# Who physically removes bills from circulation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397 "2001-05-24T19:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/1 "2001-05-24T19:13:55Z")
About three hours ago, the question popped into my head. Actually, it was spawned by received a dollar bill from a bank which had been torn clear in half, and then masking-taped together (with no great care, either- the bill looked like it was suffering a compound fracture.) I asked for another bill from the teller (most of the one’s I keep in my pocket end up in a finicky Coke machine)- no problem. So here it is: when a bill has reached the end of its life cycle (how is a bill’s life cycle defined, anyways?), does it just eventually fall into the hands of someone at the Fed, who hand-removes it? Or are they removed by date scan? Are banks at all encouraged to remove these obviously defective bills, or no? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/2 "2001-05-24T19:41:15Z")
The banks remove them as they come through. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/3 "2001-05-24T20:40:30Z")
I’ll do it for you. Just send me your mutilated, used, and worn bills and I’ll take care of them. 😃 Actually, there should be some good information at the [Bureau of Printing and Engraving](http://www.bep.treas.gov/) Web site. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/4 "2001-05-24T21:37:05Z")
When I was a bank teller we were asked to put aside severely worn or damaged bills. I don’t know what happened to them after they left our branch, though. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/5 "2001-05-24T21:53:14Z")
Here in Australia (back in the pre-ATM days), I remember seeing a little “teller use only” section on bank deposit slips. As well as spaces for the number of notes of each denomination, there was a little space marked “soiled notes”. So, I guess it’s up to the banks to remove old notes. ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/6 "2001-05-25T03:00:56Z")
When I worked at a grocery store in the bookkeeping room, we deposited damaged money-bills and coins-with our regular deposits. We had special envelopes labeled “Damaged Currency” for these deposits.We were told the bank sent them on to the Mint for recycling-don’t know if that’s true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Studi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Studi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Studi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/7 "2001-05-25T03:38:16Z")
Rich people who use them to light cigars. Studi ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/8 "2001-05-25T05:10:14Z")
I got a slightly singed new $20 from an ATM a couple of weeks ago. It was stamped **MUTILATED**. I brought it back to the bank to get a different one because I didn’t want to argue with my local merchants over it so I asked the bank for a new one. They were a bit hesitant to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/9 "2001-05-25T07:51:37Z")
The banks remove all bills that fail to meet a certain standard of wear, such as any tears, burns, or “fuzziness.” They get shipped back to the Treasury Department and burned. Twice in school (once in highschool, once in college) I saw the same video about how they make and destry US currency, including a scene of bales of bills being shoveled into a furnace, which is a really, really cool visual. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-physically-removes-bills-from-circulation/66397/10 "2001-05-25T08:18:15Z")
The Federal Reserve takes back worn currency. In addition, they have machines that sort currency and set aside conterfeit notes. See [http://www.frbsf.org/publications/federalreserve/fedinbrief/services.html](http://www.frbsf.org/publications/federalreserve/fedinbrief/services.html)