New $100 bill

[Scott5114]

http://www.newmoney.gov/

The newly redesigned US $100 bill is to be unveiled at 10:15 AM EDT.

[SSOWorld]

Why all the suspense? - *yawn*

[Chris]

I collect $ 100 bills, please send them to me if you have one.

[J N Winkler]

I collect €500 notes--please send me some if you have any.

[F350]

Dear god, that's ugly as hell.

[yanksfan6129]

I collect $ 100 bills, please send them to me if you have one.

I'll send you a $100 bill if you send me 500 euros!

[papaT10932]

I miss the old greenbacks

[mightyace]

I miss the old greenbacks

So do I.  And, so do the counterfeiters!   

[agentsteel53]

I collect currency of all denominations.  Please send me some.

(preferably worth more than the cost required to ship it; no Weimar Republic Marks, please!)

[Chris]

^^ I have some Zimbabwean dollars. Although toilet paper is probably worth more.

[yanksfan6129]

Chris, do you really have some Zimbabwean dollars!?!?

[SP Cook]

Honestly, unless the government is willing to call in all of the "old" money, what is the point?  I gamble, quite a bit actually.  Anyway deal with $100s and $50s a lot.  Always a mix of the "oldest" money (the kind with the portraits the size of those on the $1), the "middle aged" money (the kind with the big portraits in a circle w/o the color security features) and, relative to the $50s, the "new" bills with the security features and the circle removed from the portrait, which this new $100 completes the set of.  No one ever questions a note, even the "oldest" ones which were last produced 15 years ago.

So why would not a counterfeiter just keep making 1988 $100 bills?

BTW, the government called in all of the money last in 1935, when in downsized the paper stock by 1/3rd.

[oscar]

Honestly, unless the government is willing to call in all of the "old" money, what is the point?  I gamble, quite a bit actually.  Anyway deal with $100s and $50s a lot.  Always a mix of the "oldest" money (the kind with the portraits the size of those on the $1), the "middle aged" money (the kind with the big portraits in a circle w/o the color security features) and, relative to the $50s, the "new" bills with the security features and the circle removed from the portrait, which this new $100 completes the set of.  No one ever questions a note, even the "oldest" ones which were last produced 15 years ago.

So why would not a counterfeiter just keep making 1988 $100 bills?

BTW, the government called in all of the money last in 1935, when in downsized the paper stock by 1/3rd.

I suspect that banks can be instructed or encouraged to turn in old bills for new ones (like they do for worn currency), gradually decreasing the supply of old $100 bills out there even without a mandatory "call in."  Also, with the new bills that are easier to verify (and any partial withdrawal of old bills from circulation), the old bills will become increasingly unpopular, with merchants checking with particular care that the old bills aren't counterfeit.  That would encourage people to go to the bank to exchange their old bills for better-accepted new(er) bills.  All this could make counterfeiting old $100 bills less attractive than counterfeiting lower denominations.

[corco]

Chris, do you really have some Zimbabwean dollars!?!?

You can get $100 trillion 3rd ZWD notes off ebay for like $3 a piece- I highly recommend acquiring a few- they make a good parlor gimmick

[Scott5114]

The three design generations are coded by the BEP as "S" (1929-1995), "N" (1996-2003), and "G" (2004-present). When the N designs were released, any S-type bill that made its way to the Federal Reserve Bank was destroyed. (Of course, a few S-type bills continue to circulate today, if they manage to avoid getting sent to the Fed.) When the other denominations of G-type bills were released, it was judged that the improvement over the N-type bills was not substantial enough to warrant this; that's why you still see N-type bills fairly frequently, because they are only removed from circulation when they wear out.

With this release of the new G-type $100, the BEP has stated that they intend to start destroying the N-type $100s as soon as they return to the Fed, the same way the S-type bills have been destroyed on sight.

[KillerTux]

Honestly, unless the government is willing to call in all of the "old" money, what is the point?  I gamble, quite a bit actually.  Anyway deal with $100s and $50s a lot.  Always a mix of the "oldest" money (the kind with the portraits the size of those on the $1), the "middle aged" money (the kind with the big portraits in a circle w/o the color security features) and, relative to the $50s, the "new" bills with the security features and the circle removed from the portrait, which this new $100 completes the set of.  No one ever questions a note, even the "oldest" ones which were last produced 15 years ago.

So why would not a counterfeiter just keep making 1988 $100 bills?

BTW, the government called in all of the money last in 1935, when in downsized the paper stock by 1/3rd.

Any United States currency from 1863 to Present is legal tender. People would spend old currency and I would swap it out with new stuff when I worked at Target. Most bills I collected were worth more then face value. Got a sweet Gold Certificate $10 and a few red seal $2 bills.

[agentsteel53]

Any United States currency from 1863 to Present is legal tender. People would spend old currency and I would swap it out with new stuff when I worked at Target. Most bills I collected were worth more then face value. Got a sweet Gold Certificate $10 and a few red seal $2 bills.

people actually spent the $2s?

I used to be a cashier, and the nicest thing I got was probably a Series of 1928 $100 federal reserve note.  (First small-size series.)  I also once got a $1 red-seal at a bank once, when I asked if they had any red-seal notes.  I'd been thinking of $2s and $5s; didn't complain about the $1 at all, though!

[Scott5114]

I gamble, quite a bit actually.  Anyway deal with $100s and $50s a lot.  Always a mix of the "oldest" money (the kind with the portraits the size of those on the $1), the "middle aged" money (the kind with the big portraits in a circle w/o the color security features) and, relative to the $50s, the "new" bills with the security features and the circle removed from the portrait, which this new $100 completes the set of.  No one ever questions a note, even the "oldest" ones which were last produced 15 years ago.

Completely overlooked this part. At the casino where I work, the cashiers always try to avoid handing out the older bills to avoid possible problems with the machines rejecting them. They try to save the patrons and themselves the hassle of having to swap it out later. Every once in a great while they'll have to give out one in a jackpot to avoid having to get more cash from the vault, but only when they have no other choice.

Also, you're using $50s in a casino? Lots of people will say that $50s are bad luck in casinos (but only in casinos... how's that work?). Of course, rational people don't put stock in such things, but it's a pervasive enough belief that the cashiers don't bother to keep $50s in their drawer or try to hand them out...

[SP Cook]

I have never heard the "$50s are bad luck" story. 

Anyway, just to stray a bit off-topic, I find that casino trips to LV and AC and such are the last refuge of the traveler's check.  This once common product has been obseleted (if that is a word) by the ATM card and the easy to get credit card (once a much more tightly controled deal only available to more substantial people with far lower credit limits).   Well credit cards charge upwards of 3% for use in a casino, which is consider a cash advance, and ATMs have low daily limits and you have to pay the "going and coming" fees if you go outside your bank's brand.  Unless you want to set up a "marker", which is pretty complicated, the best thing to do is the old fashioned traveler's check, which remain free to anyone with an account at most banks or the three-letter anti-motorist rights travel and insurance agency.

Anyway, back to topic.  I read somewhere that something like 60% of the US $100s are out of the country.  Stored as a hedge against hyper-inflation and dictatorship, which is what keeps the US from demonitizing the old ones.

[Scott5114]

During the financial crisis, tons and tons of $100s were printed for the "B" (New York) Federal Reserve Bank, which handles overseas requests. (Take a look a the B column and you'll see all of the bills that were printed.) These were used by people who were more confident that the dollar would keep its value than their local currency.