wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:42:31 +0100, wrote:

"Hugh Brodie" wrote in message
...
Speaking of hyper-inflation, it's fun looking at the website of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe http://www.rbz.co.zw to see the daily exchange
rate of the $Z vs the $US. Yesterday, it was 5,817,000,000; today it's
6,718,000,000. They have just issued $Z 50,000,000,000 notes ("bearer
cheques"). And it will cost you $Z 1,800,000,000 to mail a postcard to
the
US. http://www.zimpost.co.zw/postalrates.html

It's a shame that there are no images of currently circulating Zimbabwean
notes or coins.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4266.html
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/04/...urrencies.html
http://www.neatorama.com/category/money-finance/page/2/
The latter also has a 100,000 USD note.
http://stores.ebay.com.sg/Roberts-Wo...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Many thanks for that.

Wouldn't it be illegal to sell a 100,000-dollar note, however? They are not
intended for general circulation and I wonder if the relevant US authorities
would have something to say about that.

For starters, the US authorities have something to say about any cash
transaction larger than USD5,000, due to money laundering (and now
"terrorism") laws regardless of the size of the individual bills.

USD10,000 and 100,000 bills were only issued to the Federal Reserve
Banks as a way to transfer money between themselves (much easier than
shipping gold) and were not circulated _at all_. According to the
authorities, all were accounted for and all were destroyed except a few
that were lent (not given or sold) to museums. It is supposedly
impossible for a person to acquire a legitimate one legally, so if such
a bill were presented to a bank, the person would be arrested for either
counterfeiting or theft.

Now, if it turns out that any of those bills _did_ get into circulation
and had been hoarded for eight-plus decades without detection, a bank
would be required to accept it for deposit (the US never demonetizes old
currency or coins), but they could not give it out to another customer
for a withdrawal. They would send the bill to their Federal Reserve
Bank, which would undoubtedly destroy it immediately. That is exactly
what would happen to the remaining USD1000 bills that are out there, but
nobody sane would ever present them to a bank because they're worth more
as collectibles than as money, just like old silver and gold coins that
are now worth many times their face value.

This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2
bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers
upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but
they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want
that in hundreds or twenties?").

S

Hoard $50's?

Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the
machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20
dispensers are also available.

Nobody wrote:
This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2
bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers
upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but
they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want
that in hundreds or twenties?").

Hoard $50's?

Yes, same reason as $100 bills: retailers won't take them, so most
customers don't want them. It makes little sense since the same
retailers will happily take a thick stack of $20s, which can be just as
easily counterfeited, but that's how it is.

Another knock against the $50 bill is people don't see them often, since
they're relatively useless (people either have $100s or $20s), so
they're not comfortable with them. If people can't figure out if a
somewhat more common $100 bill is fake, they'll never be able to figure
it out for a less common $50 bill...

$2 bills have a worse problem, incidentally. Many people have never
seen one in their entire lives -- or even know they exist -- and they
look different than all the other bills. Many clerks won't take them
without checking with a manager; if the manager hasn't seen one before
(which is fairly rare -- they _are_ still in circulation), they may
refuse to accept it even though the potential loss from a counterfeit is
negligible.

Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the
machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20
dispensers are also available.

US ATMs generally only dispense $20 bills; it makes them simpler and
requires less refilling if there's only one bill type. There are still
a few that give out $5 and $10 bills as well, though they're rare. Ones
in casinos will give you $100 bills, since they accept them at the
tables and that's where they want you spending your money. I've never
seen a US ATM dispense $50 bills.

S

On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:11:30 -0500, Stephen Sprunk
wrote:

Nobody wrote:
This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2
bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers
upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but
they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want
that in hundreds or twenties?").

Hoard $50's?

Yes, same reason as $100 bills: retailers won't take them, so most
customers don't want them. It makes little sense since the same
retailers will happily take a thick stack of $20s, which can be just as
easily counterfeited, but that's how it is.

Another knock against the $50 bill is people don't see them often, since
they're relatively useless (people either have $100s or $20s), so
they're not comfortable with them. If people can't figure out if a
somewhat more common $100 bill is fake, they'll never be able to figure
it out for a less common $50 bill...

$2 bills have a worse problem, incidentally. Many people have never
seen one in their entire lives -- or even know they exist -- and they
look different than all the other bills. Many clerks won't take them
without checking with a manager; if the manager hasn't seen one before
(which is fairly rare -- they _are_ still in circulation), they may
refuse to accept it even though the potential loss from a counterfeit is
negligible.

Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the
machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20
dispensers are also available.

US ATMs generally only dispense $20 bills; it makes them simpler and
requires less refilling if there's only one bill type. There are still
a few that give out $5 and $10 bills as well, though they're rare. Ones
in casinos will give you $100 bills, since they accept them at the
tables and that's where they want you spending your money. I've never
seen a US ATM dispense $50 bills.

Aren't US banknotes also all the same size thus making it easier to
accidentally sandwich a high value note in amongst low value notes ?

In message , at 06:13:27 on
Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson remarked:
Aren't US banknotes also all the same size

Yes, they are.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry writes:

In message , at 06:13:27
on Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson
remarked:
Aren't US banknotes also all the same size

Yes, they are.

Does the USA not have disability discrimination legislation? Having all
banknotes the same size is surely discrimination against blind people.

Graham Murray wrote:

Having all banknotes the same size is surely discrimination against
blind people.

Not really. There are plenty of situations in life where one group of
people is advantaged/disadvantaged with respect to another. It's only
discriminatory if it is done either with the desire of causing a
specific outcome of that kind, or else in contravention of relevant
rules that are designed to avoid such an outcome.

That is not to say that the blind and those who lobby on their behalf
couldn't make sufficient noise to shame the US Federal Reserve into
doing something about it.
--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p13857120.html
(20 309 at Morecambe, 6 Apr 2005)

On Jun 22, 11:57*am, Graham Murray wrote:
Roland Perry writes:
In message , at 06:13:27
on Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson
remarked:
Aren't US banknotes also all the same size

Yes, they are.

Does the USA not have disability discrimination legislation? Having all
banknotes the same size is surely discrimination against blind people.

Yes. A US Federal appeals court decided exactly that last month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7412051.stm

PaulO

"Graham Murray" wrote in message
...
Roland Perry writes:

In message , at 06:13:27
on Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson
remarked:
Aren't US banknotes also all the same size

Yes, they are.

Does the USA not have disability discrimination legislation? Having all
banknotes the same size is surely discrimination against blind people.

I thought that the US Federal Reserve had added colour to their notes in
recent years, which should help. One would think that they would also put
some form of braille on notes to help delineate. A least one European states
that I can think of had been doing that well before the euro was introduced.

Don't euro notes have a form of braille? I can't remember off hand.

In message
wrote:

"Graham Murray" wrote in message
...
Roland Perry writes:

In message , at 06:13:27
on Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson
remarked:
Aren't US banknotes also all the same size

Yes, they are.

Does the USA not have disability discrimination legislation? Having all
banknotes the same size is surely discrimination against blind people.

I thought that the US Federal Reserve had added colour to their notes in
recent years, which should help. One would think that they would also put
some form of braille on notes to help delineate. A least one European
states that I can think of had been doing that well before the euro was
introduced.

Holland.


Don't euro notes have a form of braille? I can't remember off hand.



Strangely enough, no.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

In message , at 17:52:02 on Sun, 22
Jun 2008, remarked:
I thought that the US Federal Reserve had added colour to their notes in
recent years, which should help.

I've seen some very pale pink $20 notes. You'd hardly notice it without
the contrast with older cream-coloured ones. Are other denominations
getting different tints?
--
Roland Perry