Why are there no bills large than a $100 bill?

Factual Questions
141

Surely a higher denomination note would be subject to closer scrutiny; in other words, it would take longer to “process”…?

I’m a bit surprised that nobody’s mentioned an important aspect in handling high denomination notes: the higher potential loss to a business in accepting a duff one. A small retailer is going to be especially wary of this, which is why a lot of small shops in the UK won’t even accept a £50 note in the first place. And of course neither a twenty nor a fifty is ever going to be given out in change. I have no idea if it’s a matter of caution or procedure, but even in some larger stores I’ve seen a manager being called over to verbally authorise the person at the cash register accepting a fifty. Once accepted, the shop is stuck with it, and sure as eggs is eggs, the bank are going to check it when it’s paid in.

At the local theatre where I work, I’ve occasionally accepted a fifty, but I’ve had to spend quite some time inspecting the note in the customer’s presence to make sure that I was happy that it was genuine. On other occasions I’ve not accepted them simply because it would wipe out the spare change.

Fortunately with fifties the things get used so seldomly that you’re basically going to be inspecting a new note, which in my view are much easier to test than a crumpled-up thing that’s done the rounds: at least with Bank of England notes, you have the “look” and “feel” and even “smell” to think about. On a new note the ink has a slightly embossed feel, for example, which loses its prominence with handling. On tens and twenties the hologram loses its clarity with handling, too.

It’s also common practice for shops, etc. to tear fifties quite a way into the thread, to satisfy themselves that it’s actually woven into the note. I think sometimes they also get torn away from the thread, just to make sure that the note doesn’t tear like ordinary paper. Thus, even after just their first use these notes can already look somewhat manky (thus decreasing their chance of getting back into circulation).

A little while back I was proffered a Manx pound note! I accepted it on the “what the heck” principle.

Trying to get a shop in England to accept Scottish notes is about as hard, or even harder, than trying to get them to accept a fifty, though.

Incidentally, I don’t believe that a Scottish one-pound note is legal tender anywhere.

142

It’s quite interesting that in Australia, $50 and $100 notes are quite commonly encountered ($50 notes very much so, $100 notes less so but still not uncommon) and most businesses (certainly every one I’ve ever worked at or interacted with) takes that into account and keeps change on hand accordingly.

Obviously they’d appreciate it if you didn’t buy a stick of chewing gum or a can of soft drink with a $100 note at 9:15am, but otherwise the high denomination notes aren’t seen as a problem IME.

143

Two points on the strip club angle:

  1. A US$2 note is worth less now than $1 was worth when that became the strip tip standard.

  2. Strip clubs are already the most avid circulators of $2 notes.

144

What I meant was, any business in Scotland will accept a Scottish one-pound note as payment for goods or services. Elsewhere in the UK, you may struggle to get them to accept it, but they should.

145

I’d forgotten about the prevalence of the Australian $50. But perhaps this is due to using polymer notes?

146

Ah, I must’ve misunderstood. :slight_smile:

Depends on what you mean by “should”. There’s certainly no legal requirement.

147

Possibly, but I don’t recall $50 or $100 notes being nearly as common in New Zealand (which also uses polymer notes) when I lived there. I recall that you’d occasionally encounter $50s- often enough for people to not be especially surprised by them, but rarely enough that they could pose problems with change on small purchases. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d actually seen a $100 note “in the wild”, and one of them was when I went to the bank and specifically asked them to change some $20s into a $100 note so I could impress some girls I was going out with one Saturday night. :stuck_out_tongue:

148

The Bank of England has a number of £1m and £100m banknotes (called ‘giants’ and ‘titans’ respectively), but they’re only used as backing assets for notes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks. And as for Scottish notes, technically they aren’t legal tender anywhere. From the Bank of England:

Lastly, on the Scottish £1 note, from the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers (CSCB):

149

Back when I lived near several casinos, I often wound up getting a lot of change like that from playing blackjack and paigow poker. Only one of the casinos had a special $2.50 chip, the other two used half-dollars and quarters. So a blackjack on a $5 bet would pay $7.50, with the change being a half-dollar. Paigow, with the 5% commission on wins, generated even more change. A $5 bet wins $4.75, a $10 bet wins $9.50, and so on. Two or three wins in a row and suddenly you’ve got a pocket full of change. Normally I always either pocketed the half-dollars, as they were useless at the table, or used them as tips for drinks. I don’t believe any of the slots could take them and never bothered to try to cash them out.

150

Right. I used the term “legal tender” incorrectly. Apologies for that.

151

So get a few rolls and spend them! It doesn’t cost anything but a moment at the bank, and it’s guaranteed to brighten a few people’s days and start a few conversations. I’ve been doing it with dollar coins too.

152

Eh, no bother. I had the term beaten into me so get irritatingly pedantic about it.

153

I’d really like to see a bill featuring William Henry Harrison–perhaps a $30 bill?

154

Given his length of time in office, he should be on a half-penny!

155

So in the strictest sense of legal tender, no notes at all can be used to settle a debt in Scotland (in theory)? Heh. I seem to remember that there are limits on the amount of coins that can be used as legal tender too.

156

Depends where you are in England. Places that get lots of Scots visitors are happy to take them eg Blackpool in general, pubs in Newcastle, I’ve used them to pay a cab in London etc. It’s a similar thing with Northern Irish notes in Scotland, whenever there’s an Old Firm game there seems to be a spike in the amount of those in circulation, they seem to recycle out via the banks pretty quickly though.

157

Heh. My store accepts Canadian notes at face value.

158

Ha, no, but as the link says, legal tender is mostly a meaningless concept in daily life anyway.

159

Since 1 CAD is worth slightly more than 1 USD these days, you’re getting a good deal. Ten years ago, when 1 CAD was 0.61 USD, it was different…

Are you a tourist place that gives CAD out in change to other Canadian purchasers, or do you just give change in USD and take the Canadian money to the bank?

160

Not a tourist place in the least. The CAD isn’t a common occurrence, just when a tour bus stops to get snacks or something. We give US currency in change.