# Are old 100 bills still good?



## MichaelScott (Aug 16, 2020)

Hello guys, I have a brother who is traveling to USA this winter, and he has a couple of old US dollars (before 2013) :



 
Like the one above.
Are this bills still good? May he have a problem buying goods? 
I ask because in my country this bills are hardly accepted anymore by the banks, and I read that may be the case in US too.


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## big ups liquid richard (Aug 16, 2020)

They're fine.


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## Botchy Galoop (Aug 16, 2020)

As far as I know, there have been no U.S.  paper currency devalued except for Civil War currency. Doesn't matter how old the bills are, those huns are still good.

eta: In fact there are some U.S. paper currencies that are worth more than face value to collectors. An example of this are "Star notes"; currency that has a star at the beginning or end of the serial number. These were typically replacements for serial numbers that were damaged when going thru the printing process.


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## Kosher Dill (Aug 16, 2020)

They're still good, currency doesn't "expire" here. If you had something _really_ old, maybe you might have some trouble if your local Wal-Mart clerk didn't recognize it, but you would always be able to take it to a bank and exchange it for something more modern.

If you really wanted, you could still go and pay for stuff with a sack full of Mercury dimes, though that would be stupid.


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## Thumb Butler (Aug 16, 2020)

Not American, and currency expire here and it really sucks. When my depression era grandfather died we found more than $8000 in expired money. I guess hiding them in books was better than trusting the banks


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## XYZpdq (Aug 16, 2020)

They can taste a little off after the first couple of years.


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## mindlessobserver (Aug 16, 2020)

So long as the design matches the design for its issuance date he's okay. Probably best to exchange them at a bank for new ones though.


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## Fek (Aug 16, 2020)

Thumb Butler said:


> Not American, and currency expire here and it really sucks. When my depression era grandfather died we found more than $8000 in expired money. I guess hiding them in books was better than trusting the banks



Jesus Christ, I couldn't imagine having to worry about currency expiring (short of some catastrophe forcing it). Is the expired money even worth anything as a collector's item?


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## Thumb Butler (Aug 16, 2020)

Fek said:


> Jesus Christ, I couldn't imagine having to worry about currency expiring (short of some catastrophe forcing it). Is the expired money even worth anything as a collector's item?



Not too much since the bills were common enough, and what makes it worse, due to inflation it was even more money back when it was put away. Don't know what happened with it. Perhaps some was sold to collectors?

People, don't hide stuff in books if you have thousands of them.


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## mindlessobserver (Aug 16, 2020)

Thumb Butler said:


> Not too much since the bills were common enough, and what makes it worse, due to inflation it was even more money back when it was put away. Don't know what happened with it. Perhaps some was sold to collectors?
> 
> People, don't hide stuff in books if you have thousands of them.



Suddenly the reason why you can use the US Dollar in almost any country outside of Europe is starting to make more sense. I knew some countries had volatile exchange rates, but expiring currency too? Yikes.


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## NOT Sword Fighter Super (Aug 16, 2020)

Sorry, worthless now.
I'll gladly take them off your hands, though.


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## Exigent Circumcisions (Aug 16, 2020)

If they'll dissolve in hydrochloric acid they're still good.


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## Agent Abe Caprine (Aug 16, 2020)

You don't know how many g-strings the bills have been in, so don't eat it.


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## MichaelScott (Aug 16, 2020)

OK. Ty guys for the replies. It was just a little worry I had.


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## Kosher Dill (Aug 16, 2020)

Aberforth said:


> You don't know how many g-strings the bills have been in, so don't eat it.


If it hasn't been in enough, I go and _circulate_ it a bit more.


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## Some Manajerk (Aug 16, 2020)

this is one of the perks about working in retail, since currency doesn't expire here sometimes kids will break into grandpas coin collection and use it to buy stuff. And then you just swap it out for something more recent and take it home. I've had people pay with silver coins a lot, and even once or twice some old indian pennies or victory nickels come through.


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## TaimuRadiu (Aug 16, 2020)

They don't stop being legal tender. Technically a $20 gold coin from 1932 is still worth $20. Technically a $5 greenback from 1863 is still legal tender!




Thumb Butler said:


> Not American, and currency expire here and it really sucks. When my depression era grandfather died we found more than $8000 in expired money. I guess hiding them in books was better than trusting the banks



There are collectors who would pay top dollar (heh) for that if it were in a good enough condition. If it were rare enough bills it would be worth it to send them to be graded by a currency grading service and then sell them on eBay.


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## dunbrine47 (Aug 16, 2020)

If the serial number is intact then it's valid.


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## Medical Hawaii (Aug 16, 2020)

I don't think money can go bad as long as you keep it refrigerated


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## Feline Supremacist (Aug 16, 2020)

Medical Hawaii said:


> I don't think money can go bad as long as you keep it refrigerated


That reminds me of a story a security guard at the nyse told me about some old lady who stored her savings in the oven and since she was old she forgot and turned it on, then had a nervous breakdown when she remembered...I'm sure it's one of those urban legends but old people do things like store cash in the freezer, mattress, coffee cans, etc. Cash is a tangible asset so I guess having it around makes them feel safe.


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## murgatroid (Aug 16, 2020)

This reminds me of something that happened the other day. I was inside a store to buy pizza and there was no one at the counter.

While I was waiting a moment I started looking at the $20 dollar bill in my hand. I was admiring the small images, design, authenticity measures etc. Finally I held it up to the light to look at the hidden portrait of Jackson on the side and right at that moment one of the workers came to the counter. I suddenly realized how bad it looked that I was inspecting the bill and I could see the suspicion in his face. I just ordered the food and when it was done he took the bill and he asked "Is it good?" while feeling up the bill. I just responded "it's good I was just looking at it" which probably did little to assuage his suspicion. He then called out another worker (possibly the owner) to give me the change, which I think was his way of confirming or not if it was fake. The owner just took it and I left.

Long story short, don't admire and inspect your currency when you're about to make a purchase.

Fun fact: Any pre 1982 pennies (and a portion of 1982 pennies) are now worth 2 cents in copper, a penny more than the face value. Even though in 1982 they printed the old penny and the new formulation pennies, you can clearly tell the difference. One is a deep brown and the other has a much more shiny color and surface owing to the lower amount of copper.


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## Exceptionally Exceptional (Aug 17, 2020)

So long as the serial numbers check out and the security strips are there, it should be fine. However those bills are probably gonna end up destroyed and reissued.


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## RockPaper (Aug 17, 2020)

Feline Supremacist said:


> That reminds me of a story a security guard at the nyse told me about some old lady who stored her savings in the oven and since she was old she forgot and turned it on, then had a nervous breakdown when she remembered...I'm sure it's one of those urban legends but old people do things like store cash in the freezer, mattress, coffee cans, etc. Cash is a tangible asset so I guess having it around makes them feel safe.



I'm sure the US Mint has a lot of stories about damaged money that gets sent their way.  If they can isolate all 4 corners of a bill - even one torn to shreds or burned -  you get full value for it.


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## L50LasPak (Aug 17, 2020)

I can infact answer this with authority. I did labor at a security company and occasionally we would get bags with hundreds of thousands of dollars in old bills in them. Once we got a million in old bills. Standard protocol is to call the bank, check with them that all of the bills are valid at least as far as they know, and then as far as the company was concerned that was good enough and we could let the accountants crack the bag open and get to work.

Conversely, in retail we were often told to refuse old bills because they might be counterfiet and all we had to tell in a hurry was those worthless marker pens. My advice, take them to the bank. They know what to look for.

This mostly applies to bills issued around the pre 1990s though. I don't think even the nosiest retail clerk would be paying enough attention to parse ten year old bills from the newer ones, even if the newer ones do have that blue strip.


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## TaimuRadiu (Aug 17, 2020)

L50LasPak said:


> I can infact answer this with authority. I did labor at a security company and occasionally we would get bags with hundreds of thousands of dollars in old bills in them. Once we got a million in old bills. Standard protocol is to call the bank, check with them that all of the bills are valid at least as far as they know, and then as far as the company was concerned that was good enough and we could let the accountants crack the bag open and get to work.
> 
> Conversely, in retail we were often told to refuse old bills because they might be counterfiet and all we had to tell in a hurry was those worthless marker pens. My advice, take them to the bank. They know what to look for.
> 
> This mostly applies to bills issued around the pre 1990s though. I don't think even the nosiest retail clerk would be paying enough attention to parse ten year old bills from the newer ones, even if the newer ones do have that blue strip.


My ex girlfriend told me a story once that she was working in Target as a register jockey and someone tried to pay for their stuff with a thousand dollar bill. This was Texas, and even though these had stopped being printed in the 40s, you could apparently still get them from your bank as late as the late 90s/early 00s.

She got the bill verified, called the store security guard to put it in the safe and gave them their change and they were on their way.


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## Childe (Aug 17, 2020)

One time at taco bell the bitch idiot cashier wouldn’t accept my wheat penny. She told me it was fake and threatened to call the cops. On a fucking wheat penny.


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## I can't imagine (Aug 17, 2020)

TaimuRadiu said:


> My ex girlfriend told me a story once that she was working in Target as a register jockey and someone tried to pay for their stuff with a thousand dollar bill. This was Texas, and even though these had stopped being printed in the 40s, you could apparently still get them from your bank as late as the late 90s/early 00s.
> 
> She got the bill verified, called the store security guard to put it in the safe and gave them their change and they were on their way.



Sometimes you get weird shit like that in retail.  I've seen people try to buy things with Morgan dollars, which you'd think people could at least _guess_ were worth more than a dollar, being, y'know, over a century old and mostly silver.  But people are retarded like that, I guess.


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## TaimuRadiu (Aug 17, 2020)

I can't imagine said:


> Sometimes you get weird shit like that in retail.  I've seen people try to buy things with Morgan dollars, which you'd think people could at least _guess_ were worth more than a dollar, being, y'know, over a century old and mostly silver.  But people are retarded like that, I guess.


I've seen silver certificates and silver coins. (Pre-1964 coins are what you want to look for.) A silver certificate is still legal tender, but no longer exchangeable for silver. Gold certificates have not been legal tender since 1964 or so.

$2s and half dollars are still fairly uncommon but not so uncommon that you can't go to your bank and fill out a form to get a roll of halves or whatever.


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## Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0 (Aug 17, 2020)

L50LasPak said:


> Conversely, in retail we were often told to refuse old bills because they might be counterfiet and all we had to tell in a hurry was those worthless marker pens. My advice, take them to the bank. They know what to look for.
> 
> This mostly applies to bills issued around the pre 1990s though. I don't think even the nosiest retail clerk would be paying enough attention to parse ten year old bills from the newer ones, even if the newer ones do have that blue strip.



Yep. The easiest bill to counterfeit would be an old 100 from the 70s or 80s.

Reason?

None of them had security features. But they tend to be in really good shape because of the lack of circulation. Not sure if a counterfeit pen works on $1 bills, but I imagine if you bleach some and print $100 Bill's from 1989 on them, nobody would know.  They zero added features back in the day--no holograms or 100100100100100 threads or Ghost Benjamin Franklins in the light.

Pls don't send the Secret Service to my house TIA.


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## Tookie (Aug 18, 2020)

To add some background to the OP, banks and currency exchanges outside the United States sometimes get super-finicky about US currency that is an older design or has any kind of minor damage. This is because counterfeiting is much more common outside the US and they often only want pristine recent bills with up-to-date anti-counterfeiting stuff to cover their asses.

Within the United States this is less of a concern and even older banknotes are still legal tender unless severely damaged. If currency is damaged enough to qualify as "mutilated" where it can't be circulated in the private sector anymore, you can send it to the federal government and get it replaced as long as it is still intact enough for them to verify the value of the bill and that it was real.


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## Allegory (Aug 18, 2020)

Get rid of them ASAP if Germany can go into hyperinflation so can the USD. 

it happens fast just look at 1923 Jan 8 billion - Nov - 400 Quintilian


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## SinEater (Aug 18, 2020)

You might have trouble spending them at places like convenience stores or fast food, but you can go to any bank and swap them out for smaller bills if you are going to do little purchases.


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## Shiggy Diggster (Aug 18, 2020)

One time at an ATM I got five 1950 era $20s that had clearly been hoarded and forgotten about in the pages of a book, because of the smell. Still spent them no problem.


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## RockPaper (Aug 18, 2020)

TaimuRadiu said:


> I've seen silver certificates and silver coins.



I remember an incident over 25 years ago, when a movie theater cashier received a $1 silver certificate, and was worried because she didn't think it was real. I overheard her talking and explained what it was, but she was still dubious. I offered to take the bill and give her a regular $1 bill in exchange if she was really worried about it, but she got all weird as if I was trying to scam her or something. I'm like, "Lady, _you're_ the one who complained you might have a phony bill." Teenagers in retail weren't any smarter back then than they are now.


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## mindlessobserver (Aug 18, 2020)

bookiedookie said:


> One time at taco bell the bitch idiot cashier wouldn’t accept my wheat penny. She told me it was fake and threatened to call the cops. On a fucking wheat penny.



That is some high grade autism right there. Virtually every cashier I have ever run into doesn't even give a shit if you're a penny short. They just shrug and say "have a nice day". They probably think the cost of losing that solitary cent is worth it to not have to go to the trouble to make change.


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## Childe (Aug 18, 2020)

mindlessobserver said:


> That is some high grade autism right there. Virtually every cashier I have ever run into doesn't even give a shit if you're a penny short. They just shrug and say "have a nice day". They probably think the cost of losing that solitary cent is worth it to not have to go to the trouble to make change.


My guess is she was new and had just gotten done with the obligatory counterfeit money training. That or she had taken a fake $20 before and was paranoid. Either way still a dumbass.


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## Salubrious (Aug 18, 2020)

The only thing to be careful of is that there are a lot of gas stations, convenience stores, and other places that will not accept $100 bills of any kind, so you may want to break a couple early and get some $20s.


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## Chongqing (Aug 19, 2020)

You can have your brother contact the Dept. of the Treasury. If he tells them he has old bills, he can have them exchanged before his trip for new ones. They have an entire office just for this sort of thing. 
The old bills are still acceptable but if your brother is traveling to a well-traveled area, he may run into difficulty using the bills. However, he can walk into any bank at any time and have the bills exchanged for newer ones (or for a smaller denomination) for free.


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## murgatroid (Aug 20, 2020)

Is there any way to get authentic 1000 dollar bills? I was watching "Midnight Run" and one of the characters has them. Having 1000 dollar bills would make it much easier to carry a lot of cash.


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## TaimuRadiu (Aug 20, 2020)

Allegory said:


> Get rid of them ASAP if Germany can go into hyperinflation so can the USD.
> 
> it happens fast just look at 1923 Jan 8 billion - Nov - 400 Quintilian


The USD is backed by Saudi petroleum. Inflation is absolutely a thing, but also remember that most countires around the world have either "dollarized" or "euroized"; that is, they generally accept dollars or euros. There are significant exceptions to this, of course, but if you're in darkest Africa it's useful to have a sheaf of singles on you.



murgatroid said:


> Is there any way to get authentic 1000 dollar bills? I was watching "Midnight Run" and one of the characters has them. Having 1000 dollar bills would make it much easier to carry a lot of cash.



Not really. Banks at least here in the North don't give them out. I did post about people getting them in Texas in the 90s but I doubt that's still something that happens. You can obviously buy them from rare currency/coin dealers but you'd be paying like $1500 for a bill in middling condition; may as well buy some gold with that money.


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## Silas (Aug 24, 2020)

I received a $20 in change that someone had stamped "TRUMP LIVES HERE" on and Target refused to take it, they even brought out two managers who agreed they wouldn't take it, because it was "defaced"


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## crapstream (Aug 25, 2020)

holding fiat is a big mistake, but holding fiat on paper bills is much worst.
better coins than bills.


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## hairy richards (Aug 25, 2020)

still good. i got boxes of 'em in the basement. lol... i used to run a strip club. well i got garbage bags loaded with $1's and 5's and 10's... literally all over down there. i would expect close to or half a million just in cash... smdh. yeah... i know need to start spending them or upgrading i suppose.


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## Silas (Aug 25, 2020)

hairy richards said:


> still good. i got boxes of 'em in the basement. lol... i used to run a strip club. well i got garbage bags loaded with $1's and 5's and 10's... literally all over down there. i would expect close to or half a million just in cash... smdh. yeah... i know need to start spending them or upgrading i suppose.


Well if they're just sitting around can I have a couple?


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## Haramburger (Aug 25, 2020)

bookiedookie said:


> One time at taco bell the bitch idiot cashier wouldn’t accept my wheat penny. She told me it was fake and threatened to call the cops. On a fucking wheat penny.


I'd have stood my ground and filmed it. The youtube revenue would be worth the hour or two of autism and arguing it would require.


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## Xarpho (Aug 25, 2020)

Retailers don't like accepting high-value bills because to prevent theft they carry very little cash on hand, and they don't want to be bilked by a fake, and trying to instruct cashiers about bills only ends in disaster. In the late 1970s, the Safeway grocery store chain got sued for wrongfully accusing a shopper with trying to pass a counterfeit $100 (it wasn't counterfeit, it was just an older bill) that ended with getting arrested and strip-searched by police.


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## crapstream (Aug 25, 2020)

Xarpho said:


> Retailers don't like accepting high-value bills because to prevent theft they carry very little cash on hand, and they don't want to be bilked by a fake, and trying to instruct cashiers about bills only ends in disaster. In the late 1970s, the Safeway grocery store chain got sued for wrongfully accusing a shopper with trying to pass a counterfeit $100 (it wasn't counterfeit, it was just an older bill) that ended with getting arrested and strip-searched by police.



This is exactly what George Floyd did,
and he got shoot by police.


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## Xarpho (Aug 26, 2020)

crapstream said:


> This is exactly what George Floyd did,
> and he got shoot by police.


George Floyd's death is so politically charged that it's almost impossible to find any sources on what he did and didn't do. He definitely had a criminal career and was definitely on drugs, which suggests that the bill was indeed counterfeit, but rioters set fire to the city before the body had gone cold.


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## Sped Xing (Aug 27, 2020)

murgatroid said:


> Is there any way to get authentic 1000 dollar bills? I was watching "Midnight Run" and one of the characters has them. Having 1000 dollar bills would make it much easier to carry a lot of cash.



Why do you walk around with thousands of dollars in your wallet?


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## Ero (Oct 2, 2020)

Silas said:


> I received a $20 in change that someone had stamped "TRUMP LIVES HERE" on and Target refused to take it, they even brought out two managers who agreed they wouldn't take it, because it was "defaced"



I got a bunch of $ with "Trump 2020 MAGA" stamped on them as a tip last summer, however I haven't had any problems with store refusing to accept them.


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## IAmNotAlpharius (Oct 6, 2020)

Ero said:


> I got a bunch of $ with "Trump 2020 MAGA" stamped on them as a tip last summer, however I haven't had any problems with store refusing to accept them.


It really depends on the store. Most wouldn’t care but I could see Target refusing them


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## gamer2014 (Oct 6, 2020)

i figured shops dont like people using $100 bills for small transactions, because of all of the physical change taken from them and possible counterfeits.

Also in the UK, theres the deal with Scottish Banknotes not being legal tender even in scotland. Scotland has £100 notes.






						Banknotes of Scotland - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Rafal Gan Ganowicz (Oct 6, 2020)

Xarpho said:


> Retailers don't like accepting high-value bills because to prevent theft they carry very little cash on hand, and they don't want to be bilked by a fake, and trying to instruct cashiers about bills only ends in disaster. In the late 1970s, the Safeway grocery store chain got sued for wrongfully accusing a shopper with trying to pass a counterfeit $100 (it wasn't counterfeit, it was just an older bill) that ended with getting arrested and strip-searched by police.


I had a friend who used to counterfeit $100 US bills. (am a Leaf). I watched him do it. Extremely easy.  No wonder they don't take them.


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## neverendingmidi (Oct 11, 2020)

Plenty of retailers don't accept $100s, a number also don't accept traveler's checks (are those a thing anymore?). You can tell who's been hit by a scammer recently because they won't accept any bills over a $20, and check each one. If you have any kind of Visa (debit or credit) they'll be accepted almost anywhere.


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## Long Tongue Silver (Oct 28, 2020)

Anybody remember $2 bills? I tried to get one for novelty's sake, but the local bank doesn't keep any on hand and will only order them in bulk. 


neverendingmidi said:


> Plenty of retailers don't accept $100s, a number also don't accept traveler's checks (are those a thing anymore?). You can tell who's been hit by a scammer recently because they won't accept any bills over a $20, and check each one. If you have any kind of Visa (debit or credit) they'll be accepted almost anywhere.


Most retailers would rather you use debit or credit cards for convenience's sake, but plenty of low-rent convenience stores in the hood won't take card payments for purchases totaling less than $5, presumably because of the transaction fees.


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## neverendingmidi (Oct 29, 2020)

Bag of Asses said:


> Anybody remember $2 bills? I tried to get one for novelty's sake, but the local bank doesn't keep any on hand and will only order them in bulk.
> 
> Most retailers would rather you use debit or credit cards for convenience's sake, but plenty of low-rent convenience stores in the hood won't take card payments for purchases totaling less than $5, presumably because of the transaction fees.


I carry a $2 in my wallet. It was something my grandma gave me a little before she passed and I keep it for remembrance mostly.


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## paint huffing shaman (Oct 29, 2020)

Kosher Dill said:


> They're still good, currency doesn't "expire" here. If you had something _really_ old, maybe you might have some trouble if your local Wal-Mart clerk didn't recognize it, but you would always be able to take it to a bank and exchange it for something more modern.
> 
> If you really wanted, you could still go and pay for stuff with a sack full of Mercury dimes, though that would be i




i remember a story of a guy who pay his taxes in 1 dollar bills



Silas said:


> I received a $20 in change that someone had stamped "TRUMP LIVES HERE" on and Target refused to take it, they even brought out two managers who agreed they wouldn't take it, because it was "defaced"


if it said biden they gladly would  have taken it


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## SIGSEGV (Oct 29, 2020)

They were never good tbh


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## Xarpho (Oct 29, 2020)

Bag of Asses said:


> Anybody remember $2 bills? I tried to get one for novelty's sake, but the local bank doesn't keep any on hand and will only order them in bulk.
> 
> Most retailers would rather you use debit or credit cards for convenience's sake, but plenty of low-rent convenience stores in the hood won't take card payments for purchases totaling less than $5, presumably because of the transaction fees.


Retailers really hate $2 bills (no place to put them in the register) and will try to get rid of them as fast as reasonably possible. If you get $2 as change in a retail or restaurant establishment, they probably got that just a few hours earlier.


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## Clockwork_PurBle (Oct 29, 2020)

One time at my job a woman legit had a wallet full of $2 bills. She asked if we would accept a $2 bill and I was like "yeah sure ma'am" and then she just...whips out a fat stack.


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## Jack Awful (Oct 29, 2020)

No, send them to me for disposal.


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