# Why aren't two dollar bills popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636 "2000-04-18T20:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/1 "2000-04-18T20:20:00Z")
I had always figured that they were only printed during the bicentennial, so there were only so many of them, but Esprix mentioned in [the MPSIMS Sackie thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/007384.html) that they died a miserable death. What’s the history of the two dollar bill and why isn’t it around today? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/2 "2000-04-18T20:37:00Z")
It’s a case of not seeing them around much because they aren’t popular, and they aren’t popular because you don’t see them all that often. You can get all you want, though. Just go to the bank and they’ll trade you fifty crisp new ones for a hundred bucks. Then you can go forth and spend them, and listen to everyone say “What the hell IS this?” or, at best, “You don’t see THESE very often.” ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/3 "2000-04-18T20:43:00Z")
And by the way, they didn’t die a miserable death. [Why did the Treasury Department remove the two-dollar bill from circulation?](http://www.treas.gov/opc/opc0034.html#quest3) “Contrary to the impression of many people, the Treasury Department did not stop circulating the two-dollar bill. It remains one of our circulating currency denominations, and a new series was printed in 1996.” ---
**Author:** ![bda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@bda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bda)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/4 "2000-04-18T20:49:00Z")
beats me . . “ford fairlane” and “howard the duck” used them quite often . . ---
**Author:** ![bda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@bda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bda)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/5 "2000-04-18T20:52:00Z")
maybe its because “penny candy” now costs $1.85 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/6 "2000-04-18T21:01:00Z")
So will the Mint make a “big-face” $2 bill? ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/7 "2000-04-18T21:08:00Z")
My father likes to get $2 bills from the bank, and a couple of months back I ended up stuck with one, trying to figure out the best way to unload it. Then, the local second-run movie theater raised its price from $1.50 to $2. I took that as a sign. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/8 "2000-04-18T21:16:00Z")
Look at the change drawer in most cash registers. There is no slot for the two dollar bill. When you give a merchant a two-dollar bill, it winds up getting stuffed under the drawer. Therefore, instead of being given out by the merchant as change (and thereby recirculated), it gets deposited by the merchant along with his other receipts, and winds up right back at the bank. Is there a slot for dollar coins in cash registers, by the way? I’m thinking that there may not be, and that this might be part of the reason Susan B. Anthony dollars never really circulateed. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/9 "2000-04-18T21:21:00Z")
I have a funny story about the unpopularity, and consequent obscurity, of the two-dollar bill. It was on a BBS much like this one, so I can’t swear on its verity. A fella went into a taco stand with a $50 bill and a $2 bill. He tried to pay for his $1.50ish order with the fifty, to break it, and they said, “No way, it’s too big.” So he figured okay, I’ll pay with this two I’ve been saving. The clerk looked at it and frowned, and called the manager over. The manager got really angry and said the guy was trying to pass off counterfeit money. He told the guy to leave or he’d call the cops. The guy said, “Fine, call them, I’m not doing anything wrong.” When the officer showed up, he asked who the accused was. “It’s that guy over there with the fifty and the two.” “What’s this, somebody trying to pass off a phoney $50 bill?” “No, he’s trying to pass off a phoney $2 bill.” The cop asked for the two and looked it over. He thought it looked legit. “So how do you know this is phoney?” he asked the manager. “It’s _got_ to be phoney. It’s a _two-dollar bill_!” The cop shared a big laugh with the victim (the story’s author) over that one. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/10 "2000-04-18T21:58:00Z")
## While I was in Minn. a local industry wanted to demonstrate it’s monitary effect on the local town. It once payed all it’s employees in $2 bills! The town & the entire reagon was awash in $2’s for the better part of a year, from one weeks payroll! IN Mich. a pal became fasinated With $2 bills. His wife who worked in a bank got him 50 crisp new $2. He made them into a tablet, binding them on the short side. He delighted in paying for things by tearing off a page or two from his tablet! He also delighted in the protests he got! Carl ---
**Author:** ![ATTGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@ATTGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ATTGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/11 "2000-04-18T23:24:00Z")
spoke- “Is there a slot for dollar coins in cash registers, by the way? I’m thinking that there may not be, and that this might be part of the reason Susan B. Anthony dollars never really circulateed.” Most cash drawers have 5 change slots in them. I always used mine to store odds and ends like paper clips, 50-cent pieces, etc. So there is room for a dollar coin, but then where would I put my rubber bands and Canadian money? The reason that the Susan B. Anthony coin failed was that it looked and felt almost exactly like a quarter. I used to get them as change all the time. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/12 "2000-04-19T01:01:00Z")
Because: They don’t put out. They’ll never be Captain of the cheerleading squad or the football team. They don’t wear the right clothes. They smell funny. * * * Alcohol and calculus don’t mix. Never drink and derive. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/13 "2000-04-19T01:16:00Z")
Has **psycat90** started replying to posts that no one else sees, again? Back to U.S. $2 bills. For many years they managed to have a seedy reputation. At least in folklore, a $2 bill bought you the services of a low-rent sex worker. Also, if I remember correctly, many racetracks had $2 betting windows. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/14 "2000-04-19T01:34:00Z")
Does **whitetho** have a sense of _humor_? * * * Alcohol and calculus don’t mix. Never drink and derive. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/15 "2000-04-19T01:50:00Z")
You used to be able to put a $2 bill in a change machine – in the $5 slot – and get $5 worth of change. Not that I’d ever do this, of course, ahem. Well, not eight times in the same day anyway. AuntiePam, Petty Criminal. **Another** thing to feel guilty about! Thanks for bringing it up! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/16 "2000-04-19T02:09:00Z")
**HEY!** I had a friend many years ago who used to do the same thing with the $2 bills, making them into a tablet from which you could rip them off. I always thought he was original & clever, but now I know he was just ripping off Carl’s friend in Michigan. I think I’ll pick up a bundle at the bank tomorrow just to cheese off the sidewalk vendors. * * * I begin every day by typing my full legal name into a search engine. I know it’s going to be a great day if it says “Sorry, no matches were returned”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/17 "2000-04-19T02:57:00Z")
Whitetho probably comes the closest > [@](#): > > Back to U.S. $2 bills. For many years they managed to have a seedy reputation. At least in folklore, a $2 bill bought you the services of a low-rent sex worker. Also, if I remember correctly, many racetracks had $2 betting windows. My conservative religious parents told me, in the 1950’s as I was growing up, that they were used by gamblers at the racetrack for the $2 bet and that’s why they didn’t like them. Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned here is that they were considered bad luck. How do I know? My parents again. Now this was all just hearsay until I became a coin dealer in the 1970’s(and still am). I finally have seen literallly thousands of old two dollar bills(pre-1976 with red seals), and they quite often come with a corner or two **torn off**. And I now remember my mother doing that to **break the spell of bad luck that a $2 bill brought**. Where the bad luck idea originated, I have no idea. It must have occured between 1928(introduction of modern sized bills) and the late 40’s, when I first remember my Mom’s warning of bad luck. * * * “So little time, so little to do.” Oscar Levant ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/18 "2000-04-19T03:02:00Z")
I have heard that The Navy used to pay sailors in two-dollar bills. Now that sailors make more than $200/month, I guess that’s out. (And the Navy has probably forced sailors to use EFT anyway.) How about 50-cent pieces? They used to be common, and useful back when they were worth the equivalent of $2.00 today. What happened? In most European countries, coins worth $1.00-5.00 dollars are common. How come the most valuable coin in the U.S. is worth only $25. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/19 "2000-04-19T03:51:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by psycat90: > \*\*Does **whitetho** have a sense of _humor_? > > \*\* psycat90, for what it’s worth, I thought your post was totally hilarious!! * * * Those who are dancing look insane to those who cannot hear the music. * * * One-of-a-kind, custom-designed Wally sig available on request. ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636/20 "2000-04-19T06:34:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Yeah: > \*\* In most European countries, coins worth $1.00-5.00 dollars are common. How come the most valuable coin in the U.S. is worth only $25. \*\* well, if you mean 25 cents, then you haven’t seen the dollar coin yet. and you forget canada, which has the common one and two dollar coin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-two-dollar-bills-popular/10636.md?page=2)