$50,000 For Halves & $2 Bills?

basebal21,

I don't believe halves were pulled from circulation anymore than $2 bills were. Both denominations are a "hit and miss" type of deal where I go. Sometimes they will have hundreds of dollar in halves, and no $2 bills, and the next month, hundreds of dollars in $2 bills, and no halves. And if they have dollar coins, which they usually have a lot of, I never get them, because people seem to hate them, due to the fact that there is already a $1 bill in circulation, and do not want to handle two forms of one denomination. I wish I could help the Dollar Coin Alliance, but the best I do for them, is write to my Congress people from time to time, and tell them to support yanking bith, the $1 and $2 bills out of circulation simultaneiously for $1 and $2 coins, just to transition to dollar coins faster, because, Congress DID talk about authorizing a U.S. $2 coin, when planning for the $1 coin in the late 1990s, to speed up the transition to the $1 and $2 coins from $1 and $2 bills, which I think is the best route to take. Either that, or get people used to the $2 denomination with the redesigned $2 bill for about five years, then replace it with a $2 coin. Five years after the $1 bill goes is plenty long enough for the general public to prepare for a U.S. $2 coin. As for the half, they should just eliminate the cent and get the half circulating, period.

basebal21,

I don't mean to argue, but, I really think you are wrong about banks not carrying halves anymore, while having virutally everything else that circulates. Sometimes, banks do not have $2 bills, as I said, and sometimes they do. Same with halves and dollar coins. Just because halves are not "made" for circulation anymore, doesn't mean they are not "in" circulation anymore. I read a while back that, the reason the U.S. Mint is not producing halves for circulation right now, is because they already have a ten year supply of halves for circulation at the rate they are going currently, and once that supply is gone, they will mint halves for circulation again. Same with dollar coins. There is a ten year supply of them available, so Congress ordered the Mint to stop making them for circulation until the current supply runs out. Someone else here even said halves circulate more than $2 bills, although I'm not too sure about that.

@fox

Like n9 said, that supply is there because they arent being used and isn't going to change. Presidential dollars are done for circulation the series also ends in a few years anyway. Halves wont be brought back either now that its been years. Think about how many coins have been stopped to be successful started again years later.

I would believe the kennedys circulate more than 2 dollar bills because almost no one uses a 2. Half the time people think its fake money now. I honestly dont know why they still make them in all honesty.

But like the dollar coins the wont be made for circulation again. The dollar coin could come back after the presidential series if they got rid of the 1 dollar bill, but I highly doubt we will see another attempt with the dollar bill around with how the last one turned out. If on the off chance we did a complete redesign would almost certainly happen.

Thats really the only reason I can think of them.

In the last decade or so the only time I've ever gotten or seen one is from a coin shop, I remember when I was little Id see them from time to time but its been a long time since I've really seen one in the wild

I visited Monticello (Jefferson's historic home) last year, they sell $2 bills and have a small sales area of old coins such as large cents, Buffalo nickels etc. The clerk, who was a collector as well, told me that they are the largest distributor of $2.00 bills in the country. They also use them in change there and at the various concessions whenever possible. Most people save a few of them as curiosities and spend the rest.

The local stores tend to get them of course due to this. This might be a great area for Mr. Fox to start his campaign as $2 bills are plentiful there already. I suspect that half dollars would be a harder sell but you never know. Maybe Massachusetts would be a good place to push that agenda.

n9jig,

I was just thinking maybe promoional materials, similar to the "Golden Dollar" promotion stickers might help the $2 bill and the half. As I said, even my local instant lottery ticket vending machines don't take either $2 bills, or any coins. Just $1 and $5-$100 bills, however, I did ask them about reprogramming for the redesigned $2 bills if I can convince the Treasury to release both denominations simultaneopusly, if they would make their machines take $2 bills then, and they said THEN they'd consider it, and then maybe they could put a sticker on the machines that say "This machine accepts $2s"

Foxwoods Man,

I know that the promotional materials for the dollar coin did not help it much, but as I've said, the half doesn't have a $0.50 bill to compete with, nor does the $2 bill have a $2 coin to compete with, and that makes a big difference as far as most cashiers are concerned with them around my area.

As for them still minting halves for collectors, Keywords: "Still minting" It doesn't matter if they are only minting them for collectors,they are STILL minting them. Some people even consider Eisenhower dollar coins to be "current" coins and the Mint does NOT those AT ALL anymore, PERIOD. Also, if some newer self checkout machines and certain vending machines can take halves, and due to the fact that the Mint still mints them, I doubt that they have given up on the half just yet, or they would simply stop minting halves altogether, and melt or sell the current supply to collectors, or maybe even bring back Half Cent, 2 cent, 3 cent and 20 cent coins even though they would not circulate, just to mint for collector purposes, so that they could gain a profit off them. Also, as long as the Mint keeps on minting halves, at least they will never become "rare collectibles" which would be a disaster for the denomination in my opinion.

Sorry if I sounded ride. I'm not trying to.