Speaking of two-dollar bills, I wonder why they've never caught on.

[raccoon]

(See http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027793790)

Anyone got any ideas why? Especially nowadays, when a dollar hardly buys anything...

[Egnever]

1. I have lots of them

I love them for some reason.

[madokie]

2. I carry one in my wallet for years

for good luck. Plus as long as I have it I know I'm not broke

[raccoon]

4. Yeah, and I've got a few hidden somewhere. But I wonder why they never caught

on with the general public.

[MarianJack]

3. When I was growing up in the Philly suburbs,...

...many people considered them to be bad luck. I always figured that the guy with a $2 bill was luckier than the guy with NO dollars!

PEACE!

[TexasProgresive]

5. No place in the register for them.

Dollar bills should be sent to the mint to be destroyed . Dollar coins should be a bit larger than a quarter. I have spent 2 dollar bills but never received one in change, same for dollar coins.

[Hortensis]

8. Yes! Probably BIG factor. I'd use $2s if they were

given to me as change. None of this entombing them as artifacts in my wallet.

[raccoon]

9. By george, I think you've got it! nt

[surrealAmerican]

10. I would argue that the $2 denomination should also be a coin.

It works for Canada.

We could discontinue pennies and nickels if we need the cash register slots.

[Softail1]

6. never saw the need for them

I think they didn't catch on because they really didn't have a purpose that made a big enough difference. Why would having 3 two dollar bills in your pocket be any different than having 6 one's? As soon as you start buying a few things, you would be getting some one's back in change, and before you know it, you would have a bunch of one's again. Just my opinion.

[HereSince1628]

7. When I was a kid a $2 bill was a tell that someone had been to the horse-track

because the betting windows were one of the very few places they circulated. Maybe there was some sort of shaming about betting that went with $2 bills??

50 cent pieces were pretty commonly circulated when I was a kid, and silver dollars were around but not common, both became uncommon by the late 60's.

[roamer65]

11. If we get rid of the $1 bill, they will circulate.

People will then gravitate to the next lowest paper denomination.

[dembotoz]

12. cash register drawers did not accommodate so merchants avoid them

[JHB]

13. Back in the 70s the plan was to replace dollar bills with coins...

...and step up printing of $2 bills. It became the focus of an early conservative rallying effort against "big government" and liberals:

1) It would force just about every business to reorganize or replace the cash drawers in their registers. More likely replace, since the singles wouldn't go out of circulation immediately and so both dollar types would need to be accommodated. It was an example of a policy coming down from on high without consideration on how it would affect those who have to deal with it on a day to day basis.

2) The basic coin size wasn't distinct enough from a quarter, so you couldn't just reach into your pocket and tell what you had by feel. At a time when people did things like paying for a newspaper by tossing a quarter in a dish on the counter while grabbing one and walking away, it was annoying that this might make you pay 4x what you'd thought. Again, messing with something that worked fine because "some government bureaucrat wants to fiddle with something."

3) Who was on the coin: Susan B. Anthony. You think RWers are making a stink now about putting Harriet Tubman on the 20 in place of Andrew Jackson? You should have heard them going on about "liberals replacing George Washington with a feminist!"

[Orrex]

14. I love them! I print between 15 and 20 daily!