Here are the facts. The FRBs immediately destroy regardless of condition, any $5 and higher bill upon redemption with series date of 1995 and before. Some banks such as Wells Fargo actively pull out the old style bills and have the tellers store them in their mutilation piles(regardless of condition) until they decide to ship them off never to see circulation again. One dollar bills from series 1963 to the present are reissued and two dollar bills from series 1976 to the present are reissued until they wear out. Any silver certificates the Feds receive along with any $2 Red Seals from series 1963A and before get destroyed. I can post links to FRB documents proving the above but this one here should be proof enough: http://www.uspapermoney.info/serials/f1996_h.html Look at how many 1996 hundreds were printed and especially district B. District B went all the way up to Y block, an unbelievably high block letter for any denomination above the $1 bill. So many 1996's were printed because the Feds were so busy destroying all of the old style 1993 and before hundreds. They did the same thing in 1991 where they destroyed every single hundred they received dated 1988 and before because 1990 series notes had the new microprinting and the imbedded strip. With all of that said I think it is disgusting and a complete waste. Instead of trying to educate the public about how to detect fake bills they decided to destroy all of them instead of having them co-circulate. This is the government trying to baby everyone. I can immediately tell an old style bill is real just by the look and especially the feel of the bill, a form of detection used for more than 200 years. The paper used in currency in this country is unique and can't be duplicated by the public. Now beginning in 2009, the process starts all over again with the hundreds. Once the re-redesigned hundreds come out, the Feds will destroy all of the hundreds they receive dated 2006 and before. If you look at BEP reports you will see the Feds are printing enough twenty's right now to stock pile for the next few years, this is because they plan to print new hundreds non-stop to replace the older hundreds. Perfectly good and useable currency that the tax payers have paid for will be destroyed all over again.
that is very stupid of them destroying perfectly good bills. i think they should just keep them in circulation until they wear out.
VERY INFORMATIVE NOS! ...and I thank you. I don't believe there has been such a massive "destruction" of U.S. notes before has there? Seems educating people is way too difficult so just seek and destroy. What a shame but on the other hand I'm glad I stashed CU 5's and 10's before the "bighead" design came in. I also liked your point about the "feel" of monay. Any cashier that has been around knows this from handling so much currency. A counterfeit just doesn't feel right. I nailed a few in my time this way. One of those being a hundred. Should have seen the guy bolt from the store - HE knew it too. Just an excellent thread. clembo
Thanks NOS... The New York FRB is famous for high printings.....it is a major finiancial distribution center for the USA. GEM examples will have and will hold premiums. RickieB
I disagree - you must not allow counterfeiters to take advantage of the older notes. Take it this way, you can try to educate people about counterfeit notes but there are too many countries that still use USD as part of their currencies. It's a lot cheaper to remove the older notes and replcae them with newer notes. Do you know how much counterfeit notes can hurt an economy? The supernotes from N. Korea is a good example: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193099,00.html
I would have to say not much at all, that is just hype put out by the SS. The SS likes to say that counterfeits can cause people to lose faith in their currency which will hurt the economy as you said but they also point out that most people will never encounter a single counterfeit in their entire lifetimes! Perhaps they feel job security by putting such hype out, give them some pride in arresting a 12 year old for making a five dollar bill in his house. Counterfeit notes account for an extremely small ratio of genuine notes printed. When North Korean counterfeits are found hidden on a ship or elsewhere, it is often just one or two thousand dollars worth in fakes. Compare that with one full block of genuine hundreds, more than 99 MILLION notes. The North Korean "super notes" arent so super afterall because obviously they are shown to be fake or no one would be any the wiser.
Take it this way NOS, you are just taking a minor thing into context. The USD does circulate worldwide and while there aren't that many counterfeits in the US itself, there are just too much outside. That article does not address the global issues. As mentioned, it's the quality that's keeping up. If you allow old notes to circulate, you will only allow an easier job for the counterfeiters as they can keep on producing the older notes and invest more on improving the quality on counterfeiting newer notes. There are many countries especially in Eastern Europe like Ukraine, Russia, Belarus etc that money changers WILL NOT take any 100 USD notes unless they are crispy new as well as dated after 1996, and in some mad cases, they will not accept it if there are more than 4 folds. Yea right, sounds very dumb and silly but I have been through in those cases. Why aren't they taking these notes? It's just because they deem any folded notes as counterfeits. Next time I should laminate the notes and delaminate right in front of them. The fear of counterfeits is just very bad in any context. What's the point of me having valid USD currencies but just because of the fear of counterfeits, I can't spend them? It's just as good as toilet paper. This not only affect us customers or travellers but as well as business as they are forced to accept payment by other means or just don't make any sales.
I'm quite surprised the BEP/Federal Reserve don't see this as a money making opportunity. All the outdated notes that come back, could then be sold through the BEP's existing website to collector's for a premium. Base the price on a fairly worn bank note from a given design (grouping series and grades together to minimize handling costs). Higher priced notes can be sold with more specific details. Ultra low end notes can be grouped together and sold as lots (i.e. minimum order of 25 $1 Silver Certs, mixed dates). My guess is that by now, collectors would willingly pay the markup because what you get from them would truely be "UNSEARCHED" for minor errors, varieties, block numbers, rarity, etc...
Wow, we get counterfeits through town about every 10 days or so. we are still working our way to it being a weekly thing
In RU and UA yes, people not take older dollars, but even in USSR they suspicious of USA money because it not have the watermarks etc. that all money around world had by then. So for instance I see someone try spend USA dollars in market once and the seller refused take them because they not see watermark in note, they expect to see something like. Also USA money not taken if it have stamps on it, like common of Asia.
