4 ms·

The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then but I think that they could have useful legal uses t

The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then but I think that they could have useful legal uses today considering all of the inflation that happened since 1969. The $500 now would be about like $75 in the 1960's.

Frost1x 7y ago
I'm trying to think of places that would want to accept $500 to $1000 notes when many places won't even accept a $50 or $100 and consider them "large bills." While I agree with your premise that inflation makes $500-1,000 notes practical from the standpoint of modern expenses, businesses I interact with tend to prefer a third party to verify payment (CC merchant, cashiers check, etc.). Cash is dying and although I love convenience, I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing.
- jimmaswell 7y ago
  Cash will continue to be #1 for Craigslist/yard sale-type transactions for a long time I'd say.
  - Frost1x 7y ago
    Would you accept a $1000 or even $500 note from a craigslist transaction? I'm usually pretty hesitant to accept anything over a $20 or even deal in cash for small exchanges. I wouldn't even consider $500 unless I had a way to strongly guarentee the bill I'm looking at isn't fake. It would take a bit of time and research before I felt confident enough at identifying these bills to accept them in a trade. I'd have to do a lot of those sort of peer transactions to warrant the overhead of that time.
    - wolfgke 7y ago
      > It would take a bit of time and research before I felt confident enough at identifying these bills to accept them in a trade. If such bills were in common use, nearly everybody would know and be aware of the usual security features. So, this is only a problem because such large bills are so rare.
      - munk-a 7y ago
        Except that such bills don't see a naturally high amount of use - it's still legal to use them for a bunch of purposes, they're just inconvenient for nearly all uses... Your statement applies better to not-currently circulating modest denominations, like two dollar bills.
    - werber 7y ago
      Meet at a bank, works for me
    - lallysingh 7y ago
      Probably 5 minutes on YouTube and a special pen from Amazon
    - leetcrew 7y ago
      unless it's just a one-off purchase, I feel like a much better strategy would be to pay in $20's and have a fraction of them be fake. if someone paid me with a (hypothetical) $500 bill, I damn sure take at least a minute to hold it up to the light and look for security features. they paid me with 25 $20 notes, I would probably just count them and call it a day. if 10-20% of them were fake, I might not realize until I tried to deposit them.
      - orthoxerox 7y ago
        I think it depends on the cost of counterfeiting a single note. All the security features must add up, and I won't be surprised if the cost, unless you're printing literally industrial quantities, makes fake $20 bills unprofitable to make.
    - jimmaswell 7y ago
      Most of the times I've had to use $100 bills at real stores even they didn't check the security features or use a pen. Something like $500 would warrant more checking.
  - dalyons 7y ago
    Eh last few times I’ve done this I used venmo, works great with strangers too
  - leosarev 7y ago
    Why won't use something like Visa Money Transfer?
    - throwawaycanada 7y ago
      Because unless you want to read someones multi-page terms and conditions you can never know whether they can claw the money back.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  I'm trying to think of places that would want to accept $500 to $1000 notes when many places won't even accept a $50 or $100 and consider them "large bills." Landlords, for one. I'm in the process of leasing a new apartment and I am required to pay some of the fees with a debit card, and some with a cashier's check. It would be easier to just hand them a few large bills and be done with it. Cash is dying and although I love convenience, I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing. I try to use cash as much as I can. I also have active checking and savings accounts simply because I don't want to have a single point of failure.
  - Frost1x 7y ago
    Landlords typically don't accept cash for a variety of reasons. One is fraud but the other main issue is security for holding/transferring that cash and fact they have predictable schedules they'd have cash on hand. I estimate the building I'm renting from right now would have anywhere between $650-750k or more revenue per month, most of which probably arrives in a one week or less window. That makes them a target for all sorts of potential thefts: employees, residents, burglars. I've rented at many places and I've never once encountered a landlord that accepted or wanted to accept cash over secure electronic transfer methods, even for minor expenses like a consumer credit report check.
    - lotsofpulp 7y ago
      As a landlord, I would want a paper trail of all payments and interactions with a tenant due to the numerous landlord-tenant laws.
reaperducer 7y ago
The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then I seem to remember in that era they were useful for some people. My mother worked for a bank in Manhattan and on paydays she would take her check downstairs and cash it, come home with the money in her bra, and then deposit it in our local bank. Why she didn't just deposit her check, I can't say. Maybe she didn't trust the bank she worked for. Or maybe cash cleared faster than a deposited check.
- fludlight 7y ago
  Maybe she was avoiding having all of her eggs in one basket. If your employer fails you lose your income. If your employer holds your life savings you might lose that, too. These days we have reliable, trusted deposit insurance, but that didn't exist until the 1930s. People didn't really trust it until a few decades later.
  - nkrisc 7y ago
    I think they meant why she didn't cash her paycheck directly with her bank, as oppose to cashing out it and then depositing the cash with her bank anyway.
- yardie 7y ago
  If she cashed it at the issuing bank the money is ready. Is she deposits it at her bank it will be ready in 3-5 business days. ACH transfers take time. Cash deposits do not. If she got paid on a Friday it might be 5 days before she would be able to withdraw. I used to cash my paychecks at a check cashing store for the same reason. Even though they took a small fee the convenience of having money for the weekend was worth it.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Banks were a lot harder to deal with. They closed at 3 and were shuttered for the weekend.
veselin 7y ago
Switzerland is probably the exception, but 200CHF bills are accepted without problems at most places (1 CHF is roughly 1 USD). There are also the less frequently used 1000CHF bills. I don't remember problems buying stuff with them s well, e.g. at supermarkets, once I bough stuff from IKEA with one such bill.
- toper-centage 7y ago
  1chf is about 1 euro but things cost 5 times more in Switzerland than in the surrounding countries.
refurb 7y ago
Canada had the $1000 bill as late as the 90’s. I was working as a cashier and a Japanese tourist came in and asked if could split it up for him. It would have emptied my register, so I politely declined. Only time I ever saw one in person.
throwawaycanada 7y ago
We had 1000's well into the 90's in Canada. I got to hold one as a kid. Apparently 98% of them have fallen into mafia hands somehow which I find hilarious given our history. Especially since they can't get them back, want them back, and if used they have to be honoured. It must drive certain people crazy.

Frost1x 7y ago

I'm trying to think of places that would want to accept $500 to $1000 notes when many places won't even accept a $50 or $100 and consider them "large bills." While I agree with your premise that inflation makes $500-1,000 notes practical from the standpoint of modern expenses, businesses I interact with tend to prefer a third party to verify payment (CC merchant, cashiers check, etc.). Cash is dying and although I love convenience, I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing.

jimmaswell 7y ago
Cash will continue to be #1 for Craigslist/yard sale-type transactions for a long time I'd say.
- Frost1x 7y ago
  Would you accept a $1000 or even $500 note from a craigslist transaction? I'm usually pretty hesitant to accept anything over a $20 or even deal in cash for small exchanges. I wouldn't even consider $500 unless I had a way to strongly guarentee the bill I'm looking at isn't fake. It would take a bit of time and research before I felt confident enough at identifying these bills to accept them in a trade. I'd have to do a lot of those sort of peer transactions to warrant the overhead of that time.
  - wolfgke 7y ago
    > It would take a bit of time and research before I felt confident enough at identifying these bills to accept them in a trade. If such bills were in common use, nearly everybody would know and be aware of the usual security features. So, this is only a problem because such large bills are so rare.
    - munk-a 7y ago
      Except that such bills don't see a naturally high amount of use - it's still legal to use them for a bunch of purposes, they're just inconvenient for nearly all uses... Your statement applies better to not-currently circulating modest denominations, like two dollar bills.
  - werber 7y ago
    Meet at a bank, works for me
  - lallysingh 7y ago
    Probably 5 minutes on YouTube and a special pen from Amazon
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    unless it's just a one-off purchase, I feel like a much better strategy would be to pay in $20's and have a fraction of them be fake. if someone paid me with a (hypothetical) $500 bill, I damn sure take at least a minute to hold it up to the light and look for security features. they paid me with 25 $20 notes, I would probably just count them and call it a day. if 10-20% of them were fake, I might not realize until I tried to deposit them.
    - orthoxerox 7y ago
      I think it depends on the cost of counterfeiting a single note. All the security features must add up, and I won't be surprised if the cost, unless you're printing literally industrial quantities, makes fake $20 bills unprofitable to make.
  - jimmaswell 7y ago
    Most of the times I've had to use $100 bills at real stores even they didn't check the security features or use a pen. Something like $500 would warrant more checking.
- dalyons 7y ago
  Eh last few times I’ve done this I used venmo, works great with strangers too
- leosarev 7y ago
  Why won't use something like Visa Money Transfer?
  - throwawaycanada 7y ago
    Because unless you want to read someones multi-page terms and conditions you can never know whether they can claw the money back.
reaperducer 7y ago
I'm trying to think of places that would want to accept $500 to $1000 notes when many places won't even accept a $50 or $100 and consider them "large bills." Landlords, for one. I'm in the process of leasing a new apartment and I am required to pay some of the fees with a debit card, and some with a cashier's check. It would be easier to just hand them a few large bills and be done with it. Cash is dying and although I love convenience, I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing. I try to use cash as much as I can. I also have active checking and savings accounts simply because I don't want to have a single point of failure.
- Frost1x 7y ago
  Landlords typically don't accept cash for a variety of reasons. One is fraud but the other main issue is security for holding/transferring that cash and fact they have predictable schedules they'd have cash on hand. I estimate the building I'm renting from right now would have anywhere between $650-750k or more revenue per month, most of which probably arrives in a one week or less window. That makes them a target for all sorts of potential thefts: employees, residents, burglars. I've rented at many places and I've never once encountered a landlord that accepted or wanted to accept cash over secure electronic transfer methods, even for minor expenses like a consumer credit report check.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    As a landlord, I would want a paper trail of all payments and interactions with a tenant due to the numerous landlord-tenant laws.

reaperducer 7y ago

The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then I seem to remember in that era they were useful for some people. My mother worked for a bank in Manhattan and on paydays she would take her check downstairs and cash it, come home with the money in her bra, and then deposit it in our local bank. Why she didn't just deposit her check, I can't say. Maybe she didn't trust the bank she worked for. Or maybe cash cleared faster than a deposited check.

fludlight 7y ago
Maybe she was avoiding having all of her eggs in one basket. If your employer fails you lose your income. If your employer holds your life savings you might lose that, too. These days we have reliable, trusted deposit insurance, but that didn't exist until the 1930s. People didn't really trust it until a few decades later.
- nkrisc 7y ago
  I think they meant why she didn't cash her paycheck directly with her bank, as oppose to cashing out it and then depositing the cash with her bank anyway.
yardie 7y ago
If she cashed it at the issuing bank the money is ready. Is she deposits it at her bank it will be ready in 3-5 business days. ACH transfers take time. Cash deposits do not. If she got paid on a Friday it might be 5 days before she would be able to withdraw. I used to cash my paychecks at a check cashing store for the same reason. Even though they took a small fee the convenience of having money for the weekend was worth it.
Spooky23 7y ago
Banks were a lot harder to deal with. They closed at 3 and were shuttered for the weekend.

veselin 7y ago

Switzerland is probably the exception, but 200CHF bills are accepted without problems at most places (1 CHF is roughly 1 USD). There are also the less frequently used 1000CHF bills. I don't remember problems buying stuff with them s well, e.g. at supermarkets, once I bough stuff from IKEA with one such bill.

toper-centage 7y ago
1chf is about 1 euro but things cost 5 times more in Switzerland than in the surrounding countries.

refurb 7y ago

Canada had the $1000 bill as late as the 90’s. I was working as a cashier and a Japanese tourist came in and asked if could split it up for him. It would have emptied my register, so I politely declined. Only time I ever saw one in person.

throwawaycanada 7y ago

We had 1000's well into the 90's in Canada. I got to hold one as a kid. Apparently 98% of them have fallen into mafia hands somehow which I find hilarious given our history. Especially since they can't get them back, want them back, and if used they have to be honoured. It must drive certain people crazy.