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The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

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Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#221

Post by viccis »

onionisafruit wrote: post #195

From a 2014 reddit post[0]: > This is actually not a million dollars in singles. It is over $1,000,000. The box was created with the wrong dimensions by the contractor, but they still decided to fill it, display it, and claim it is $1,000,000. > > Source: Tour Guide at the Chicago Fed [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2f9sp7/one_million_do...

Man how expensive was that contractor when your art installation requires $1M in cash and all the labor to assemble it, but you can't just tell the contractor to do a new box?

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#222

Post by sdenton4 »

cxr wrote: post #80
sdenton4 wrote: post #3

Here's the go-to for counting stuff in pictures of lots of stuff: https://countthings.com/ This would probably be a hard case for it! But would be cool to see how well it works.

This is yet another link to an app that doesn't do what the author of the post actually specified.

The post specifically says there's not a tool for counting red dots on an image, and there absolutely are. From the side-counts, you still have to extrapolate to a volume, but a specific highlighted sub-problem is well addressed by apps.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#223

Post by c249709 »

necovek wrote: post #174

I counted and got the exact same numbers from the first photo in the article: 8x19x102. No helper software needed, on a small phone screen. Though having an app handy might make sense sometimes.

it's the uncertainty that kills me, I'm never sure if i've missed anything/double counted something

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#224

Post by dhosek »

ericvsmith wrote: post #200
jedberg wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned it when I toured the Mint in Washington DC, but I suspect they have a web page somewhere.

That’s actually the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, on 14th St. SW, which is indeed worth visiting. They print the paper bills (among other things). The U.S. Mint produces the coins. I think only the Philadelphia Mint still mints coins, but it’s also worth visiting.

Denver also mints coins for circulation (mint mark D) and San Francisco does rarely, but mostly does proof sets (legal tender, but generally kept by collectors). Apparently there’s also a newer mint at West Point which uses a W mint mark and also mints coins for circulation.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#225

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

> "No-no-no, that won't do. The cube is too small! Its puny size doesn't convey the crushing might of the American dollar! Hm. Do we have bigger dollars?"

> "I'm afraid we don't, boss."

> "Let's inflate it!"

> "The dollar?"

> "Not the dollar, idiot, the cube! With air.

> "On second thought..."

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#227

Post by [deleted] »

mrandish wrote: post #91

> For all we know, the middle is just air and crumpled-up old newspaper. I think this is the answer. I suspect the exhibit designers had a cool idea for a display, did a rough estimate of the area needed and then commissioned the exhibit builders to make the big metal-framed cube. Either they made an error in their calculation or the innate variability in the size of stacks of used bills threw it off. It's also possi…

[deleted]

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#228

Post by rtkwe »

ggreer wrote: post #145
mrandish wrote: post #91

> For all we know, the middle is just air and crumpled-up old newspaper. I think this is the answer. I suspect the exhibit designers had a cool idea for a display, did a rough estimate of the area needed and then commissioned the exhibit builders to make the big metal-framed cube. Either they made an error in their calculation or the innate variability in the size of stacks of used bills threw it off. It's also possi…

It could be that they measured a stack of bills sitting on a table, then did the math to make a metal frame to contain $1,000,000. But they didn't account for stacks compressing under the weight of higher stacks, and it wouldn't look as nice if the top part of the cube was empty. Still, it does seem like it would be cheaper to rebuild the case than to add $500k to it. Maybe it's easy for the Fed to acquire more cash…

That ignores the other option which is it's not solid and they just filled the empty space with foam or a wooden box.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#229

Post by onionisafruit »

c249709 wrote: post #216
onionisafruit wrote: post #195

From a 2014 reddit post[0]: > This is actually not a million dollars in singles. It is over $1,000,000. The box was created with the wrong dimensions by the contractor, but they still decided to fill it, display it, and claim it is $1,000,000. > > Source: Tour Guide at the Chicago Fed [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2f9sp7/one_million_do...

oof my googling skill so bad I didn't find this

Mine either. An LLM found it for me.

And I'm glad you didn't find it because that lead to a great post.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#230

Post by rtkwe »

mrandish wrote: post #190
roywiggins wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is the Fed though, does money actually "cost" anything for them? They're the ones who make the money!

Per this site: https://home.treasury.gov/services/currency-and-coins > "U.S currency is produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and U.S. coins are produced by the U.S. Mint. Both organizations are bureaus of the U.S. Department of the Treasury." But even if this exhibit was at a U.S. Mint site, your assumption doesn't account for how the real world works. The people involved in planning, creating and operati…

If it's just diverting bills that were heading to be destroyed (not impossible looking at the end of the bills on the non strapped side they look pretty rough) they're not worth a million any more they're just scrap. If you were extra paranoid you could even partially destory the bills and leave only the outer edges needed for the display.
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