No more new pennies

[kphoger]

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

[vdeane]

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

I mean, no so weird given how rare they are to see "in the wild", as it were.  What's weirder is that they're still printed on the regular - where do they go if banks only give them out via special order?

[LilianaUwU]

The only unusual denomination here is the 50-cent coin. No clue why they still mint it considering how little use it sees.

[wxfree]

If a transaction is rounded down, does that have an effect on how much sales tax is due? The store collected less in sales. And do we know if the round-off comes from taxable or non-taxable items?

I don't think the sales tax is affected.  The actual prices are not changed, and even the total due is not changed, only the change given is changed.  The store still owes taxes based on the total amount of taxable items sold.  The change given back doesn't affect that.

[wxfree]

To have some real fun, instead of a $2 coin, introduce a $3 coin and also eliminate the $5 bill. (No, I wouldn't really propose that.)

Let's have a coin for $2.38, and put the value inside an Interstate shield.

Let's also have a coin for $0.38 that never gets put into circulation.

[kphoger]

What's weirder is that they're still printed on the regular - where do they go if banks only give them out via special order?

Plenty of banks don't require some sort of special order.  Whenever I cash a check, I always ask the teller if she or anyone nearby has any $2 bills hanging out in the drawer for me to have as part of my cash.  At our previous bank, they would, more often than not, offer unsolicited to go back into the vault and grab me some;  it didn't have to be any certain number of them, either.

[Scott5114]

why cashiers don't give out the ones they get as payment I will never understand

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Which is silly, because, as I mentioned in my post, they just printed several million of them last month.

What's weirder is that they're still printed on the regular - where do they go if banks only give them out via special order?

People like beer guy up there save them. Then someone puts in a request for the bills, the bank orders them from the FRB because they have none on hand (because none are deposited since they're all being saved by hundreds of beer guys), the Fed calculates that demand for $2 bills from banks is such-and-such, inventory on hand is such-and-such, and puts in an order to the BEP for the difference. And the cycle of stupidity repeats.

Ordering a strap of $2s is one of the most interesting things you can do with $200. Most of the time you get a hundred brand new bills with serial numbers in sequential order. Sometimes, though, you'll get one cobbled together from a hundred random bills that did somehow get deposited (probably because a beer guy died or became so insolvent he looked up how much his rare $2 bills are worth and found out they are worth $2). This is fascinating since, because most of them are just saved rather than circulating, it's not too uncommon to find bills from the 1960s in immaculate condition, a lot of bills from the 1976 printing, and often some with some sort of marking indicating that someone thought they had something special (I've seen something along the lines of "Happy Birthday Timmy, August 1982").

[kalvado]

why cashiers don't give out the ones they get as payment I will never understand

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Which is silly, because, as I mentioned in my post, they just printed several million of them last month.

What's weirder is that they're still printed on the regular - where do they go if banks only give them out via special order?

People like beer guy up there save them. Then someone puts in a request for the bills, the bank orders them from the FRB because they have none on hand (because none are deposited since they're all being saved by hundreds of beer guys), the Fed calculates that demand for $2 bills from banks is such-and-such, inventory on hand is such-and-such, and puts in an order to the BEP for the difference. And the cycle of stupidity repeats.

Ordering a strap of $2s is one of the most interesting things you can do with $200. Most of the time you get a hundred brand new bills with serial numbers in sequential order. Sometimes, though, you'll get one cobbled together from a hundred random bills that did somehow get deposited (probably because a beer guy died or became so insolvent he looked up how much his rare $2 bills are worth and found out they are worth $2). This is fascinating since, because most of them are just saved rather than circulating, it's not too uncommon to find bills from the 1960s in immaculate condition, a lot of bills from the 1976 printing, and often some with some sort of marking indicating that someone thought they had something special (I've seen something along the lines of "Happy Birthday Timmy, August 1982").

as far as I understand, there were like 3 $2 bills produced per US resident within past 10 years. That should mean a lot of people keep one or two somewhere...

[ModernDayWarrior]

Ordering a strap of $2s is one of the most interesting things you can do with $200. Most of the time you get a hundred brand new bills with serial numbers in sequential order. Sometimes, though, you'll get one cobbled together from a hundred random bills that did somehow get deposited (probably because a beer guy died or became so insolvent he looked up how much his rare $2 bills are worth and found out they are worth $2). This is fascinating since, because most of them are just saved rather than circulating, it's not too uncommon to find bills from the 1960s in immaculate condition, a lot of bills from the 1976 printing, and often some with some sort of marking indicating that someone thought they had something special (I've seen something along the lines of "Happy Birthday Timmy, August 1982").

Not in perfect condition by any means, but I even found this one. 1953 series.

[1995hoo]

why cashiers don't give out the ones they get as payment I will never understand

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Which is silly, because, as I mentioned in my post, they just printed several million of them last month.

....

Very true, but of course whatever happened last month wouldn't have been relevant to a beer vendor years ago. While I didn't mention when I was in Honolulu, it was 2003, so it wouldn't have helped the bartender either. Unless you have access to a certain DeLorean, of course. But your overall point is quite valid: Many people have always incorrectly regarded them as rare. Others view them as a curiosity, which I think is probably somewhat more reasonable.

Not in perfect condition by any means, but I even found this one. 1953 series.

My mother has a box with some old money from various places, some of it from well before she was born (such as an 1823 US half-cent coin; I have no idea where she got that). I remember one of them being an older $2 bill with Monticello on the back. Wikipedia shows that the 1963 and 1953 series had that design, so hers might be one of those (both of those years were after she was born), but for some reason I think it may have been the 1928.

[kalvado]

why cashiers don't give out the ones they get as payment I will never understand

Agreed, this is a weird phenomenon.  Same with dollar coins.

Some people save them. I saw a guy use $2s to pay for a beer at a Redskins game many years ago and the beer man was so excited, he immediately pulled out his wallet, put the $2s in it, and replaced them in the beer vendor thing with other bills from his wallet.

I gave a bartender in Honolulu a $2 and she went around showing it to everyone else there, so I'm sure she saved it too.

Which is silly, because, as I mentioned in my post, they just printed several million of them last month.

....

Very true, but of course whatever happened last month wouldn't have been relevant to a beer vendor years ago. While I didn't mention when I was in Honolulu, it was 2003, so it wouldn't have helped the bartender either. Unless you have access to a certain DeLorean, of course. But your overall point is quite valid: Many people have always incorrectly regarded them as rare. Others view them as a curiosity, which I think is probably somewhat more reasonable.

Not in perfect condition by any means, but I even found this one. 1953 series.

My mother has a box with some old money from various places, some of it from well before she was born (such as an 1823 US half-cent coin; I have no idea where she got that). I remember one of them being an older $2 bill with Monticello on the back. Wikipedia shows that the 1963 and 1953 series had that design, so hers might be one of those (both of those years were after she was born), but for some reason I think it may have been the 1928.

There were 108 million of $2 bills printed in '22, and another 128 million in '23.

[GaryV]

Penny with Omega symbol was a question on Jeopardy this week.

[kphoger]

Next on the chopping block should be the $1 bill.

Except that, because people are using cash so less frequently than they were 15 or 20 years ago, $1 bills aren't becoming all ratty and torn the way they used to, which means it's actually more cost-effective to just leave them in circulation than to try and replace them with coins (the bills, not the people).

[kalvado]

Next on the chopping block should be the $1 bill.

Except that, because people are using cash so less frequently than they were 15 or 20 years ago, $1 bills aren't becoming all ratty and torn the way they used to, which means it's actually more cost-effective to just leave them in circulation than to try and replace them with coins (the bills, not the people).

$1 bill is too deeply legislated to change. Every bill was redesigned in 1995 and 2004 - except $1 (and mythical $2)
I said it before, I'll say it again. People today are not equipped to use coins as a payment. No more room for coins in wallets, often no assumption that coins are actual money to pay.
Make more resilient bills (that is entirely plausible, look at Canada), and go lower in bills. Maybe down to 50c, maybe 25c.

[mgk920]

Next on the chopping block should be the $1 bill.

Except that, because people are using cash so less frequently than they were 15 or 20 years ago, $1 bills aren't becoming all ratty and torn the way they used to, which means it's actually more cost-effective to just leave them in circulation than to try and replace them with coins (the bills, not the people).

$1 bill is too deeply legislated to change. Every bill was redesigned in 1995 and 2004 - except $1 (and mythical $2)
I said it before, I'll say it again. People today are not equipped to use coins as a payment. No more room for coins in wallets, often no assumption that coins are actual money to pay.
Make more resilient bills (that is entirely plausible, look at Canada), and go lower in bills. Maybe down to 50c, maybe 25c.

Well, seeing as '1¢' in 1926 is about $1.25 today in 2026 (comparable REAL buying power) . . .

Mike

[vdeane]

But your overall point is quite valid: Many people have always incorrectly regarded them as rare. Others view them as a curiosity, which I think is probably somewhat more reasonable.

For something that's not sure, I sure don't encounter them often, and most of the ones that I've seen (and still have) are Easter gifts my grandmother gave me along with chocolate bunnies (to clarify, the bunnies I don't have anymore, but the $2 bills I do).

[kalvado]

But your overall point is quite valid: Many people have always incorrectly regarded them as rare. Others view them as a curiosity, which I think is probably somewhat more reasonable.

For something that's not sure, I sure don't encounter them often, and most of the ones that I've seen (and still have) are Easter gifts my grandmother gave me along with chocolate bunnies (to clarify, the bunnies I don't have anymore, but the $2 bills I do).

What happened to bunnies, though?

[kphoger]

What happened to bunnies, though?

Let them out in the back yard to hop around a bit, went inside to make a lemonade, and they escaped through the hedge.

[Scott5114]

Regarding old bills, it's important to note that unlike coins, the date on a bill is not the year the bill was printed, it's the last time the printing plate design was changed. In fact, before 1974, even changes to the signatures were considered minor revisions, so the year was left the same and a letter after the year was advanced by one. That 1953C bill would have been printed during the term of office of C. Douglas Dillon, which was 1961–1965. (In 1974, the rules were changed to make it so that changes to the Secretary of the Treasury's signature were considered major enough to update the year. This was supposedly because William P. Simon didn't want his signature on a bill with an "out of date" year. However, it also corrected a situation where, due to the short tenure of Joseph W. Barr—so short the printing plates with his signature were only finished after he left office—the series year was out of sync between different denominations. Changes to the Treasurer's signature are still considered minor and get a letter suffix, but it has not advanced past 'A' since Simon's tenure.)

Speaking of signatures on bills, it was recently announced that Series 2026 will have a third signature added alongside the two already there. I am sure anyone reading this can guess whose signature.

Interestingly, there was a blurb in the Nevada Independent today that Resorts World is sunsetting its state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind cashless gaming system, which allowed you to buy casino chips and slot credit with your bank account, due to lack of use. Vegas loves its cash.

[english si]

People today are not equipped to use coins as a payment. No more room for coins in wallets, often no assumption that coins are actual money to pay.
Make more resilient bills (that is entirely plausible, look at Canada), and go lower in bills. Maybe down to 50c, maybe 25c.

And people are equipped to use notes?

It's cash as a whole that's disappearing, and the only reason why coins are going before bills is because the bills are higher denominations and still have some value. A half-dollar bill is just as useless as a half-dollar coin. A quarter bill likewise.

We Brits got rid of the £1 note in 1988 (replaced by the £1 coin introduced in 1983) and no one is saying get rid of the coin. We even have nice big £2 coins. There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

[Scott5114]

There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

I assume for the same reasons Nixon killed the notes from $500 on up. Having worked a job that was banking-adjacent enough that the same regulations applied to me I'm of the firm opinion that a lot of AML stuff is just the government sticking its nose where it doesn't really belong. If having a $10,000 bill circulating makes it harder to catch criminals, good.

[kalvado]

People today are not equipped to use coins as a payment. No more room for coins in wallets, often no assumption that coins are actual money to pay.
Make more resilient bills (that is entirely plausible, look at Canada), and go lower in bills. Maybe down to 50c, maybe 25c.

And people are equipped to use notes?

It's cash as a whole that's disappearing, and the only reason why coins are going before bills is because the bills are higher denominations and still have some value. A half-dollar bill is just as useless as a half-dollar coin. A quarter bill likewise.

We Brits got rid of the £1 note in 1988 (replaced by the £1 coin introduced in 1983) and no one is saying get rid of the coin. We even have nice big £2 coins. There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

When was 2 pound coin introduced? My impression is that $2 Canadian coin adds to idea of coins being real money (in Canada).
In US 25 cent is biggest one realistically, as 50c barely exists and $1 coin was basically rejected by society.
So reintroducing the  concept of bigger coin  is a double uphill in US, as cash is disappearing AND coins are not real money.

[kalvado]

There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

I assume for the same reasons Nixon killed the notes from $500 on up. Having worked a job that was banking-adjacent enough that the same regulations applied to me I'm of the firm opinion that a lot of AML stuff is just the government sticking its nose where it doesn't really belong. If having a $10,000 bill circulating makes it harder to catch criminals, good.

We now have a coin for that. Bitcoin.

[Scott5114]

There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

I assume for the same reasons Nixon killed the notes from $500 on up. Having worked a job that was banking-adjacent enough that the same regulations applied to me I'm of the firm opinion that a lot of AML stuff is just the government sticking its nose where it doesn't really belong. If having a $10,000 bill circulating makes it harder to catch criminals, good.

We now have a coin for that. Bitcoin.

Yep. So the crooks still have a vehicle for their nonsense, while the honest person who might want to do something like pay a few thousand to a small business in cash so they don't have to deal with credit card fees (or because they want to fuck over the Visa Corporation) gets to have to deal with more hassle than someone doing that 100 years ago would.

[kalvado]

There's more issue with the £50 note existing than the 50p coin.

I assume for the same reasons Nixon killed the notes from $500 on up. Having worked a job that was banking-adjacent enough that the same regulations applied to me I'm of the firm opinion that a lot of AML stuff is just the government sticking its nose where it doesn't really belong. If having a $10,000 bill circulating makes it harder to catch criminals, good.

We now have a coin for that. Bitcoin.

Yep. So the crooks still have a vehicle for their nonsense, while the honest person who might want to do something like pay a few thousand to a small business in cash so they don't have to deal with credit card fees (or because they want to fuck over the Visa Corporation) gets to have to deal with more hassle than someone doing that 100 years ago would.

I thought I told that before .. I had a few transactions of a few thousand to be done in person at home - contractor or sales person. Surely with "how it's better to pay?"question.
One thing they were really scared of is a payment with green bills.