Attempt to bring the bill back
DOWNTOWN — Jacob Mandelson is a man on a mission.
Though it’s not really the Ethan Hunt or 007 type of mission.
“I am trying to return the $2 bill to circulation,” the Google software engineer said on Thursday.
Each Tuesday, with a handful of $2 bills, Mandelson strolls down the corridors of Google on Arizona Avenue, popping into offices and cubicles, asking the one question everyone awaits.
“Twos? $Twos, anyone?” In fiscal year 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing released 230,400,000 individual $2 bills. The numbe r of $2 bills printed depends on the demand from the Federal Reserve, and in some years, none are printed at all, said Claudia Dickens, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
The first $2 bill was issued in 1862. Mandelson’s reasoning to bring the $2 bill back to prominence in American currency is threefold — the $2 bill would solve the “problem” of the overstuffed wallet with $1 bills; it’s easier to make change with a $2 bill than with a $1 bill; and with the upward trend of inflation since the United States got off the gold standard, American currency has halved in value. Therefore, it would make sense to use larger denominations.
Also, with a mug shot of President Thomas Jefferson, and a depiction of the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back, Mandelson asks, what’s not to love about the $2 bill?
Some people don’t see the need for a $2, admits Mandelson. Many $2 bill opponents say they do not want another bill reintroduced, while other anti-two activists don’t want to have to open up a $2 slot in the cash drawer.
Mandelson’s solution is to rid the nation of the $1 bill completely and replace it with a dollar coin. But Mandelson does not plan on jumping on the bring-the-dollar-coin-into-circulation bandwagon. He’s already got his hands full, literally.
“I’ll just focus on the two,” he said.
It began in 2000, when Mandelson worked at Asynchronous Digital Design in Calabasas as a software engineer. A friend mentioned his own efforts to bring the $2 back in circulation.
Mandelson started out small, exchanging less than $100 worth of $2 bills every Monday with his coworkers. The $2 day soon switched to Tuesday, or “twos-day,” after the idea caught on.
The mission continued over the years and the amount of bills gradually increased, along with demand. Now, Mandelson exchanges about 250 bills every week at Google with some 90 different employees.
“Some people get into it,” Mandelson said. “One person will ask for $40 in twos and use them as tips.”
Besides helping to bring some life back to the $2 bill, there is also the added benefit of getting to know the co-workers. Mandelson is also now well-known at his bank, where he chats with the tellers and manager, who places special orders for the $2 bills every couple of weeks.
With the help of his colleagues at Google, Mandelson believes his mission could be accomplished in about 10 years.
“I was heartened by a recent story in the news a couple of weeks back that the nationwide demand for twos has skyrocketed,” Mandelson said. “I’m doing my tiny part in this. If it continues to go up in another five to 10 years, we could see it in circulation monthly...
“Then weekly, daily and then in general circulation.”
“Most people take it without batting an eye,” Mandelson said of cashiers who receive the twos in transactions. “Some people are dubious about it. They take the counterfeit pen out to verify that the paper and ink are correct.”
Some people who encounter Mandelson with his twos become very enthused to get a hold of a rarity in American currency.
When Mandelson paid a bill at a Chinese restaurant in $2 bills, the waiter took his own wallet out and exchanged them for himself.
“I said ‘I have more twos,’ and sold another $20 in twos,” Mandelson said.
Sam Sharif, owner of Budget Market on Fourth Street, sees the bill about once every six months. Laughing when he received three bills from the Daily Press to pay for a bag of cookies and potato chips, Sharif said on Thursday that the presence of the $2 bill in a cash register can be costly to the store.
“To us, it’s confusing,” he said. “Sometimes we mistake the $2 for the $20.”
Bill Miller isn’t surprised when he sees the $2 bill. In the 30 years he’s clerked at Fireside Cellars on Montana Avenue, he said he’s come across the $2 bill a number of times.
But Miller was surprised on Thursday when he received four in a row from the Daily Press to pay for three small bottles of liquor.
“Are you printing these at home?” Miller asked.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 17, 2006. Read the original PDF.