Legal Tender - $2 bills, 50 cent pieces, and silver dollars.

[studemax]

Okay - I use $2 bills all the time. I carry five or so in my wallet to use as additions to tips, or for making small purchases. Every once in awhile - they just come in handy. Also - there are still jackasses who think they are NOT legal tender. I love to mess with those people.

I also use 50 cent pieces and silver dollars, for the same reasons - even though I don't carry them all the time. I use them for planned purchases, gifts, or tips. The weird - many checkout clerks have NEVER seen large silver coins. I love it when they freak out at the checkout counter.

Even weirder - my bank WILL NOT sell me silver dollars. They'll get me 50 cent pieces - no problem. When I ask for silver dollars they offer me those gold-colored Susan B. Anthony dollar coins (which I derisively call clown money to their faces because only vending machines use them around here). I asked for silver dollars a few months back, and they said they'd only get me 500 at a time (WTF?). Pissed me off, so I went to the nearby coin shop and bought twenty of them for a $20 dollar bill, and $1 for the little plastic box to keep them in. Then I went back to bank within ten minutes to show them how easy it is to get them - and not pay extra.

It's legal tender, you jackasses!

[Monster]

They're is a difference between legal tender and current US Mint production, which is what banks deal in. Out of production coins are still dealt with by coin shops and collectors and are readily available, but also remain legal tender. There is also a difference between silver dollars and dollar coins. The last silver dollar was the Peace dollar minted in 1921-28, 1934 & 1935 (excepting the American Eagle collectors series). The large dollar coin you purchased for $1 was clad coinage, and not silver.

[JOES66FURY]

My wife likes to hoard $2 bills. I try to explain that you can get them any time at the bank but, she thinks they're special so, no harm no foul...You do you, baby.

I have a bunch of dollar coins and $.50 pieces my grandpa gave me. They're not worth anything but, he loved to collect them, and he gifted them to me...so in the old cigar box they stay until I die and my kids cash them in for gas money.

My uncle's GF works at a bank and they used to let her take home all the "slugs" from the coin machine. She'd give bags of them to my uncle who would go through them and pull out the cool stuff. Lots of jacked-up American coins the machine would not take, Canadian and Mexican coins as well, nothing to speak of really. However, there was one occasion where he found a couple of 1oz platinum coins in the mix. They were quite valuable and their sale funded their last vacation to Canada & Newfoundland....where he used up all the Canadian coins he pulled from the bags.

[squirrel]

I had some 2 bills, old 50 and 1.00 pieces, that had been sitting around depreciating for decades. I finally spent them.

I bet they lost half to three quarters of their value sitting on a shelf.

But I discovered that the walmart self check out machine does accept them.

[studemax]

The large dollar coin you purchased for $1 was clad coinage, and not silver.

Wrong. Eisenhower silver dollars have NO silver in them at all. Fooled you. It's a generic term - not literal.

[Beagle]

Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. What a disaster. My local pinball machine's coin comparator has a SBA dollar slot that accepts quarters. I told the guy as much when he was servicing it and it still takes quarters. Instead of .50 a game, it's two games for .25 ... I'm sure the owner makes up for it in beer sales.

I'm guessing "entertainers" keep the 2.00 bill in circulation. The last bar of that type I was in 20 years ago gave change for drinks in 2.00 bills... so I don't want any of them in my wallet.

[DanStokes]

I don't know if they still do this but for many years Crazy Jim's Blimpie Burgers in Ann Arbor, MI gave change in $2.00 bills and $0.50 pieces. To the best of my knowledge it started when Crazy Jim was still alive and the current owner has carried it on for 30 years though as mentioned I'm not sure they still do it. It was kinda fun.

Dan

[Monster]

I get it Stude .. your generic definition of "Silver Dollar" is; any 'large size' dollar coin, regardless of it's metallic composition. Being a coin collector, my definition is more specific, being; any size dollar coin that contains at least 40% Silver (47Ag) content. I will be more gracious and declare us both to be correct, in our usage of the terminology.

Were you aware that in the early days, there were also Gold Dollars ?

[Monster]

Fun Fact: Silver exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal.

[Teddyzee]

I've got a U.S. $2 bill that i could never pass.
I only visit your country a couple times per year, but the Dunkin Donuts staff just wouldn't accept it.

Edit: I'm sure I would have the same reaction here with a Canadian 2. Or a One. Or a penny...

[Monster]

Production of the penny ceased in May 2012 and the Royal Canadian Mint ceased distribution of them as of February 4, 2013, however, like all other discontinued currency in the Canadian monetary system, the coin remains legal tender. Nevertheless, once distribution of the coin ceased, vendors were no longer expected to return pennies as change for cash purchases, and were encouraged to round purchases to the nearest five cents. Non-cash transactions are still denominated to the cent.

[oletrux4evr]

When I played golf regularly, I used a Canadian $2 coin for a ball marker. Rather unique coin......

Canada 2 Dollar Coin 1996 Toonie First Year Of Issue Queen Elizabeth Bimetallic
2 photo

[studemax]

We're cool, Monster. I am not a coin collector, but my Dad buys silver and gold from the aforementioned coin shop. I would love to have a gold dollar, but I don't need one.

[Monster]

For my golfball marker, I used a worn Mercury dime, which is 90% silver and 10% copper, so it shines well in the sunlight.

[Monster]

Interesting stuff ... I just found out that the production of Peace Dollars is set to resume in 2021 as President Trump signed H.R. 6192 into law on January 5th, 2021.