>>>>My American aunt gave me a $2 bill, in a wee presentation cardboard wallet, when I was a kid, saying "Take care of this. These are rare and it might be worth something in the future." I think I still have it somewhere. What's the score? Are they rare? Was she BSing me?
>>>
>>>Yes, they're rare. Nobody uses them regularly. We have a small pile of them here that someone gave one of the kids for a gift, but otherwise, I haven't seen any in years and years.
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>We don't see any around anymore either. Of course, we went with one and two dollar coins, but the province of Alberta pretty much got rid of two dollar bills many many years ago. They were still legal tender in Alberta, of course, but nobody wanted them. The inane reason was that they were considered to be bad luck. Maybe that's also why they started disappearing in the U.S.
>
>The U.S. is considering getting rid of pennies. For one thing they cost more than a penny to make.

They're considering it here too. But a lot of people are afraid that everything will be rounded up and end up costing more.

I had a friend who played for Canada's national basketball team back in the 60s. he went to Brazil for a tournament and knew nothing much about the monetary units. When a kid helped carry his bags up to his hotel room, he tipped the kid 5 cruzeiros. He said the look he got from the kid made his blood curdle. He found out later that in Brazil it cost 5 cruzeiros to make a one cruzeiro note. So I guess it would have been like tipping a kid 1 cent here.