This is for any of you who understand the California banking rules. I went to an ATM and took out $200, which is pretty much standard, and I wanted to change one of the $20s for a ten and two fives. In Tucson I??d walk into the bank, hand the $20 to the teller, and seconds later I??d be on my way. But I??m in Ontario, so I walk in and there are lines like security at the airport, with an employee directing people to this line or that. Didn??t take long and I was in front of a teller, but separated by a huge sheet of safety glass. I slid the twenty in the slot, explained what I wanted, and she directed me to put my debit card in the machine. When I questioned that since I just wanted change she said that was the rule. Okay, then she starts a long process of entering something on her keyboard, and entering, and entering, and I??m ready to demand my twenty back and just leave. Finally she hands me the change and I left, befuddled by the process. ???
*waves* you're just down the road from me (relatively). I suspect it has to do with money-laundering rules and/or fraud. If that $20 ends up being fake, they can track its history. But I'm guessing.
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(edit: fixed it's to its)
Look on the bright side Bruce, if it had been a $50, they'd have probably given you a colonoscopy!
A $100 bill would probably have involved a trip to local police station.
🙂
One time I went with my friend to a different bank than we use, he doesn't use ATM machines, prefers to withdraw at a teller.?ÿ The "Teller" is sitting at a small island thing, no security, no cage, no counter between us, like a cafeteria checkout.?ÿ Says he wants to withdraw whatever dollars.?ÿ Okay hands over the card, she prints out a slip, hands it to him, says take this to the machine over there to get your cash LOLOL.?ÿ Bruno, I say, you are using the ATM whether you want to or not.?ÿ Bruno is Latvian, his Father served in a Latvian Division in the Deutsche Wehrmacht, accent, funny hearing him swearing in Latvian.?ÿ He speak Estonian too.
It has become all too easy to counterfeit bills using scanners and laser printers. The crook "washes" a single and prints a C-note (sometimes a $20) on the paper. It's super difficult to tell the difference. The crook then buys something cheap with it and gets change, or just asks a merchant to break it up into smaller bills. Presto?ÿ - he's got real money to spend.?ÿ ?ÿ
Yes, I know about the security strip. And other things. Buts it is still a very common thing.?ÿ The crooks commonly bring their washed bills to confederates who work as tellers at the bank. Or sandwich artists. That's why the bank teller has to take all your information down just to break a bill.?ÿ
BTW - I keep a couple of $20s in my wallet for emergencies. But I can't remember the last time I paid cash for anything. And I haven't withdrawn $200 to carry around in many, many years.?ÿ?ÿ
A common topic of the "geezer club" is the fact that a $20 bill would pretty much cover the weekend back when we graduated from High School. According to various Internet sources (which are always right?), $20 dollars in 1968 is equal to ~147ish dollars today. And yet, the $100 bill is the largest denomination printed since the 1940s (the $500, $1,000, $5,000, & $10,000 bills were "retired" in ~1969). I remember seeing a $500 bill that my grandfather had back in the 1950s, and 100 $10,000 bills in a casino in Vegas in the early 1970s.
Nobody in these parts even blinks at someone buying a $5 beer with a $50 or $100 bill, and the supermarket doesn't even hold them up to light!
Maybe we should dump the penny, and print some $500 ($68 in 1968) bills again.
Oh yeah...get off my lawn!
🙂
I'm a cash kind of guy.?ÿ If you don't want my cash, I don't want what you have to sell.?ÿ Frequently will have a thousand or so on me or very close at hand.?ÿ Have never used an ATM in my life.?ÿ The thought of paying to get my own money is repulsive.
Stopped in at a convenience store that is a few miles from a casino.?ÿ Paid for a few snack items with a $10 bill.?ÿ The clerk promptly ran it through some sort of little scanner to make sure it was real.?ÿ Made me feel like some sort of counterfeiter.?ÿ I had to ask why she was wasting her time.?ÿ Company policy.?ÿ Every bit of paper money had to go into that scanner from ones to hundreds.?ÿ She explained there were people going to and from the casino who were trying there best to pass funny money.
?ÿI remember seeing a $500 bill that my grandfather had back in the 1950s, and 100 $10,000 bills in a casino in Vegas in the early 1970s.
I believe in 1972 I carried two $1000 bills and seven $100s from the bank to the car dealer to buy a car.
I get $50's and $20's to buy groceries and miscellaneous. It's been a while since I tried $100's but then they got much more scrutiny than 50's and people grumbled at how much I depleted their change.
Most places will run a chemical pen over large bills to see if it is copy paper and never look for any of the official security features.?ÿ
Have never used an ATM in my life.?ÿ The thought of paying to get my own money is repulsive.
Using an ATM needn't cost you any money.?ÿ In general, it's only when you withdraw from an ATM that's not part of your bank's network that a fee is imposed.?ÿ The only times I've had to do that is when I'm out of the country.
I rarely go into a bank.?ÿ I make all of my deposits through my phone or at an ATM.?ÿ And I use so little cash these days that $100 can last me for months.
I have gone through considerably more than $1000 in cash this week. Had to flash plastic to get registered at a hotel last week, but, I wasn't paying the bill so nothing actually got charged to the card (they demand a card from the occupant just in case I steal the bed or something---the school district card was automatically paying the standard room bill).
Cash has some very powerful benefits.
I always pay at the pump too.?ÿ Pay all my bills online or my banking app.?ÿ Paycheck is direct deposited.?ÿ I may keep a couple 20's on me so if the kids want some candy or something little like that and I don't want to swipe the debit card.?ÿ This time of year I like to have some singles in the pocket to have my boys donate into Salvation Army buckets or whoever is collecting.
During one of the gas price jumps I was travelling for work with per diem money. Passing through Casper Wyoming from Nevada I had to stop at a gas station and fill up the Bronco. The price had jumped over $1.00 (Iran crisis) and the bill was more than $30. Went in to pay and they wouldn't accept a $50 which was all I had left from months on the road.?ÿ
Sooo, I headed across the street to the Beacon Club bought a beer and eventually I made it back to the gas station and paid my $35 bill with change from the bar. They were getting upset by then, but I didn't care.?ÿ
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I like to use cash for smaller amounts and if I am dealing with small businesses.
Before I moved, I used to go to this mechanic who was a one-man operation, and really good at what he did. He would present the bill and as soon as I pulled out a stack of 20's, he would say, "Paying cash today?", put a mark on the slip, and give a lower price. If he was doing some funny accounting on his end, I didn't want to hear about it.?ÿ
Maybe it was just that he had built in the credit card fee he would have had to pay and took it out for cash.
A 4% discount would be a gimme for cash. That is what the bank charges the merchant for debit transactions.
