Question of the Day - 24 April 2022

There's a €500 note (about $540) issued in the eurozone but although existing notes are legal tender they are not being reissued as it's thought that anything up to 90% of them were being used for nefarious purposes whereas here in the UK the highest denomination we get is £50 ($65) but even these aren't widely available and aren't even issued by ATMs. 

Governments essentially hate high denomination notes and given the move to cashless it's unlikely that larger denominations will be issued for the foreseeable future unless hyperinflation sets in. For instance, back in 2009 in Zimbabwe a 100 trillion dollar note was issued but it ended up being worth about 40 US cents but that was when inflation was running at a staggering 98% per day - yes per day (prices effectively doubled overnight) 

The USA should that a clue from Canada. D away with the one and two dollar paper bill and reissue the Sacagawea $ 1 coin as is and then issue a $2 coin looking like Canada's $2 coin (silver with the center being the same color as the Sacagawea coin.

The only people that would be against the idea would be the strippers. But they can wear a small box "pun intended, on a belt and shake their bootie to rattle the coins.

LOL,  being 80 , cash is KING ,  cannot imagine businesses refusing CASH. PROGRESS ? We got in free for a H.S. game , no cash accepted . 

Soon, it'll buy exactly one gallon of gas.

Sure there are many ways to conduct business electronically and paper money may disappear, but there will always be a need for some type of barter instrument (cash for example) for those times, needs, and things that can't be purchased otherwise.

India, Sweden, and China are about to discover to their discontent what fools they are.

Back before I started using casino credit I used to envy the European players I would see at the cages exchanging their €500 notes while I had to carry 5 times as many $100 bills.  I also wondered if given the effects of inflation since the $100 bill was first made the largest bill in circulation in 1969 that larger bills would soon be issued.  However, I read that the biggest issues were counterfeiting, since the larger bills tend to be the most targeted, and making  pure-cash criminal enterprises more difficult (harder to deal with cases and sacks of small bills than a few large denomination bills).

That said, limiting cash in my day-to-day life has happened organically.  Whereas I used to go to the ATM machine a couple of times a month it now happens once or twice a year.  The fact that I actually get paid not to use cash (I've literally collected thousands of dollars in cash rewards from my credit cards over the last decade) has certainly been an incentive to use less cash.

I think that there will always be a need for cash.  Certain transactions are "cash only"--can you see playing slot machines with your Visa card?  Probably a bad idea for someone who gambles too much... And, anything that may be illegal will always be done in cash.  However, as I said in a previous comment, with all of the computer power that is now available every time a $ 1,000 bill hits a bank it could be registered which would reduce the possibility that illegal activity could use the higher denominations.  And, if large bills are produced it would necessitate the production of more smaller denominations too.  How would you make change if someone decided to buy a Kit Kat bar with a $ 1000 bill?  Answer--"let me get the manager".

$100 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $740.99 today.

What $100 bouught in 1969 now costs around $783.  What $100 buys now in 1969 only cost $12.77.  You would think eventually a $500 or $1,000 bill would have to be issued but the government is so stubborn I doubt this will ever happen.

agree with vegasmatt26 but not the dollar coin "as is": too close in feel to a quarter, which is biggest problem for sight-challenged. make is large like the loonie. we'd have to do it like canada in withdrawing dollar bills as they're brought to banks. do same with pennies as canada: withdraw as returned, round up or down at stores, etc. too bad it'll never happen

Let’s go in the opposite direction.  Let’s get rid of the small change—for sure the penny and round up or down to the nearest nickel.  Or better yet in addition also get rid of the nickel and round everything up ton he nearest quarter.  Think of all the tanks and other military equipment that could be made from the medal generated.  

Drugs are a cash business - getting a kilo (2.3lbs) of coke, meth, etc  into the US is a lot easier than moving pallets and bushels of $100 bills out of the country. Making bills larger makes this an easier task. To clean and move the money the narcos will buy a semi—trailer (cash) load it with non traceable goods like canned tuna. Drive it to Mexico - extort the businesses to buy their canned tuna  - thus turning it back into cash. Then sell the once used semi-rig again changing it back to cash. The buyers want the US plates as it is easier to move migrants, drugs and other illicit materials back into the US so the big rigs go at a premium. 

Cashless was the best future to control this trade but Crypto changes all the rules and bypasses any controls on illicit funds.

Did the loss of SWIFT hurt Russia, it certainly adjusted how international companies transacted but moving Crpto in / out has enabled most of them to continue operations unabated. 

The government control is pretty scary.  No privacy.  I read that large drug deals are now done ink kilograms of $20's  As each bill weighs one gram the math is easy.  Maybe we need an NRA for cash and larger bills.  We do seem to give our freedom  away pretty easily.  I will avoid a political diatribe at this point... Too bad we can't force the government to use cash.  As a trillion in 20's would weigh, by my arithmetic 50 million Kilos.  Might slow down the crazy spending a bit.

I'm pretty sure you can buy €500 euro bills at most large banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, etc. People traveling overseas do this all the time. Then you take them with you to Vegas and cash them at the casino cashier cage like any other tourist they see. And for quite a while now you could get large value Travelers Checks from American Express, up to $1000 on each check. But there are fees involved with them and their use is diminishing.

I forgot to say, some of the larger Vegas casinos will exchange your euro bills into dollars at the current exchange rate free of charge, no fees. Caesars Rewards advertises this on their website. No doubt they do this in the hopes you'll spend the dollars at their resort. But it's still nice to get the exchange done for free.

Who would you like to see on the $500 bill? Ex. Bob Stupak ....

U.S. currency is the most widely used currency in the world and not just for legit businesses either. I think it's the most likely reason there will never be a higher denomination bill than the $100 bill.

So maybe I need to turn this in as a QOD. If I want to talke 3000-7000 cash to play in Vegas what is the best way. I assume Travelers Checks are no more. If you play at several properties what are my options

When accosted by panhandlers now, I simply say, “Sorry, I don’t carry cash anymore.”  🙂

There are some practical considerations I haven't seen mentioned yet. Some of us don't have smart-phones, and some of us don't have cars, so we have to walk to many places. During that walk, we could get mugged and/or robbed, and though that usually makes you think about losing cash, it's actually more of a bother if your wallet with a debit card or credit card gets stolen: you have to immediately cancel the card, and then you don't have a card for use until the replacement (with a new number) arrives. That can be seriously bad for you if you're on a trip and you get "stung" either in a casino or on a sidewalk. And doing all transactions via card makes for a headache when going over bank and credit-card statements. I don't want to have to use a card to buy a snack at a convenience store. And when I eat in restaurants, I always leave the tip in cash, because half the time when I designated a tip on a credit-card slip, it failed to go through, which affected both me & (worse) the server.

@AL
If you get mugged and they get your credit card, or if it's stolen in any other way federal law limits your financial liability to $50 maximum, even if the thief buys a new Porshe with your credit card. And many times the credit card company won't even charge you the $50 if you notify them promptly. Debit cards are different, you are responsible for all charges that happen up to the time you notify the issuer of the card that it was stolen, then the card is blocked. So I'd rather be walking around with a credit card in my pocket instead of a wad of cash. If the cash is stolen you've lost all of it, if the credit card is stolen the most you've lost is $50.