Posted on 6/12/2003, 5:41:16 PM by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
WASHINGTON - Like 200 bad pennies, it keeps turning up. The $2 bill, shunned by the American public for decades, could be making a comeback. After seven years, the government is thinking of printing the forgotten greenback once again.
"We do contemplate ordering more $2 notes," said Federal Reserve spokesman David Skidmore. The Fed has been talking to the makers U.S. paper money, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, about the matter.
The Federal Reserve, the supplier of cash to the nation's banks, had a huge pile of the $2 bills stashed away in its vaults back in 1996, when the last batch of the notes were printed.
Although the Fed still has a supply of the $2 notes, it's a much smaller one. No one knows exactly why, but some blame the human tendency to make a keepsake of an oddity.
"They are collected mostly," said Lyn Knight, president of Lyn Knight Currency Auctions. "People like to save $2 bills_ kind of like half dollars."
Roughly 9.5 million of the notes are currently held at the Fed's vaults, down from around 160 million in 1996, Skidmore said. (The Fed's inventory of $1 bills, by comparison, stands at 2.37 billion.)
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing may print 121.6 million new $2 bills in fiscal year 2004, which starts Oct. 1, said BEP spokeswoman Claudia Dickens. "Around July or August we will be able to confirm that number positively," she said.
When new $2 bills were last printed in 1996, some 163.6 million of the notes were made. The government stopped making the bills because there wasn't much demand for them from banks and their customers. Cash registers typically don't have bins for the $2 note.
"I think people are just saving them. The general population, when something is unusual in terms of money, they pull it and set it aside — `Gee, I haven't seen one of those,' " said David Sundman, a paper money expert and president of Littleton Coin Co. "It is just human nature."
Some people like to give them as gifts or use them at $2 betting windows at horse racetracks, a few money mavens suggested.
The $2 note can be traced back to the days of the American Revolution, when the Continental Congress issued $2 denominations in "bills of credit for the defense of America," the bureau says. Some experts say there were cases of $2 notes even earlier.
The current $2 bill, features the visage of Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president and author of the Declaration of Independence on the front. On the back of the bill, the signing of the Declaration of Independence is featured. This version of the note came about in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial.
Around 655 million $2 notes are currently in circulation worldwide.
Even so, "people don't see many of them and aren't used to seeing them," said Doug Tillett, a spokesman at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. "You have to think back to seventh grade civics and think is this legal tender? Is there a $2 bill?"
The bureau doesn't have plans to make over the $2 bill as part of its broader, redesign effort. A new, more colorful $20 bill aimed at thwarting high-tech counterfeiters is first in line for the new look and will be put into circulation later this year. The $20 bill is the most knocked-off note in the United States.
The $2 bill could became a staple in cash registers and wallets, if the government ever were to decide to give the $1 bill — the most commonly used bill in the United States — the boot, experts said. But barring that unlikely event, the $2 bill — just like the penny — is probably going to stick around for a while, experts said.
"It is part of our history," said Sundman. "It is kind of a relic. A survivor."
Seriously, dump the penny and the $1 and $2 bills. Find someone meaningful and likable for the $1 coin and while they're at it, find a red-golden alloy that doesn't tarnish for it (unlike the squawbucks which were too silvery to identify at a quick glance and they tarnished too much).
How about eliminating pennies and nickels and replacing them with a 2 cent coin. All prices would round to the next even amount. There would still be no need for more that 4 of the smallest coins in change (same as now). The dollar coin would have a place in cash registers and the two dollar bill would have a place as well.
The government wouldn't need public support. They could just do it.
The Susan B. Anthonys were horribly indistinguishable from quarters.
I have no problems with the Sacagawea dollar, despite the lunatic rantings for or against political correctness. IMHO, it is a good-looking coin, somewhat reminiscent of the Buffalo nickel and Indian-head penny. I also find them very convenient to carry in my pocket with other change, and use them for small purchases or leaving tips. Whenever I'm at the bank, I try to remember to pick up a roll or two.
So, Willie, is that a roll of Sacagaweas in your pocket, or...? ;OD
LOL!
No, there are 25 in a roll, and I only carry maybe 3~4 in my pocket at a time.
But they sure are less bulky than carrying 12~16 more quarters!
However, I think a $3 bill might be in order and would suggest that Rep. Barney Franks portrait adorn it.
1. A $5 coin. Before switching over to the Euro standard, Holland had a 5 Guilder coin that was a pleasure to use. Four of these in your pocket in addition to paper money was enough to get you through the whole day. Now, Europe has a coin that's worth three dollars or so (2.5 Eu face value) and it just isn't the same. America's $5 coin should be sized mid-way between the nickel and quarter, be twice as thick as a nickel, and finished in a better faux golden color than the miserable Squawbuck $1 coin.
2. I think that the reverse face of the $1 or $2 bill should have the Bill Of Rights listed on the back.
3. Getting rid of the penny and round up to the nearest tenth of a dollar. You can get rid of the $1 note if you want, but be prepared to get a lot of change back. One problem that Europeans have is gathering an avalanche of change in their pockets at the end of the day. The Euro coin worth 2.5 and the Dutch 5-Guilder was designed to help erase this, and the US better think of something similar if we eliminate the penny and $1 bill. That's why I hope for a $5 coin and not some half-fast measure like a $2 coin.
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