Althouse: The $2 bill.

November 29, 2020

The $2 bill.

20 comments:

John henry said...: Watched a few minutes just now. Looks very interesting.

I believe that strip clubs are the biggest users.

If you want to have some fun get a handful of $2 bills from your bank. Then try to use them. Esp in a McDonald's or the like with younger cashiers.

The $1 coin works well too.

John Henry; 11/29/20, 8:02 AM
FleetUSA said...: Plenty around Charlottesville, VA. Jefferson's home was Monticello. The shops there use them all the time.; 11/29/20, 8:04 AM
Fernandinande said...: Your supposed to bet them on horse races. That's what they're for.; 11/29/20, 8:07 AM
tcrosse said...: There are plenty of three dollar bills floating around.; 11/29/20, 8:19 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I love articles and documentaries on highly specific subjects.; 11/29/20, 8:20 AM
Tommy Duncan said...: As a kid I worked for a farmer who liked to go to the Arlington race track near Chicago. Now and then he'd give me a $2 bill from his trips. I still have 6 of them in a cigar box. (Yes, I still have a cigar box...); 11/29/20, 8:36 AM
rehajm said...: Yah the two and the fifty are the most useful. You can be safe from overtipping with one and the other gets you out quickly on your bill without needing change...; 11/29/20, 9:26 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Fernandinande said...

Your supposed to bet them on horse races. That's what they're for.

After you tear one of the corners off for luck. Or something like that. I remember my father saying he used to get them in change back in the 1940's like that all the time.; 11/29/20, 10:04 AM
rosebud said...: Haven't yet watched the full thing. I noticed at the start when they were showing the sheets of non-twos, they were star notes. Those are bills with an asterisk or star as the last character in the serial number. That indicates that those particular bills were printed as replacements for other bills which were found to be misprinted in some way before leaving the BEP, and were therefore destroyed. They used to try to use the same serial numbers as the misprinted bills, but now they just start the star notes at 00000000.; 11/29/20, 10:19 AM
Wince said...: I believe that strip clubs are the biggest users.

Yes, you can bring your own singles, but in my day some clubs would only make change in $2s.

Interestingly, $2s look different (more green without the big "ONE" on the back) and seemed more dignified for the dancers to be sweeping up off the stage.; 11/29/20, 10:56 AM
Joe Smith said...: Insert your own three dollar bill joke here...; 11/29/20, 11:27 AM
Readering said...: 1 hour 40 minutes of my life for the $2 bill? I don't think so. Now, the $1 coin ....; 11/29/20, 12:03 PM
Art in LA said...: I used to call twenties “yuppie food stamps.” Back in the day I used to know exactly how much cash I had in my pocket. Nowadays, no clue ... mostly credit card transactions.; 11/29/20, 12:05 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Back in the day I used to know exactly how much cash I had in my pocket."

Japan is still very much a cash economy, except for things like hotel bills, etc.

When I lived in Tokyo I always had at least $400 (40,000 Yen) in cash with me.

If I was paying bills (electricity, water, gas) I would withdraw the cash from the ATM at 7-11, walk over to the cashier and pay the bill. It was then sent to the right folks.; 11/29/20, 12:50 PM
Darkisland said...: Continuing my comment on $2 bills in McDonalds:

Steve Wozniak in his bio said that he used to be uncut sheets of $1 bills. You can order them from the US Treasury. I think a sheet is 80 bills and cost $100 but it was a while ago that I looked.

He would go into a McDonalds, pull out a sheet folded up like a roadmap and a pair of scisors. He would cut off enough to pay the bill. I don't think he cut them apart but don't remember for sure.

He said it would REALLY freak out the cashiers.

He was quite the prankster. In college, he said, he built a box that would covertly generate static on the common TV in the dorm. When someone would place their hand on the TV, he would turn it off. Sometimes he made them try different positions like standing on one foot to get a clear signal.

John Henry; 11/29/20, 1:46 PM
Southern Pessimist said...: IPTDAY, which has been the Clemson football donor site for 50 years or more (I pay ten dollars a year) provides two dollar bills stamped with a Clemson logo for all Clemson attendees at bowl games. They flood the market with those bills and it has had a huge impact on the likelihood of Clemson being invited to a bowl.

Better living through through good marketing.; 11/29/20, 2:46 PM
Southern Pessimist said...: Actually it is IPTAY, I pay ten a year, which used to de a dollar but now is at least a thousand dollars, and the slogan that I mangled was Dupont’s Better living through marketing, as I remember it.; 11/29/20, 3:33 PM
Unknown said...: Ann Althouse said...
I love articles and documentaries on highly specific subjects.
********
Then you have got to watch that one about the climber with one arm figuring out how to get up a 5.12. It's called Stumped. Well worth the 40 minutes or so.; 11/29/20, 4:14 PM
DavidUW said...: let's just go back to silver dollars that are actually a different size than quarters.; 11/29/20, 9:20 PM
Bob B said...: Dupont’s Slogan was Better Things for Better Living ... through Chemistry.; 11/30/20, 7:14 AM