# When's the last time you saw a two dollar bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430 "2007-10-03T21:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [October 13, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/41 "2007-10-13T01:51:18Z")
About three hours ago. I got one in change at the local farmers’ market, and it’s crisp and new (series 2003). I happened to know that the lady at the stall where I got it was a Where’s George user (she got excited when I paid her with a stamped bill) so I told her I would log it the minute I got home. Unfortunately she had just gotten it today so hadn’t logged it herself. She said she gets those bills occasionally and had had a couple of them just today. Before that, I dunno - 10+ years at least. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/42 "2007-10-13T12:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa] I got one in change at the local farmers’ market, and it’s crisp and new (series 2003). I happened to know that the lady at the stall where I got it was a Where’s George user (she got excited when I paid her with a stamped bill) so I told her I would log it the minute I got home. [/quote] My experience with twos is they are hoarded more than circulated. My Where’s George twos have the lowest return posts of any denomination. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/43 "2007-10-13T14:03:04Z")
I have $2 bills from US, Canada and Singapore, but it’s ben a few years since I’ve seen one in circulation… except in Singapore they are still common enough I think. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/44 "2007-10-13T14:05:59Z")
I don’t know why they aren’t more popular. Two bucks today is worth about what one dollar was in 1985 (just a guess) so why haven’t we made the transition? Just get rid of the dollar bill altogether and use twos…hmm another thread… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/45 "2007-10-13T14:37:35Z")
We rarely saw the Canadian $2 bill in circulation in the Prairies, prior to the introduction of the loonie. People did not like using them; lots of odd explanations for the dislike. When I was working the till during summer jobs, if someone gave us a $2, it went straight to the bank in the night deposit. Then the loonie came in, and the $1 bill disappeared, so people started using the $2 - until the toonie came in a couple of years later and the Bank of Canada stopped printing the $2. I have a stack of old $1 and $2 bills somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/46 "2007-10-13T14:40:56Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] I don’t know why they aren’t more popular. Two bucks today is worth about what one dollar was in 1985 (just a guess) so why haven’t we made the transition? Just get rid of the dollar bill altogether and use twos…hmm another thread.. [/QUOTE] Cashiers don’t like them since they are rare enough that no drawer space is allocated. And they won’t become more popular until they are more common in cashier’s drawers. So unless there is a grassroots movement to use them, it’s a Catch-22. I imagine the Treasury Dept loves them, tho, as the more hoarding that goes on, the more money the gummit makes from just a cheap piece of paper. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/47 "2007-10-13T14:46:46Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Strippers remember you when you tip with twos! [/QUOTE] I dunno, really? This [Reuters item](http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/11/why_the_2_bill_.html?loc=interstitialskip) from last year says demand for the $2 bill is more or less _limited_ to strip clubs. So the girls probably see them a lot. ---
**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/48 "2007-10-13T14:53:59Z")
At least one large recycler here in Houston, Texas, pays in 2 dollar bills and advertises it heavily. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/49 "2007-10-13T15:01:22Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] This [Reuters item](http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/11/why_the_2_bill_.html?loc=interstitialskip) from last year says demand for the $2 bill is more or less _limited_ to strip clubs. So the girls probably see them a lot. [/QUOTE] Aha! That explains why so many twos I get smell like perfume. And I thought it was a new Treasury ink formula. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/50 "2007-10-13T16:07:07Z")
A gas station I stop in for coffee and a paper a lot has one in their register drawer. One day I asked if I could have it as change, the girl said no. It would trip the silent alarm that they are getting robbed. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/51 "2007-10-13T16:19:45Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] I read somewhere how a West Coast city (San Diego?) had a wave of objections to Navy sailors coming into town on shore leave, to which the Admiral responded by instructing that all sailors and Navy personnel have their paychecks cashed in $2 bills for one payday. When the $2 bills began circulating through every store and household in town, it became apparent how much impact the Navy had on the local economy, and the objections went away. It smells like an Urban Legend but it is still a brilliant way to handle a situation like that! [/QUOTE] I remember this being used as a plot device in a book called _The Conversion of Chaplin Cohen_, but it was after a major crash at a military air-base, and the locals were upset about the dangers. But the author may have just incorporated an pre-existing legend as a plot device. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/52 "2007-10-13T19:04:07Z")
I work at a bank, and I always have some ready to hand out. Just this week, a customer came in specifically to get $100 worth. He and his wife take an RV up the coast and he likes to give $2 bills as payment at restaurants and such. But aside from my job, I never see them. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430/53 "2007-10-14T04:30:44Z")
I found a few in my mom’s old papers recently. One is from 1928 but has the corner torn off for good luck which I think makes them worthless to collectors. It’s still a cool 1920s style artifact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whens-the-last-time-you-saw-a-two-dollar-bill/421430.md?page=2)