2004-05-13T21:14:41Z")
here’s what i would do. get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes. keep quarters, incorporate 50 cent pieces and SBA and silver dollars. no sacajawea coins. also, get rid of all paper money under 10. have a 1 and 5$ coin. thats what i would do. also, no bills over 500 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/43 "2004-05-13T23:18:09Z")
> [@Snakespirit](#): > > I suppose most folks don’t, and I guess the only reason these days for a $500 would be POS drug smugglers or people who buy big-ticket items for resale. > > In my example, I deal in antique edged weapons. I need to carry a \*minimum \* of $300 with me at any given time in case I run into a buying opportunity. It’s helpful for me to carry at least $1000, in case of really good or multiple items, but it’s an annoyance to carry more than $500 plus daily working money (but then who is going to have change if I carry 2 $500s?) Strangers won’t take my checks, debit cards or credit cards; I need cash. I can’t think of an intermediate denomination that would work, either… $200 bills? $250s? > . If you’re usually dealing with the same people, and they already know and trust you, could you use personal checks? Or could you make a withdrawal from your bank account and have them give it to you in the form of cashier’s checks for $500 or $1000, made out to “Bearer”? ---
**Author:** ![RayMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e495f1/32.png) [@RayMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RayMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/44 "2004-05-14T06:35:10Z")
The $2 bill is my favorite currency. I stock up on twos when I go to a really crowded bar. When I make my first drink purchase, I pay the bartender all in twos, and I tip really big (like, 100% tip). The bartender knows me now as the $2 bill guy, and I don’t have to wait so long to buy my next drink. The $2 bill is a novelty to most people, so if you pay with all twos, you stick out in a crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/45 "2004-05-14T16:40:36Z")
> [@RayMan](#): > > The $2 bill is my favorite currency. I stock up on twos when I go to a really crowded bar. When I make my first drink purchase, I pay the bartender all in twos, and I tip really big (like, 100% tip). The bartender knows me now as the $2 bill guy, and I don’t have to wait so long to buy my next drink. The $2 bill is a novelty to most people, so if you pay with all twos, you stick out in a crowd. When I was in college in the late 1970s, there were still a few **red seal** $2 bills floating around. I’d withdraw $20 or $30 spending money and ask for it all in twos, and I often used to get the red seal notes. The red seals are “United States Notes”, rather than the usual green seal Federal Reserve Notes we see today. IIRC until a few years ago, federal law required there to be a relatively small amount of US Notes in circulation; it was only a few hundred million dollars’ worth, compared to billions and billions of FR Notes. I think that amount was pegged in the days of the Civil War, when U.S. notes were introduced to finance the war. I thought the historical scene on the back of the $2 bills introduced in the 70s looked great; I wish they’d do something like that with the rest of the bills. Or perhaps pictures of the national parks would be good. Imagine having El Capitan on the back of a $20 bill, instead of that sterile picture of the White House. ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247/46 "2004-05-25T19:45:54Z")
I sent a copy of what we have so far to Big Daddy, in case he wants to improve his election chances, to 'the contender, in case he wants to beat around the bush, and to the mint, in case they want to get a drop on both of them. I should have included the treasury dept., too. Next time. At the end of this month I’ll download this thread, concatenate and classify the results and send them the synopsis version, the bottom line. Last chance for any suggestions or preferences… S In any case [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-coins-bills-do-you-want-to-use/244247.md?page=2)