US 2 $ bill (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

I got rid of some Susan B Anthonys a while back. Figured there was really no reason to keep the things.

 

[Tony Whalen]

So far, however, actual users of the currency seem to be sticking with the old single

See, the "problem" (depending on your like or dislike of the 1-dollar coin) is that the US Mint didn't do what the Canadian Mint did.

Once the "Loonie" (1-dollar coin) went into circulation, the 1-dollar BILL was taken OUT of circulation. No more were printed or issued, and most incoming bills were destroyed. So basically, we had no choice but to get used to the coin. You simply never see bills anymore. (I have two of them tucked away...just for my own pleasure.)

(It really is more financially sensible to create a coin that will last SOOOOO much longer than a bill.)

It sucked at the time, but I'm used to it now. Bonus: Finding spare change in the couch is REALLY profitable now.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Finding spare change in the couch is REALLY profitable now.

Canadian pickup line: "want to come over to my place and look for change in my sofa?"

 

[Frank PW]

Well that is strange.

During any of my visits south of the 49th, Including a recent trip to Idaho this past summer. I never once remember getting a $2 bill.

Lot and lots of $1.

 

[Seth--L]

What I never understood about this, is if you are using it for bank transfers, why not just use a cashier's check which is much safer.

 

[Seth--L]

As for the $2, when I visited Monticello a few years ago, all the cash registers at the gift shop were filled with them. I imagine this is still true.

 

[Philip Hamm]

What I never understood about this, is if you are using it for bank transfers, why not just use a cashier's check which is much safer.

Um... Seth.. Did you see the date of that bill?

In the middle of the Depression, I don't think "cashier's checks" had the same weight that they have now.

 

[Seth--L]

Why not?

 

[Chris]

During the depression something called FDIC was non-existant. Cashiers Checks were only as good as the bank. And almost 1/3 of all US banks toppled during the Great Depression. A Cashiers Check could be worth $0.

 

[Greg*go]

One of the reasons of the depression was that banks weren't insured. And if a cashiers check isn't insured, then what good could it be? If you had money in the bank, there was at least a 25% chance you couldn't even be sure the BANK would still be open at the end of the day.

This, of course, was also when our money was backed by gold... not just insured by our government. And lets not forget computers (or even telephones) weren't exactly common in the 20s & 30s.

 

[MikeDeVincenzo]

For anyone who wants to see $1 dollar coins in circulation, go to any MetroCard machine for the NYC Subway.

Buy say, a ten dollar MetroCard, and pay with a $20 dollar bill.

Your change will come in the form of ten Sacagawea dollar coins.

Also works using the Ticket Vending Machines for the LIRR and NJTransit commuter trains at Penn Station.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I also receive the $1 coins as change when I buy stamps using the automated machines at the post office. I think they're pretty cool looking. Much moreso than the Susan B. Anthony coins.

 

[Seth--L]

The FDIC was created in 1933; the bills on Ricardo_C's post date from 1934.

 

[Greg*go]

Um, cash is insured by the government. That lil "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." statement means more then you realize if you think something else. And no one is arguing that cashiers checks aren't worth something now. But when the FDIC was first created in 1933, I'm sure it took a few years for it to become trusted and credible, hence the $100,000 of 1934. Plus a pre-authorized $100,000 note would be a bit easier to track and reuse then a cashiers check. As is noted at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing website, this particular note was only used in exchanges between the different Federal Reserve Banks. BEP site I think the more interesting thing is that it appears $10,000 notes were circulated in public. With notes like that floating around, the pre-computerized world must've been a lot easeir for theiving.

And I wonder why there is no mention of the Billion Dollar Bill that the Simpsons talked about?

 

[Eric_L]

The trouble with $1 coins is that the lame-o federal reserve can't design a good one. They numbnuts seem to think it is a good idea to make it look and feel similar to a quarter. Then they are amazed when nobody likes them.

I personally think they'd do well to design one 25% larger than a quarter with a raised artwork relief on one side and a matching depression on the other side - adding visual and touch interest while also being convinient for stacking.

 

[Tyler Beridge]

The trouble with $1 coins is that the lame-o federal reserve can't design a good one.

The Federal Reserve has nothing to do with the designs of the $1 coins; it is the U.S. Mint. I would like to add that the designs are good, but for some reason the general public never accepted them.

 

[Scott Leopold]

When I waited tables, I used to get $2 bills all the time. It helped that we had an illegal gambling joint down the street that used 2's almost exclusively (although I never found out why).

I was never a big fan of the Susan B. Anthony coin, but I did like the confusion associated with it. I went to a local Super Sale with a friend one time, and one booth was giving SBA's to anyone who came up and filled out a short questionaire. It cost $2 to get into the sale, so we were pleased with getting 50% back as soon as we walked in. What was cool was that lots of other people didn't think it was cool that they only got a "quarter" for filling out the form, and threw them down in disgust. We each picked up about $10 in change.

On another occasion, I bought something at K-Mart that came out to something like $2.23. I paid with a five, and received two ones, three SBA's, and two pennies as change. I explained to the cashier that she had given me too much, and she ended up arguing with me over it. She ended up telling the other cashier that "this idiot" thought that $2.77 was too much change. That changed my mind, and I gladly walked out with the $5.02 she'd given me.

I was a big fan of the Sacagawea dollar when it came out, and bought up over 100 of them to spend in the hopes that it would help it catch on. I still pick them up from time to time in the hopes that they may gain in popularity.

I wouldn't mind seeing $2 and $5 coins. When the Sacagawea came out, I suggested to some friends that they come out with a $5 coin, and have John Wayne on the face. That way, you could go around and tell people to give you a Duke. I may well be the only person who really liked that idea.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

What I liked about the SBAs is that coin-rolling machines and even individuals who rolled coins couldn't distinguish them from quarters, with the result that I'd sometimes buy a ten dollar roll of "quarters" from a bank or retailer and end up with as much as half of it being SBAs.

Apart from that, I thought the coins were idiotic. The Sacagewa coins seem slightly more rational (with the different color and what I'm told is a different size) but I've never actually seen one, so I don't know how easy they would be to tell from quarters strictly by "feel". I'm told that making the dollar coin larger would a) partly defeat the purpose by making the coin more expensive to produce and b) create a problem with vending machines that haven't been designed to accomodate large coins since the late 1970s.

When my college roommate and I cashed our student aid checks we'd always get part of them in Kennedy half dollars and Eisenhower dollars, in a vain attempt to help keep those wonderful coins in circulation, but we knew our efforts were doomed.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Philip Hamm]

The Sacagewa coins seem slightly more rational (with the different color and what I'm told is a different size) but I've never actually seen one, so I don't know how easy they would be to tell from quarters strictly by "feel".

The Sac is the exact same size and weight as the SBA. They are interchangable in the many machines that support them. If you get change in a Post Office machine or on a NJ Transit machine or a Septa machine or in Grand Central, you'll get both Sacs and SBAs. A hell of a lot better than the handfull of quarters Washington's Metro doles out. However, its edge is smooth, not cerrated, making it extremely easy to distinguish from a quarter in your pocket.

The only way for the coin dollar to succeed is for the Federal Reserve to stop making paper dollars. If that happened, perhaps the $2 bill, which is a very cool looking piece of currency IMO, would become more popular.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The Sac is the exact same size and weight as the SBA.

Well, both these statements can't be true because, as noted above, the SBA was almost exactly the same size as a quarter - so close that it often ended up in quarter rolls. If the Sac is the same size, it has the same consumer acceptance factor problem as the SBA. If I'm approaching a vending machine or a toll booth and stick a hand inside a pocket I had damned well better be able to tell the differene between a dollar and a quarter -instantly, without thinking about it. If I can't, then the dollar coin is more trouble than it is worth to me and I will not carry or spend it. If I get any I'll just put them in the bank the next time I make a deposit. If the U.S. Mint can't clear the hurdle of everyday basic utility with these things, they are never going to see them widely used.

Regards,

Joe