I used to know a guy that would go to the local bank and specifically ask for $2 bills because he loved watching people's expression when he paid for things with them.
We use them all the time where I work (as part of a marketing campaign). We get them right from the bank - either by special order, or they always have them at Christmas time. 99% of them are uncirculated cuz no one ever actually spends them. I know someone that tried to use a $2 in Mexico & they thought it was monopoly money LOL!
I love getting $2 bills! You can go to the bank and request them. And they are always crispy because no one ever spends them! We hoard them, so they have to keep making new ones!
I go to the bank and ask for them sometimes. I love seeing people's reactions to them. Especially when they have no idea what they are or don't know where to put them in their cash drawer.
I also get a kick out of the people who receive them and then want to hold onto them because they think they'll be worth lots of money some day. Nope, they'll still just be worth $2.
Assuming they don't stop printing them. Most people believe they don't make them anymore, like Silver Certificates, which sell for significantly more than their face value.
now,I am not in USA, I am in one of the european country - Moldova, but I also have some bills of $ 2, my sister was in America and bring me this special present.
The one $2 bill I remember receiving as a kid wasn't from my grandma, but it was from my grandma's friend that we ran into at the thrift store...so kind of close!
My grandmother goes to the bank and requests them. A couple Christmases ago, she gave all the grandkids fifty $2 bills. Which we then took straight back to the bank lol
They stash them in their furniture and pull them out for birthdays and holidays.
I know. I used to move furniture for a company that cleaned out houses of older people that have moved on in one way or another. We were ALWAYS finding them, taped to the bottom of recliners, end tables, between mattresses...
I used to be in the marching band at Clemson. Before an away game or a bowl game, some of the boosters would trade in hundreds for $2, stamp them with an orange tiger paw, and then trade them with US and with fans for our money. The theory was that local merchants would see how much money we brought to their town. We would get bowl bids even if we didn't do well that season because they could see how much business we brought them.
Im no grandma, but I really want them-I've never heard of them. Sadly, I'm always excited to get the golden dollars from the Post office stamp machine-Im so sad :)
I used to work in valet/bell services at a resort hotel and I remember having a guest there who would get a bunch of $2 bills from the bank right before his trip so he could have them as tips for the valets and bellmen.
You can also ask them for a stack of dollars ($20?) that haven't been separated. They come like a pad of paper... cardboard backing with red wax on the top. Grandma sent those for our birthday. If you want to freak out the cashiers, that's what you should get! When they see you tearing them off, they freak out... "Are those real?" Duh!
my nana always gives me two dollar bills! and she always says "you should save this never spend it" so now i probably have 100 dollars in 2 dollar bills.
Two dollar bills magically come to us. I do give them to my Grandchildren. Some of them I save. Oh and Brian..we don't poop them! Shame on you...now go to your room! ;-)
The $2 note shouldn't be restricted to just grandmas. I ask for them everywhere and try to use them. The design of the note hasn't changed since 1976, so it doesn't look like the crazy new $5, $10, $20, and $100 notes.
Some Banks give you one 2 dollar bill for you birthday. Seeing as the general age for gma's is somewhere in their sixties they could have around sixty two dollar bills with there cute little grandson's name on it.
haha! one of my aunts used to send my sister and i a crisp, new $2 every year on our birthday! i still have all of them in a piggy bank somewhere. she was convinced they'd be worth a fortune someday. maybe they will. who knows, but this makes me feel better 'cause i thought we were the only strange family! :o)
Random question ... Is that a scan of the actual $2 bill? My scanner will not scan money .. I tried once, and it told me it was illegal. (i'm completely serious).. HP doesn't play.
I know what you mean!! I had one [I might still, but it is hidden somewhere] that I kept stuck to my bulletin board and it was a very holey $2 bill after so long.
They go to the bank to get them. Then the grandkids (or whoever) bring them back to the bank to exchange them for other denominations. The same thing with dollar coins (new and old) and half-dollar coins (the huge Ike halves and the smaller Kennedy halves).
The strange thing is that they are legal tender, but no one wants to carry them around to actually purchase things with them. The majority either "collects" them or they eventually turn them into the bank to exchange for other currency.
I'm the treasurer of the PTA at my kids school. Yesterday I was counting money for a fundraiser and someone paid for their crap with $14 in two dollar bills. Somewhere in my town there is one pissed off gramma.
You know, my Grandma gave me a bunch of those $2 bills and told me to put them in the safety deposit box--apparently they will be of greater value some day. Probably just $2.01! Those bills are weird, though.
Don't you just love crazy money. I have several $2 bills from my grandparents. My grandpa also gave me a silver dollar each year on my birthday until I was 18. I still have them.
The only place I've actually seen $2 bills in real life (other than said cards from Grandma) was when I got dragged to the dog races. Apparently they're popular at the tracks- which raises some questions about Grandma's hobbies.
My grandmother never gave me one, my dad did. I eventually wound up having to spend it, unless I've got it pressed between the pages of a journal or a photo album somewhere and forgot about it. I wasn't sure they still made them, I hardly see them anymore.
I'm not sure where grandmothers get them from, but our local bank gives them out to the kids as "birthday money." It's so funny how in my area they still think $2 is a big deal. :) It's probably just the novelty of the bill though.
Have a great day! (Glad I came across your blog.) :)
This post made my day! I did not know that other grandmas did that! My Mom always gets them for the kids, and I never let them spend them because I heard it is bad luck!! :) When she lived in Germany she would send the elusive 5 DM bill to them too! Now I am glad that I saved those.
Well, it's the grandma's secret conspiracy.. ;) Seriously, grandma's latch on to these novelties, my father's mother, latched onto the Kennedy dollar coin, and saved it to give to us grandchildren when we would be old enough to not rush out and spend it on comics and treats. She was also a big collector of pennies, and gave me an official collection of pennies, one for each year, going back 50 or so years, in these blue booklets from the US mint, when I was 6. My husband's mother latched on to the 2 dollar bills, and the Susan B. Anthony coins, sure they would be a "collector's item", and gave several of each to her only grandchild, my daughter.
I don't know, but I did start collecting Susan B. Anthony dollars before my kid was born so she'd have something cool from the tooth fairy.
Clarifying, I was collecting them FOR the tooth fairy to give out. Kids, I'm not saying I was doing the tooth fairy's job. Maybe I should move on to collecting $2 bills for when I'm finally a grandparent...
My Grandma used to ask for $2 bills at the bank, too. I don't think she used them for anything other than putting in birthday cards. It's a fun memory; I miss my Grandma. Thanks for reminding me about $2 bills.
i heard that if you leave your dentures underneath your pillow at night, the tooth fairy gives them a good cleaning and leaves a $2 bill to boot. now THAT's an Early Bird Special i can do the charleston to! hazah!
I just found two $2 bills from my grandma a few days ago. As I type they are sitting here on my desk! Where DO they come from? And I feel like it would be taboo to spend them...so here they sit...
I used to work at a convenience store that was a local chain. Every drawer had one $2 bill in it and you weren't allowed to ever give it out as change. It was there in case you got robbed. They had records of all the serial numbers for the $2's and so if you were held up you were to make sure you gave that bill to the robber with the rest and if he was ever caught it would be further evidence against him. Luckily I never had to give out the $2 bill!
I used to know a guy that would go to the local bank and specifically ask for $2 bills because he loved watching people's expression when he paid for things with them.
ReplyDeleteThey poop them out.
ReplyDeleteYou feed Grandmas petit fours and chicken noodle soup and out comes a $2 bill.
From First Citywide ... the exact change bank on SNL.
ReplyDeleteAnd the bills grandma sends are ALWAYS crispy.
ReplyDeletewe get them because we think our kids will love them. That's what mom's and grandma's do. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy dad loves to ask the bank for $2 bills. He really likes using them for tips, such as valet.
ReplyDeleteThere was a video store near my house that ONLY gave change in 2-dollar-bills, and Kennedy half-dollar coins...
ReplyDeleteWe use them all the time where I work (as part of a marketing campaign). We get them right from the bank - either by special order, or they always have them at Christmas time. 99% of them are uncirculated cuz no one ever actually spends them. I know someone that tried to use a $2 in Mexico & they thought it was monopoly money LOL!
ReplyDeleteI love getting $2 bills! You can go to the bank and request them. And they are always crispy because no one ever spends them! We hoard them, so they have to keep making new ones!
ReplyDeleteI go to the bank and ask for them sometimes. I love seeing people's reactions to them. Especially when they have no idea what they are or don't know where to put them in their cash drawer.
ReplyDeleteI also get a kick out of the people who receive them and then want to hold onto them because they think they'll be worth lots of money some day. Nope, they'll still just be worth $2.
Reminds me of the fabled "Taco Bell $2 bill story"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/business/money/tacobell.asp
My grandma was a waitress and she got hers as tips, usually. She had a whole bunch of them framed because she thought it was bad luck to spend them!
ReplyDeleteI always carry a 2$ bill around in my wallet/money clip/wad of rubber banded disorganized mess.
ReplyDeleteWhen it gets tattered, I trade it in at the bar for a crisper one. The bartender knows my gig. She's hip.
They have them under their mattresses.
ReplyDelete"Nope, they'll still just be worth $2."
ReplyDeleteAssuming they don't stop printing them. Most people believe they don't make them anymore, like Silver Certificates, which sell for significantly more than their face value.
from under the mattress
ReplyDeleteMy grams would go to the bank and ask for them special. I think they have a full time person at banks to deal with Grammies. :-)
ReplyDeletenow,I am not in USA, I am in one of the european country - Moldova, but I also have some bills of $ 2, my sister was in America and bring me this special present.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW!!! They always have one to put in your birthday card
ReplyDeleteIt's like you read my mind. I think they come in Dentu Cream boxes as a prize, like in Cracker Jacks, or something.
ReplyDeleteThe one $2 bill I remember receiving as a kid wasn't from my grandma, but it was from my grandma's friend that we ran into at the thrift store...so kind of close!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother goes to the bank and requests them. A couple Christmases ago, she gave all the grandkids fifty $2 bills. Which we then took straight back to the bank lol
ReplyDeleteThe real question is, how do I get a gramma who still WANTS to give me $2 bills!
ReplyDelete: ) P
Disneyland also gives quite a bit of change in $2 bills at the ticket booths (although who uses cash anymore there at the prices they charge?)
ReplyDeleteHere in Canada? :0)
ReplyDeleteOf course now it's a 'toonie'.
Maybe they get them from Steve Wozniak :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html
I'll swap you a £3 note for your $2 bill...
ReplyDeleteI wish we still had ours here in Canada...they were pink! But now we have Loonies and Toonies, so it all works out I guess.
ReplyDeleteThey stash them in their furniture and pull them out for birthdays and holidays.
ReplyDeleteI know. I used to move furniture for a company that cleaned out houses of older people that have moved on in one way or another. We were ALWAYS finding them, taped to the bottom of recliners, end tables, between mattresses...
Around here, the only 2-dollar bills you come across made their way into people's pockets via the strip clubs.
ReplyDeleteI know! My grandma would give one to all of us grandchildren every year for our birthday.
ReplyDeleteI used to be in the marching band at Clemson. Before an away game or a bowl game, some of the boosters would trade in hundreds for $2, stamp them with an orange tiger paw, and then trade them with US and with fans for our money. The theory was that local merchants would see how much money we brought to their town. We would get bowl bids even if we didn't do well that season because they could see how much business we brought them.
ReplyDeleteMonticello, in Virginia. The admission fee is $18, so they can give a $2 in change to all those people who pay with twenties.
ReplyDeleteGuess why.
Im no grandma, but I really want them-I've never heard of them. Sadly, I'm always excited to get the golden dollars from the Post office stamp machine-Im so sad :)
ReplyDeleteI used to work in valet/bell services at a resort hotel and I remember having a guest there who would get a bunch of $2 bills from the bank right before his trip so he could have them as tips for the valets and bellmen.
ReplyDeletea giftshop I worked at in Ketchikan, AK used them as change.. they said the cruiseship tourists would remember their time at the store with the $2.
ReplyDeleteI just kinda find them annoying.. Like Susan B's I like them but they are a hassle to spend.
Ask the bank.
ReplyDeleteYou can also ask them for a stack of dollars ($20?) that haven't been separated. They come like a pad of paper... cardboard backing with red wax on the top. Grandma sent those for our birthday. If you want to freak out the cashiers, that's what you should get! When they see you tearing them off, they freak out... "Are those real?" Duh!
Ha! And grandpapas too. My boys always get a $2 from their Grandpapa. $2 bills and state quarters.
ReplyDeleteIt's illegal to scan images of money.
ReplyDelete*finger-shake*
My grandma gave us $2 bills as well. Do we have the same grandma??
ReplyDelete...Come to think of it, my grandmother's maiden name was Garcia. Hmmm. Weird.
Seriously though. I think they grow on trees in grandma-yards. Gotta get me one of those trees!
A few years ago we were eating in a restaurant when a biker looking dude came by and handed out $2 bills to the kids.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if he was being sweet or predatory. Most likely the former, since he was with his wife (I presume).
my nana always gives me two dollar bills!
ReplyDeleteand she always says "you should save this never spend it"
so now i probably have 100 dollars in 2 dollar bills.
Two dollar bills magically come to us. I do give them to my Grandchildren. Some of them I save. Oh and Brian..we don't poop them! Shame on you...now go to your room! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOkay...I thought I should tell the truth. We DO have a 2 dollar Bill tree. All Grandparents do. You just have to give it tender loving care!
ReplyDeleteThe $2 note shouldn't be restricted to just grandmas. I ask for them everywhere and try to use them. The design of the note hasn't changed since 1976, so it doesn't look like the crazy new $5, $10, $20, and $100 notes.
ReplyDeleteSome Banks give you one 2 dollar bill for you birthday.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as the general age for gma's is somewhere in their sixties they could have around sixty two dollar bills with there cute little grandson's name on it.
haha! one of my aunts used to send my sister and i a crisp, new $2 every year on our birthday! i still have all of them in a piggy bank somewhere. she was convinced they'd be worth a fortune someday. maybe they will. who knows, but this makes me feel better 'cause i thought we were the only strange family! :o)
ReplyDeleteOh, my god, that's funny--my grandmother used to make "money trees" for us for Christmas, loaded with twos!
ReplyDeleteThey print them on their computers?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has two in the basement. Not sure why.
ReplyDeleteOur kids get them in their stocking from great granzy every single year. I can't imagine going IN to a bank these yets, yet alone to get $2 bills.
ReplyDeleteRandom question ... Is that a scan of the actual $2 bill? My scanner will not scan money .. I tried once, and it told me it was illegal. (i'm completely serious)..
ReplyDeleteHP doesn't play.
Jorge, they came out around the bicentennial. I was little kid, and my folks got me one and a set of coins, which is how I remember it.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean!! I had one [I might still, but it is hidden somewhere] that I kept stuck to my bulletin board and it was a very holey $2 bill after so long.
ReplyDeleteso it's not just my grandma?! i thought she was so original!!
ReplyDeleteIt's like Jennifer said...
ReplyDeleteThey go to the bank to get them. Then the grandkids (or whoever) bring them back to the bank to exchange them for other denominations. The same thing with dollar coins (new and old) and half-dollar coins (the huge Ike halves and the smaller Kennedy halves).
The strange thing is that they are legal tender, but no one wants to carry them around to actually purchase things with them. The majority either "collects" them or they eventually turn them into the bank to exchange for other currency.
I'm the treasurer of the PTA at my kids school. Yesterday I was counting money for a fundraiser and someone paid for their crap with $14 in two dollar bills. Somewhere in my town there is one pissed off gramma.
ReplyDeleteword on the street is that $2 bills are good luck! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, my Grandma gave me a bunch of those $2 bills and told me to put them in the safety deposit box--apparently they will be of greater value some day. Probably just $2.01! Those bills are weird, though.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love crazy money. I have several $2 bills from my grandparents. My grandpa also gave me a silver dollar each year on my birthday until I was 18. I still have them.
ReplyDeleteHa, that's right on.
ReplyDeleteThe only place I've actually seen $2 bills in real life (other than said cards from Grandma) was when I got dragged to the dog races. Apparently they're popular at the tracks- which raises some questions about Grandma's hobbies.
My grandmother never gave me one, my dad did. I eventually wound up having to spend it, unless I've got it pressed between the pages of a journal or a photo album somewhere and forgot about it. I wasn't sure they still made them, I hardly see them anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where grandmothers get them from, but our local bank gives them out to the kids as "birthday money." It's so funny how in my area they still think $2 is a big deal. :) It's probably just the novelty of the bill though.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day! (Glad I came across your blog.) :)
Sarah
This post made my day! I did not know that other grandmas did that! My Mom always gets them for the kids, and I never let them spend them because I heard it is bad luck!! :) When she lived in Germany she would send the elusive 5 DM bill to them too! Now I am glad that I saved those.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's the grandma's secret conspiracy.. ;) Seriously, grandma's latch on to these novelties, my father's mother, latched onto the Kennedy dollar coin, and saved it to give to us grandchildren when we would be old enough to not rush out and spend it on comics and treats. She was also a big collector of pennies, and gave me an official collection of pennies, one for each year, going back 50 or so years, in these blue booklets from the US mint, when I was 6. My husband's mother latched on to the 2 dollar bills, and the Susan B. Anthony coins, sure they would be a "collector's item", and gave several of each to her only grandchild, my daughter.
ReplyDeleteThey're all in a coffee can under her floorboards.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW! My grandma gave us a sack full of them when our son was born. I swear there are a hundred in there.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they still made two dollar bills... Go Grandma! SHE ROCKS!
ReplyDeleteThey are bank robbers of course! Probably back in the 60's. I'm certain my nana was...
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but I did start collecting Susan B. Anthony dollars before my kid was born so she'd have something cool from the tooth fairy.
ReplyDeleteClarifying, I was collecting them FOR the tooth fairy to give out. Kids, I'm not saying I was doing the tooth fairy's job. Maybe I should move on to collecting $2 bills for when I'm finally a grandparent...
That's what I'd like to know!
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering that too; my Mom sends them to my kids all the time....
ReplyDeleteIf the bills aren't crispy, you can iron them. That's what we told people to do when they wanted money for gifts and we didn't have crispy on hand.
ReplyDeleteEvery one of them originated at the San Diego Wild Animal Park Snow cone kiosks back in the 80s as change.
ReplyDeleteWell, in this area, $2 bills are used to tip strippers. Grandma may have a second job. =)
ReplyDeleteMy Grandma used to ask for $2 bills at the bank, too. I don't think she used them for anything other than putting in birthday cards. It's a fun memory; I miss my Grandma. Thanks for reminding me about $2 bills.
ReplyDeletei heard that if you leave your dentures underneath your pillow at night, the tooth fairy gives them a good cleaning and leaves a $2 bill to boot. now THAT's an Early Bird Special i can do the charleston to! hazah!
ReplyDeleteI know at Monticello in Charlottesville, VA, they give you change in $2 bills because they have a picture of good old TJ on them. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the crispiness, my grandparents would either get them straight from the bank, or my Grandma would iron them.
I just found two $2 bills from my grandma a few days ago. As I type they are sitting here on my desk! Where DO they come from? And I feel like it would be taboo to spend them...so here they sit...
ReplyDeleteMore than once, when I had too many of those $2 bills, I tried to spend some and the cashier told me "There's no such thing!"
ReplyDeleteNice.
I know, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought I was the last person in the world to actually own one. I display it proudly under a magnet on my fridge.
And...
Every time I get a babysitter for my kids, I'm afraid she's going to steal it.
I used to work at a convenience store that was a local chain. Every drawer had one $2 bill in it and you weren't allowed to ever give it out as change.
ReplyDeleteIt was there in case you got robbed. They had records of all the serial numbers for the $2's and so if you were held up you were to make sure you gave that bill to the robber with the rest and if he was ever caught it would be further evidence against him. Luckily I never had to give out the $2 bill!
From the bank! I use $2 bills exclusively. 'Tis fun!
ReplyDelete