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Uncut Currency

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Re: Uncut Currency

#371

Post by bragr »

carstenhag wrote: post #368
nlh wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great question - it's something the BEP offers to collectors basically for the cool factor. People frame them, give them as gifts, etc. It's just kind of fun to see real money as it comes off the press (and, thankfully, it inspires lots of collectors!) $2 bills are SUPER fun. 99.9% are not worth more than $2, but they still bring a smile to peoples' faces when you leave them as tips, etc. I always keep a stack in m…

Why do people smile about $2 notes? (In Europe no one would bat an eye about any € coin. Only the now-discontinued but still legal 500€ notes have this effect)

They are fairly rare. They are the least printed bill [1] and aren't included in a typical cash register, so just randomly stumbling upon one in the wild is a pretty rare. Sometimes people think they are fake because they've never seen one before. The only reliable way to get them is to specially request them from a bank or order them from the government. Also, because of the novelty, people tend to collect them, at least informally, so they don't tend to circulate much either.

[1] https://www.bep.gov/currency/production-figures/annual-produ...

Re: Uncut Currency

#372

Post by [deleted] »

carstenhag wrote: post #368
nlh wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great question - it's something the BEP offers to collectors basically for the cool factor. People frame them, give them as gifts, etc. It's just kind of fun to see real money as it comes off the press (and, thankfully, it inspires lots of collectors!) $2 bills are SUPER fun. 99.9% are not worth more than $2, but they still bring a smile to peoples' faces when you leave them as tips, etc. I always keep a stack in m…

Why do people smile about $2 notes? (In Europe no one would bat an eye about any € coin. Only the now-discontinued but still legal 500€ notes have this effect)

[deleted]

Re: Uncut Currency

#373

Post by lesuorac »

bityard wrote: post #259
bufferoverflow wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because it's listed at $500, doesn't mean someone will pay that.

The sold listings for "miscut dollar bill" would beg to differ. I am _always_ and _continually_ surprised at what people will pay for things. Literally _nobody_ scaled back their consumption or purchasing during post-COVID inflation. Home prices are sky-high but it's still a sellers market because buyers are scared that prices will jump again and instead of simply being a difficult purchase, maybe next year it will b…

I think people have an upper limit. Sure, $7 eggs might be below the limit but if you want into a grocery store because you wanted to make french toast and the eggs are $25 are you buying them or just eating something else?

I would agree that the upper limit is above what the common price is though. This should really be a good thing because you want people to consume goods; that makes the economy go in a circle. For necessities like food and gas (energy) the government goes out of its way to subsidize them.

I just think most people don't feel like putting in the work to figure out what a clearing price for an action would be when selling not-auctioned items. This is where things like RealPage get dangerous because it will find the best price and that best price is not what the median people can afford.

Re: Uncut Currency

#374

Post by NegativeK »

bragr wrote: post #371
carstenhag wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people smile about $2 notes? (In Europe no one would bat an eye about any € coin. Only the now-discontinued but still legal 500€ notes have this effect)

They are fairly rare. They are the least printed bill [1] and aren't included in a typical cash register, so just randomly stumbling upon one in the wild is a pretty rare. Sometimes people think they are fake because they've never seen one before. The only reliable way to get them is to specially request them from a bank or order them from the government. Also, because of the novelty, people tend to collect them, at…

When I worked fast food, a customer paid with a few $2 bills. It wasn't strange to me. But when I tried to hand them as change to another customer, they looked at me like I was an idiot and demanded that I pay them in real money.

Before then, I was cashing my paycheck at a bank. I'd occasionally ask them for $50 of it in $2 bills. The bank had them approximately half the time, and it was fun to pay for things with them.

Re: Uncut Currency

#375

Post by cheeze »

danielodievich wrote: post #309

I tip exclusively with $2 bills because bartenders/event staff/doormen/shuttle people then always remember me. I get them from the bank and they are invariably crisp and never been folded. They kind of stick together because of this, too.

If you do this in Portland or Seattle, people just assume you were at a... gentlemens club that uses $2 bills for tips

Re: Uncut Currency

#376

Post by addandsubtract »

carstenhag wrote: post #368
nlh wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great question - it's something the BEP offers to collectors basically for the cool factor. People frame them, give them as gifts, etc. It's just kind of fun to see real money as it comes off the press (and, thankfully, it inspires lots of collectors!) $2 bills are SUPER fun. 99.9% are not worth more than $2, but they still bring a smile to peoples' faces when you leave them as tips, etc. I always keep a stack in m…

Why do people smile about $2 notes? (In Europe no one would bat an eye about any € coin. Only the now-discontinued but still legal 500€ notes have this effect)

There are collectable 0 Euro notes. I think they're fun.

Re: Uncut Currency

#377

Post by boringg »

magic_smoke_ee wrote: post #112
neilv wrote: post #11

Steve Wozniak (the Apple cofounder) famously bought sheets of $2 bills, and had a printer perforate and gum them into pads. So he could literally tear off $2 bills, in front of people who might not even know it was real currency, to pay them. https://web.archive.org/web/20180311084811/http://archive.wo...

In today's stupefied America, it wouldn't be safe because the police will be called and the police escalate things into unnecessary violence. In the 60's through 80's it would've been fine, but not now.

Wait, you think police are tougher now then in the past?

Re: Uncut Currency

#378

Post by boringg »

Scoundreller wrote: post #148
AngryData wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally far prefer the cotton paper money over any polymer notes or coins and hope we keep using it despite any other potential changes to the sizes or designs or whatever.

Why?

Probably just the texture and feel.

Re: Uncut Currency

#379

Post by arunabha »

scarface_74 wrote: post #310
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is Big Corp really going out of its way to “disenfranchise” consumers to make it harder to give them money? This happens all the time for various reasons.

Please explain the “various reasons” that companies want to make less money?

Do yourself a favour and search HN for people's stories about their BigCo accounts for paid services being closed for no apparent reason. Most of the time these are accompanied (by design) with no way to getting beyond automated denial bots.

The tired trope of capitalism ensuring that all customers will be served needs to die. Businesses always evaluate any additional revenue against the cost of getting that revenue.

There are a multitude of ways in which the cost can exceed the revenue. The mundane example is that it's more expensive for Google to maintain non automated support for 'non core' services. A more harmful example is the practice of 'redlining' after the great depression where largely due to non financial reasons, the 'cost' of providing mortgages to non whites was deemed larger than the expected revenue from those mortgages.

Re: Uncut Currency

#380

Post by pridkett »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #118

Heck of a markup on these things. $2, eight-note sheet, that's $16 before shipping and whatever else. Add $20 ... because they're in demand? idk...

They’re not really sold as currency - they’re sold as souvenirs. If you visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in DC, they’re for sale at the gift shop. I’ve got a set of 32 $2 bills hanging on my wall right next to my set of hyperinflation Zimbabwean currency.

If you just want $2 bills, go to your bank. At my bank I need to order them $200 at a time. When I was flying every week they were great as the bartenders at the airport lounges would remember me as the “the Thursday $2 guy”.

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