Aren't $2 Bills Unlucky Like $50s?

I read today's QoD about $50 bills being unlucky. I've heard the same about $2 bills. Do you have any more info about that?

And

Not really a question, but I wish you had mentioned the infamous $2 bill. They're still around. Have you seen one lately? The bill receptors on the machines won’t take them.

The $2 bill has had its up and downs through its history.

Congress first authorized its production in 1862, with Thomas Jefferson the featured front image. It was printed for 104 years, then discontinued in 1966 due to low use. But it was reissued in 1975; the U.S. Treasury estimated that if the $2 bill replaced half the $1 bills in circulation, the feds could save millions in printing, storage, and shipping costs. That projection fell far short of the reality, which was that the $2 remained as unpopular as ever.

The bill hit its nadir during the Depression, a period of dramatic deflation when staples and other goods cost less than a dollar, rendering the $2 bill unworkable in a lot of cases.

During that time, the government and media resorted to stunts and tricks to help it catch on. One even had a gambling aspect: Several newspapers joined in a contest in which prizes were awarded to the possessors of $2 bills with certain serial numbers. When the Post Office deemed it a lottery, the promotion quickly disappeared.

Since the reissue in 1976, there have been nine separate printings of the “deuce” (or the “Tom,” as they used to be called), but mostly as an afterthought. Our research shows that in the 2014 printing, nearly 2.5 billion singles were printed, 1.3 billion $100 bills entered circulation, and only 32 million $2 bills came into being.

So in general, the $2 bill has been an anomaly. Perhaps that’s why a lot of stories have grown up around it being unlucky.

One almost-certainly apocryphal tale has to do with the reputed $2 charge for a “session” with a prostitute. Thus, if either a man or woman was in possession of one, it meant that some consorting had been going on. We know. Ridiculous.

Another is the usual election rigging with payoffs in $2 bills. So if you had a $2 bill in your hands, it proved you’d sold your vote. We know. Absurd.

A similar one had to do with horse racing. Apparently, the standard bet was $2 and winnings were paid off in $2 bills. So that bill showed you’d been playing the ponies (at a time when gambling was a sin). We know. Patently false.

In the end, the reasons we uncovered that the $2 bill is unlucky are so unbelievable that like most, if not all, superstitions, it’s built on a house of cards.

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Donzack Apr-23-2022

Tips

I get a stack of new two dollar bills at Chase bank. Many casino workers get regular one dollar tips and the deuce always rings a bell with them. I’ve given five dollar tips with no reaction but a deuce, especially a new one, always gets attention. Give have as much and get twice better service.

Dave_Miller_DJTB Apr-23-2022

Strip Club

Several years ago, I found a $2 bill in general circulation. It had a rubber stamp advertising a strip club. It was a few hundred miles away, so although very cheap advertising, it was rather ineffective, on me anyway.

But all I could think about was if I actually went to that club. If I paid for my overpriced beer with a $20 bill, I'd get half as many $2 bills as I would have gotten elsewhere in singles with which to tip the ladies.

That's good for the first few ladies, not so much for someone who likes to stretch their dollar and/or spread it around.

Jeffrey Small Apr-23-2022

Tip Money

I carry $2 bills to use for tip money.  You can order them at your bank.  When I give them as tips people seem to think they are worth more than $2!  Occasionally, when I spend one the salesperson will have to go to their supervisor and ask "do we accept $2 bills"?  Once a salesperson would not accept the bill for payment accusing me of printing it myself!  (If I could print a bill why would it only be $2??)

Randall Ward Apr-23-2022

$2 bills

tear the corner off and let the bad luck out is what we were told. I remember a promo at Post Office where they gave them out, like they tried with the $1 coins.  Most of them are probably in jars or safe deposit boxes

Kenneth Mytinger Apr-23-2022

Hank Williams

... from his song "Hey, Good Lookin'"

I got a hot rod Ford, and a two dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill
There's soda pop and the dancing's free
So if you wanna have fun, come along with me

Complete song lyrics here:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hankwilliams/heygoodlookin.html

Dave_Miller_DJTB Apr-23-2022

Cash Register drawers

Another reason $2 bills are unpopular is due to cash drawer design.

Most have 4 slots for bills and 4 cups for coins.

Since the 4 bill slots are already used for $20, $10, $5, and $1, the only way $2 bills wii get a slot is if....

The penny is eliminated so the other coins can move over, making room for the $1 coin. Then eliminate the $1 bill making room for the $2 bill.

Of course, if that ever happens, inflation will dictate that the $500 bill will be revived, and the extra space in the cash drawer will be used for $100 bills. 

The $2 and $50 bills are still out of luck.

Roger Gallizzi Apr-23-2022

$2 Bills

I get them at the bank all the time.  They come in $200 bundles.  Sometimes they are newly printed.  I use them at all the Casinos to tip for drinks.  All the casino workers I know like them (it's better than the $1 or less they usually get) and they remember you for it.  Also for tipping bellman $2 per bag.

Jackie Apr-23-2022

Re: Cash register drawers

All cash register drawers sit in a cradle and not on the bottom of a drawer.
When a bill or coin is used to pay that does not have a dedicated space, it gets tossed under the drawer.
Older cash registers used to have a long slot at the back of the bill slots for the same purpose.

To me, the main reason for the dislike of the two dollar bills was simply the fact that when cash registers got closed out for the business day and the clerk or even supervisor could not discover a loss in balance of two dollars was the often stick of a two dollar bill to the bottom of the drawer.

Gregory Apr-23-2022

Drink tips...

The TDB perfectly fits the bill for drink tipping.  A buck seems cheap-skate to me.  $5 seems over the top.  Downtown they really only expect a buck.  I've actually been asked if I wanted change back when tipping with a TDB.  The waitresses always seem to give an extra enthusiastic thank you when they get them.

Gregory Apr-23-2022

and one more thing...

They are hard to come by.  I live in a smallish town (15k).  We have at least 8 banks.  US Bank and Wells Fargo both have branches here.  USB only had "a few" while WF "barely" had 50 which should be more than enough to cover my next trip to sin town.

Doozey Apr-23-2022

military pay

as the story goes a military base was unpopular with the nearby town until the base commander paid all salaries and bills in        $2 bills which appeared everywhere, even church collection boxes and bank deposits from every business in town

rokgpsman Apr-23-2022

$2 memories

A few days after my father passed away my mother told me to stop by her house. When I got there she had Dad's old leather billfold on the kitchen table. She opened it and pulled put a worn and folded $2 bill from a side pocket. She had me look at the date on the bill, it was the same year I was born. She told me Dad had gone to the bank the week I was born and got a new $2 bill and he carried that bill in his billfold all his life. She said there were times he didn't have enough money for a meal or cup of coffee when traveling by Trailways bus to work out of state, but he never spent that $2 bill. I've got it framed and hanging in my house, it's very special to me, worth a lot more than $2.

Roy Furukawa Apr-23-2022

@Gregory

Banks can order $2 bills ahead of time, but the caveat is if you ask you have to “buy” enough of them so they’re not stuck with a bunch of extras.

Question of the Day - 23 April 2022

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