# Why no $500 bills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390 "2009-06-01T18:28:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/41 "2009-06-02T04:34:13Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Zimbabwe has set a record for [largest numerical denomination on a modern banknote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zimbabwe_$100_trillion_2009_Obverse.jpg)- I have the [previous record-holder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:500000000000_dinars.jpg), but it looks like I’m going to have to update my collection. That’s funny! New hip font combined with an illustration of rocks? Anyway, I use hundreds occasionally. I just happen to have nine of them in front of me now. Mostly 20’s though. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/42 "2009-06-02T04:39:45Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Last year. > > In Las Vegas, where the $500 would be handy. I’m not quite a big enough gambler to run into this problem much, but how do the medium-high stakes guys do it? Is $2k just 20 $100 bills? Quickly gets unwieldy, it would seem. Or you just keep it all in chips until you’re ready to cash out. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/43 "2009-06-02T04:43:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When was the last time anyone here actually had a use for even the $100 or $50? When I am in the States, I usually start the day with a few $100 bills. I do not like using credit cards and usually am in heavy-shopping mode. ---
**Author:** ![abby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@abby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/44 "2009-06-02T05:22:55Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > It is like this in Laos and Uganda… $100s and $50s get a better rate than lower denominations. But… why!? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/45 "2009-06-02T11:19:35Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > It is like this in Laos and Uganda… $100s and $50s get a better rate than lower denominations. > [@abby](#): > > But… why!? The bank which accumulates say lots of 100s has to ultimately redeem them. This is usually by mail. Simply the weight. This is true in Europe also. Sending 1 million in hundreds has to cost less than sending the same amount in tens and twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/46 "2009-06-02T11:36:31Z")
Ultimately, the reason is bound to lie somehow in the poor experience that the US has had before with ultra-ultra-large denominations: [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_Dollar_Bill) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/47 "2009-06-02T13:23:52Z")
I remember reading that, immediately after 9-11, when CIA agents were flooding into Afghanistan and spreading cash around among their new buddies in the Northern Alliance, the price of a cup of coffee jumped to $100, as that was the smallest U.S. bill then most widely in circulation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/48 "2009-06-02T13:46:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Because neither Google nor Wikipedia provide good (and ill) natured banter back and forth, side-discussions, arguments about the finer points elicited by the early posts, bonhomie among like-minded seekers for knowledge, or the chance for posters to show off how bright they are. THIS. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/49 "2009-06-02T14:19:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When was the last time anyone here actually had a use for even the $100 or $50? I sometimes have purchased very expensive video gear. Made large puchases at Fry’s, for instance, that included expensive cameras, computers, etc, setting up stuff for me and my customers. I am not always sure what I want when I am doing a job, at least down to the last detail, so making out a cashiers check in advance is out of the question. Besides, most retailers won’t take one of those. Credit cards have limits. If you need to buy eight or ten thousand dollars worth of equipment at a crack, that is a heck of a lot of hundred dollar bills, and often the bank runs out of even the hudreds and has to give you skads of 20’s. Enough to fill a few envelopes! Much easier and less conspicuous to have eight or ten thousand dollar bills along. Not that Fry’s would take them. Even when I was handing them 100s and 20s, they had like three managers count them, and they were all squicked out with their stupid counterfeit detector pens, made me show all kinds of ID to pay CASH :rolleyes:, etc. It isn’t widely publicized for security reasons, but in the movie business, a lot of production assistants (PAs) carry big wads of cash to cover incidentals. Having larger denominations would be helpful to those guys too. Speaking of Hollywood’s requirements, think of the big time drug dealers! Almost everybody in post smokes the herb. Gotta be a bitch for them to be dealing in 100s and twenties… ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/50 "2009-06-02T16:17:26Z")
> [@Jormungandr](#): > > “Circulation of high-denomination bills was halted in 1969 by executive order of President Richard Nixon, in an effort to combat organized crime.” > > I encountered $500 bills as late as the 1980s. My father would request them when he cashed his check at the bank. I paid my college tuition with $1000s in 78 or 79. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/51 "2009-06-02T18:04:15Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wait a minute! This is _after_ they knocked nine zeroes off the currency? It’s inflated that much again? (If so, that note would be 100 trillion x 1 billion = 100 x 10[sup]21[/sup] original Zimbabwe dollars. No, this is before the currency was revalued. If my calculations are correct, this bill is worth 100 new Zimbabwe dollars- which is still less than a thousandth of a cent American. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/52 "2009-06-02T18:05:03Z")
Cash is widely used in the Gulf. I was in line behind a guy at the bank depositing about $150,000 in cash. I almost always have 2 or 3 thousand USD on me or in my home… it is perfectly safe to walk around here with it. A friend left a few thousand in a taxi and got it back a few hours later. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/53 "2009-06-02T18:12:55Z")
Looking again, Zimbabwe knocked 10 zeroes off their currency in 2008 and then knocked 12 off in 2009. So the 100 trillion note WAS printed after a previous hyperinflation caused them to revalue their currency, which was again revalued due to the hyperinflation that caused IT. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/54 "2009-06-02T18:39:57Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Looking again, Zimbabwe knocked 10 zeroes off their currency in 2008 and then knocked 12 off in 2009. So the 100 trillion note WAS printed after a previous hyperinflation caused them to revalue their currency, which was again revalued due to the hyperinflation that caused IT. Yet another reason to loathe Mugabe. :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [June 2, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/55 "2009-06-02T19:10:08Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Looking again, Zimbabwe knocked 10 zeroes off their currency in 2008 and then knocked 12 off in 2009. So the 100 trillion note WAS printed after a previous hyperinflation caused them to revalue their currency, which was again revalued due to the hyperinflation that caused IT. Yike! I had no idea that there’s been that much _more_ hyperinflation… According to [xe.com](http://xe.com), they knocked 12 zeroes off the Zimbabwean dollar on Feb 2, 2009… and one US dollar is now worth 380 Zim dollars. So that’s 380 x 10[sup]21[/sup] old pre-2008 Zimbabwean dollars. What do you _do_ when something like that happens? I thought I’d read that they’d essentially abandoned the Zim dollar and were dealing in USD and euros… ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/56 "2009-06-02T19:57:38Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Zimbabwe has set a record for [largest numerical denomination on a modern banknote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zimbabwe_$100_trillion_2009_Obverse.jpg) Depends on when you consider the modern era to have started. In 1946, Hungary issued a [100,000,000,000,000,000,000](http://www.tomchao.com/trivia.html) pengo note (although 100 million billion equals one hundred quadrillion under the American system, the European system calls 10 to the ninth power the _milliard_, while the billion is 10 to the twelfth). As the link shows, a one milliard billion-pengo (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pengo) note was printed, but never circulated. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/57 "2009-06-02T20:03:22Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wait a minute! This is _after_ they knocked nine zeroes off the currency? It’s inflated that much again? (If so, that note would be 100 trillion x 1 billion = 100 x 10[sup]21[/sup] original Zimbabwe dollars. It’s all a white plot to undermine black rule (:rolleyes:)[sup]Nth[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/58 "2009-06-02T20:06:44Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Depends on when you consider the modern era to have started. In 1946, Hungary issued a [100,000,000,000,000,000,000](http://www.tomchao.com/trivia.html) pengo note (although 100 million billion equals one hundred quadrillion under the American system, the European system calls 10 to the ninth power the _milliard_, while the billion is 10 to the twelfth). As the link shows, a one milliard billion-pengo (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pengo) note was printed, but never circulated. That is true. What I should have said is that it is a record for zeroes on a bill- the Hungarian bills did not have the amount in numbers. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390/59 "2009-06-02T20:27:11Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Yike! I had no idea that there’s been that much _more_ hyperinflation… > > According to [xe.com](http://xe.com), they knocked 12 zeroes off the Zimbabwean dollar on Feb 2, 2009… and one US dollar is now worth 380 Zim dollars. So that’s 380 x 10[sup]21[/sup] old pre-2008 Zimbabwean dollars. What do you _do_ when something like that happens? I thought I’d read that they’d essentially abandoned the Zim dollar and were dealing in USD and euros… 10[sup]22[/sup], actually, since the currency was revalued as 10 billion=1 in 2008 and then 1 trillion=1 in 2009. Zimbabwe has pretty much abandoned their own currency and is planning on using the South African rand instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-500-bills/498390.md?page=2)