Two Buckaroo

September 17, 2022

Greetings, $2 bill lovers. A little update to share some great $2 bill exposure that came out today. 

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a “Where are they now?” type of journalistic piece investigating $2 bills. These pieces seem to ebb and flow across the years, and it’s always an honor (and a surprise) when a journalist or podcaster reaches out to me for an interview. I hope the sine wave of media interest continues to oscillate for many years to come. 

Today’s piece is by Nathaniel Meyersohn for CNN Business: “Why it’s time to start paying with $2 bills,” a headline I applaud because it’s not the same old “Whatever happened to it?” idea that has been used over and over. 

While my more colorful quotes about the $2 bill’s reputation as a currency dinosaur and the Mesozoic Era may have not made the cut, I’ve gotta hand it to the reporter, who took his time in our interview and had thoughtful questions. Interviews about $2 bills always get my blood pumping, and I wind up pacing up and down the room emphatically while talking. 

“Many Americans have pretty dubious assumptions about the $2 bill. Nothing ‘happened’ to the $2 bill. It’s still being made. It’s being circulated,” McCabe said. “Americans misunderstand their own currency to the extent [that] they don’t use it.”

The piece makes several good arguments for using the bill, and John Bennardo (The Two Dollar Bill Documentary) has some solid things to say as well: 

“You will get remembered if you use a $2 bill,” Bennardo said. “It has this ability to connect people in way that other bills don’t. It opens up a dialogue between you and the cashier.”

February 5, 2019

Today you might have a harder time procuring $2 bills from the bank, and here’s why: It’s Lunar New Year. (Happy Year of the Pig to you.) It’s one of several holidays when $2 bills are given for good luck (along with other denominations). 

For example, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, publication reports that new $2 bills are being given to the elderly in local Chinese and Vietnamese communities for good luck. (I had my own experience with $2 bills being coveted as a good-luck symbol a few years ago in NYC’s Chinatown.) Retailers are even selling specially packaged Lunar New Year $2 bills with serial numbers including “88,” bestowing extra good fortune.

Or: The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl Is Actually the Tooth Fairy

January 14, 2019

In honor of Dave Grohl’s birthday today, I’m whipping out some special material I’ve been sitting on for a long time. 

Back on September 16, 2016, I was having drinks with the man himself (he was visiting NYC for some sort of music-business purpose). Downtown at the great Nancy Whiskey Pub with a beloved mutual companion who was the reason we were together at a time-worn, seemingly knife-stabbed old wooden bar table, we got to talking about $2 bills. (I mean, of course!) Before long, he told his own story about why he likes $2 bills. 

From the mouth of Grohl: 

Okay, about six years ago, I was at this art convention, where all these artists got together and they were selling stuff. I was going around looking at all the different stalls of people’s work, and there was this one stall that was this Japanese photographer who had these beautiful prints, black and white stuff, and then made these little cards. It was really cool shit. I was standing there, waiting to pay for the stuff I wanted to buy, and standing next to me was the singer of Devo [Mark Mothersbaugh]. And he was paying for his thing with $2 bills. And I looked at him and said, “Oh, man, you don’t wanna give those away, do you?” And, he said, “Oh, I always use $2 bills.”

Well, the next day, we were making the Sound City movie. It was the day that Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick was coming in to record a song with us. I was telling this story to somebody in the studio about the guy from Devo’s $2 bill obsession, as Rick Nielsen walks in and says, “$2 bills?” I said, “Yeah, the guy from Devo likes to pay for stuff with $2 bills.” Rick Nielsen reaches into his bag and pulls out a ziplock bag full of $2 bills and hands it to me. And I said, “What the fuck—what are you doing with $2 bills?” He goes, “I love $2 bills.” He goes down to the bank to get the $2 bills. So I buy his $2 bills off him, and that’s what I give my kids as Tooth Fairy money. They’d never seen a $2 bill, so they think the Tooth Fairy only uses $2 bills.

In conclusion, as a side note, not long ago I was waiting for a plane, and this woman walks up to me, and she was the wife of the singer of Devo. And I asked her about the $2 bills, and it’s true—they get $2 bills and they really love paying for things in $2 bills. And so now, I love $2 bills too.

And now for an appropriately blurry end-of-night shot of us: 

May 10, 2017 

If you’re enjoying a ballgame at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, you might notice an interesting advertisement. A company called C&D Scrap Metal is luring people to hand over their non-ferrous and ferrous scrap metal with the promise of $2 bills: 

Wondering whether any customer could theoretically receive an unlimited amount of $2 bills, I called them up to ask about it, claiming to have been at the park last night (untrue). The woman with whom I spoke talked about the program in terms that proved that I have no actual idea what a scrap metal transaction entails: 

“When you bring your metal…depends how much metal you bring. One in every transaction will come out.” Okay, I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I did confirm that $2 bills (which they get from the bank) and $1 coins are given as payment. However, cash transaction cards are required, meaning scrap sellers must take the extra step of exchanging original payment for these less rare denominations: “I know there’s people who want more, so they exchange for the $2 bills,” she said. But you can only get up to a certain amount in $2 bills.

The company’s homepage loudly proclaims it: 

But wait — that’s not Jefferson. And that’s not a serial number. And this image on another page isn’t even trying to fake it: 

Could it be that the company’s owner so glorifies the $2 bill that he put his own face on it, along with the company’s phone number and other info? It would appear so. (And really, who wouldn’t want to do that?) Here is the owner, pictured (at right) on C&D’s Facebook page, brandishing $2 bills with a Houston lawyer: 

He even took the time to have the site’s favicon designed with an adapted image of a “2″ from the $2 bill:  

Now, that’s dedication to the $2. 

There’s not a whole lot more about $2 bills on C&D’s site (you can see a handful of happy customers with $2 bills on the gallery page), but I suspect there’s a story here that could be uncovered with a little more digging. In any case, good job, Mysterious Scrap Metal Man. You are my default scrap metal hero.

Thanks to reader Henry Taves (who last night actually was at the ballpark in Houston) for the tip. A $2 bill enthusiast in his own right, he added, “I spent about $14 in twos at the park tonight. I’ve now spent over $3500 in twos....”

April 26, 2017

It’s been a year since The 2 Dollar Bill Documentary came out. Has it made a difference in the lives of Americans who didn’t know the $2 bill is still regularly circulated? I hope so. I, for one, have continued to receive the always-welcome stray pieces of correspondence from $2-bill-loving strangers. The filmmaker has received some well-deserved attention; screenings continue to take place here and there around the country; and today a contributor on The Huffington Post published a raving piece about the documentary and talks about a few of us in it. (And thank you for that, “Bill” — if that’s really your name!)

In the next few weeks I’ll be writing about many more incidents of $2 bills in the news, plus about everyday experiences spending the $2 bill. I’ll also be featuring an exclusive interview with Dave Grohl on how he feels about the $2 bill. 

As Bill wrote in his piece today: “How often can we connect to a feature documentary, or any movie really, in such a way? Not very. Perhaps that’s what makes the film so much fun.” 

Well put. We all equally can have fascinating good times taking part in the sociological experiment that is spending $2 bills. 

Exclusive Two Buckaroo Offer: Save $2 on a DVD copy of The 2 Dollar Bill Documentary when you use discount code “TwoRoo” on the film’s website. 

April 25, 2016

Congratulations to the brains and brawn behind The Two Dollar Bill Documentary, John Bennardo, for his Manhattan Film Festival debut in NYC on April 17. Several of us who appear in the film were there to see it for the first time and celebrate. Here’s a bit about the big day.

Before the film started, I heard a rumor that people were buying their movie tickets with $2 bills, so I ran to investigate. You can see above that there are more $2 bills stuffed under the cash box; this woman seem thrilled to handle $2 bills. So perfect; I think I jumped up and down. Photo by H.M.

The noble movie poster hanging in the lobby of Cinema Village on W. 12 St., NYC. Photo by H.M.

The filmmaker, John Bennardo, (on right) with currency-tracking project Where’s George? founder Hank Eskin (on left). Photo by H.M.

Filmmaker John Bennardo (center) with two subjects of his film, Matthew Zaklad and me. Photo by Evan Zucker

I was gifted a $2 bill from Steven Reisman (above), who's known for making it rain Jeffersons everywhere he goes. Naturally, I was excited to meet him, especially considering I mentioned him on this site two years ago. Photo by John Bennardo

Above: My $2 bill from Steven, post-signing. He says he signs it the same way each time: “It was all a dream...”

The filmmaker and another subject of his movie, Evan Zucker, a significant figure in bringing back the $2 bill in the mid-1970s. Photo by H.M. on E.Z.’s camera

Hank Eskin and I at the after-party. It’s every U.S. currency-lover’s fantasy to meet the guy behind WheresGeorge.com, right? I lived the dream — just look at my idiotically stupid grin. Photo by Evan Zucker

This just in: The film won Best Documentary at last night’s Manhattan Film Festival wrap-up awards ceremony. Well deserved! More screenings coming around the nation (California and Brooklyn, for starters). I’ll post here as dates firm up. 

April 13, 2016

First, let’s wish a big happy birthday to the modern-day $2 bill! Forty years ago today, the redesigned $2 bill was reissued after a decade of not being produced at all. The occasion was the U.S. Bicentennial, but additionally, April 13 is the front man’s birthday — so we can wish a happy birthday to not just the reissued $2 bill (aka the “Tom”), but also Thomas Jefferson. 

In 2014 and in 2015 I showed $2 bills from April 13, 1976, with special day-of-issue commemorative markings — take a gander. 

And now back to our $2 bill transaction reporting: 

Location: Vekslers, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Date of Transaction: June 2, 2014

Transaction: Paid for dinner with $2 bills

Due to a shortage of other denominations in my wallet, I whipped out a bunch of $2 bills at the end of a group dinner. The waitress, who introduced herself as Dana (there she is, pictured above with another $2-bill-loving patron who was at my table), reacted with bountiful enthusiasm. I asked her what she was going to do with the $2 bills. 

“I put them with the $100s — because they’re special. They’re good luck. Because it’s almost not real money...because they’re not in circulation so much. It’s a simple fact. And they’re so ornate! I mean, just the back.... 

“The guy who owns this place is awesome, and when I told him you were paying with $2 bills, he said, ‘That is awesome!’ 

“One thing you learn as a bartender....money is money.” 

Thank you, Dana and Vekslers, for not just accepting but warmly welcoming more $2 bills than anyone should reasonably spend in one place. 

Zealous reminder: The $2 Bill Documentary is screening in NYC this Sunday afternoon! That’s April 17 at Cinema Village — get tickets here. Q&A to follow!

March 11, 2016

Anyone who likes $2 bills enough to like this website will like this: You now have three opportunities in April to attend screenings of The $2 Bill Documentary, which I’m honored to be in. The filmmaker, John Bennardo, worked obsessively over the past few years to put this film together, traveling around the country to interview an impressively vast array of subjects, and he even got permission to film $2 bills being produced inside the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth, Texas. This promises to be an ode to the $2 bill unlike anyone has ever seen before. I can’t wait.

One of the screenings is here in NYC, and I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Here’s the schedule:

Palm Beach International Film Festival (Florida) Thursday, April 7, 5:50 pm  Cinemark Boca Raton Monday, April 11, 7:30 pm  Palm Beaches Theater

Manhattan Film Festival (New York) Sunday, April 17, 3 pm Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th St. Tickets here.

Congrats to John Bennardo for getting into these film festivals. We’ll likely hear news of more such victories this year.

$2!

February 27, 2016

News here at Two Buckaroo headquarters: The $2 bill has ascended through the wilderness of cyberspace to the noble realm of podcast subject. Yes, there’s now a podcast devoted exclusively to the $2 bill, and I am honored to be in it. Well, one episode, anyway. The awesomely themed “Dead Presidents” features a dedicated $2 bill episode, which you can listen to here. (You’ll need to sign up through Howl, but there’s a free trial you can use.)

Being interviewed for it was super fun, and I extend a $2 bill of gratitude to the host, Daniel O’Brien, a Cracked.com writer and author of the book How to Fight Presidents, who was an energetic, intellectually eager interviewer. Even if he got a couple facts not exactly right in the first segment of the show, I have to hand it to him for executing a cool series like this.

For those of you who listen, my segment starts at 21:24 — I’m the Easter egg of the episode. Daniel asks me about the reactions I get to spending $2 bills and that sort of thing. It’s pretty fast, and you could easily miss it if you cut out before the end. But on the phone, we yapped for half an hour, and it was sort of like we were old friends. Daniel, if you read this, I’ll take you up on that offer to be pen pals. Thanks for the kind words. And kudos to the design production folks for including two $2 bills in the logo (see above).

If this podcast gets even two people to start spending $2 bills, I will consider the nation a better place.

February 15, 2016 

When one works for a company that produces Presidents’ Day promotional materials (among other things), it feels funny to not get the day off, as so many other people do. But here I am. Even the subway isn’t working at full force: It’s on a Saturday schedule. 

Anyway, today we have a small victory for $2 bills: Brooks Brothers in an email mentions the bicentennial reissue of the $2 bill! I won’t go into detail about who is responsible for it being there, but you can guess. 

That’s a detail of the below Presidents’ Day email: 

Small victories matter! Let’s hope someone gets that email today and is reminded about the coolness of the $2 bill. 

I’ll have more news of a Presidential nature to share soon. 

February 11, 2016

Location: The Steel Cart, Midtown Manhattan, New York, NY

Date of Transaction: April 29, 2014

Transaction: Bought coffee with a $2 bill

These lovely folks were jubilant when I paid with a $2 bill. That’s always extra fun. The guy on the right took the opportunity to share with me all kinds of stories and feelings about the $2 bill. I love when strangers do that!

So how does he feel when he gets a $2 bill? 

“My brain kind of slows down. I like getting one or two. I just don’t know how to act, how to respond to it” — then he told me that once he was paid $40 in $2 bills, and that was a little too much. 

“I stand firm behind my crazy $2 bill opinions. I feel happy receiving it, but then I feel guilty spending it. Almost like it’s a different currency. Like I drew them a picture instead of giving them actual money. Like Monopoly money. I try to slip them into other transactions. Almost like they’re counterfeit.”

Fascinating. This summarizes so much about our mixed feelings about the $2 bill. What would compel any of us to feel guilty about spending a denomination of our own currency? Truly a question to ponder. It’s a feeling that’s experienced by many I’ve met. 

And this: “Almost like they’re counterfeit” — isn’t that perfect? Spending $2 bills induces the sort of guilt that one might have when spending counterfeit money. So great. So happy I spent a $2 bill at this place. 

January 29, 2016

$2 Bills in the News

More than a usual amount of $2 bills in the news this month! Let’s check it out: 

$2 bill leads to heroin bust in New Jersey: When a driver was pulled over for tossing a lit cigarette out a car window, the police officer reported seeing “a rolled-up $2 bill…with white residue on it. The driver and passenger were asked to step out of the vehicle. Prior to doing so, [the driver] made an attempt to hide the bill, according to [the police officer], who later located the bill in a cigarette pack containing heroin.” But what happened to the $2 bill?? (January 26, 2016)

$2 bills were awarded to participants at an unveiling of a creepy-looking animatronic Thomas Jefferson figure in Sioux City, Iowa. (Not to be missed: the photo accompanying the article.) (January 22, 2016)

Clemson University continued its great decades-long tradition of stamping $2 bills with a Clemson Tiger paw and spending the heck out of them around the time of the Orange Bowl. The mission is to show the impact that Clemson fans have on local economies wherever they go. An Arizona news channel recently talked about it in a clip you can watch here. Stamped $2 bills included! (January 11, 2016)

In a home burglary in Sherwood, Arkansas, between 50 and 75 Bicentennial $2 bills were stolen (among other items). The woman who lives in the house reportedly has an “obsession” with the 1976 two-dollar bill. Nice! “Authorities believe the potential suspect or suspects may be using the Bicentennial Two’s to make purchases at area restaurants and retailers. Investigators are asking business employees that if they see someone come and spend 1976 two-dollar bills to take down their description and report it to the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office.” Interesting. But smart? Maybe not. The crooks could simply look at the news and see the investigators’ strategy, so locals probably didn’t see many $2 bills cross their path. (January 7, 2016)

January 16, 2016 

Location: Venticinque Cafe (no longer open), Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY

Date of Transaction: April 28, 2014

Transaction: Used a $2 bill to buy a croissant

Mmmm, a croissant — a perfect and delicious $2 bill transaction. As the barista was putting my $2 bill into the register, she looked at it, paused, and said “Wow.” Then she thought for a moment, removed two $1 bills from the tip jar, put the $2 bill in the jar, and put the two $1 bills into the register. 

Probably a wise move. A $2 bill in a tip jar will likely get taken by an employee, whereas a $2 bill in a register will likely get put into a bank deposit bag at the end of the night, ending its circulation for the time being.

January 12, 2016

Happy New Year! (It’s not too late to say that, right?) 

Location: Golden Sand, New York, NY

Date of Transaction: March 29, 2014

Transaction: Paid for dim sum with $2 bills

Friends and I went for dim sum brunch in NYC’s Chinatown. I was freshly flush with $2 bills after a visit to a Chase bank, where I’d made my normal withdrawal of $100 in $2 bills. 

Time came to pay. I pulled out my wad of $2 bills and lay some on the table as part of my payment. An employee caught sight of it, whipped her head around in what appeared to be a mix of shock and delight, and approached me, ooohing and aaahing. Other employees soon followed, widening their eyes and making excited sounds. A gaggle of them surrounded me. Clearly they were stirred up. None of them spoke English. 

A bolder one came close and gestured to convey that she wanted the $2 bills. I nodded, and we looked each other in the eyes. Then she abruptly slapped down a $20 bill, and I handed her ten $2 bills. She smiled in satisfaction and stepped away. Her colleagues scrambled toward me, wanting their own chance, but I shook my head and put away the rest. 

Another story of the powerful grip of the lucky $2 bill. 

December 18, 2015

Location: Mary’s Bar (no longer open), Brooklyn, NY

Date of Transaction: March 26, 2014

Transaction: Paid for a drink with a $2 bill

Here we see Steven the bartender, who was happier than a rabbit in a cabbage patch when I paid with the $2 bill pictured above. “Wow, a $2 bill!” he exclaimed, later telling me it was the first $2 bill he’d received while working there. (An off-duty bartender drinking a few barstools away said she’d seen perhaps only two of them in her time there.) 

Steven told me he collects “old” money: “ones, fives, tens, twenties—” [pause] “—from the ’90s.” Wait, did we hear that right? The ’90s? Yes. (Okay, not everyone has the same definition of old.) Well, the redesign of most of those bills may as well make them worthy of saving. Did he add to his collection the $2 bill, which, incidentally, hasn’t been redesigned since 1976? I half hope so. I half hope he spent it. (Unlikely.)

December 7, 2015

Location: A Brooklyn, NY, apartment

Date of Transaction: March 21, 2014

Transaction: Paid for a birthday cake with $2 bills

It was birthday time for a friend. The best way to get a customized bowling-themed cake complete with bowling-pin-shaped cookies was to go to the home of my friend Stephanie, master baker. Picking up the cake in her cash-only living room, I thought it would be a friendly yet suitably goofy gesture to pay with as many $2 bills as possible, adding a fun kick of novelty to a personal cash transaction. 

Stephanie was quite into it. “Oooo. I love $2 bills,” she said. Then she expanded: 

“I remember when they resurrected $2 notes in 1976. My sister and I received one in a nice little banknote folder. I still have that, it having survived even post-college penury when I ransacked even the penny piggy bank. I am very plus on the $2 bill; I see it as being useful in a time when items cost more than $1 but perhaps less than $5, and having more in circulation means that I could use them more frequently and have less bulk in the billfold. Also, admittedly as a result of there being fewer of them in circulation, they usually are crisp and natty.”

November 17, 2015

$2 Bills in the News

Receiving a $2 bill in change was considered a “numismatic nightmare” by the author of recent Money magazine piece “18 Facts You Didn’t Know About the $2 Bill.” The writer incorrectly states that “nobody spends $2 bills,” but he gets points for remarking that there’s “no good reason” to squirrel away $2 bills. Points also for using the phrase “mosey on down.” Photo credit (above): Money/Dimitrov Photography/Getty Images (Money; October 26, 2015)

In “One Man’s Junk,” a secondhand store owner in Oregon recounts buying the contents of a storage unit for $1, then finding a $2 bill inside a piece of furniture within the unit, immediately doubling his money. The $2 bill is on display in his store.  (East Oregonian; November 13, 2015)

Yet more people in Michigan are using $2 bills to make a statement in the local community. (It seems to happen in Michigan a bunch.) The owners of an independently owned drugstore in Charlevoix are giving 50 $2 bills to each of their employees “with specific instructions on how they must be spent. The bills must be spent as cash, not deposited into an account. $10 must go to a charity of their choice. The rest must be spent at locally owned businesses in the immediate Charlevoix area by Dec. 24.” The goal: to emphasize locally owned businesses’ economic importance. “By using these uncommon bills, we can see if our program is working. We hope that other businesses who receive them will give them as change and keep them circulating in Charlevoix. We hope that people who receive them will spend them at another locally owned business.” Hear, hear.  (Charlevoix Courier; November 13, 2015)

Event reminder! Tonight I’m giving a presentation about $2 bills at a money-themed comedy/variety night at the Irish Arts Center in New York City. Trivia questions will be asked! $2 bills will be awarded!