Jim Jones

This is a very interesting thread!

Spent_All_My_Miles

I have some fivers, series 1997.

Ah, the rarely played game of Whose Is Smaller?

camsean

Inmo this is really only the case out in the sticks these days. It is no longer the pain it once was to break large notes.

hemispheric

ATMs with smaller bills in the US ($5s and $10s) are often found on university campuses. I've found them on any number of campuses (they usually also dispense $20s if the amount is over $20) and on my campus, the ATMs that dispensed $5s were very popular. In Canada, HSBC ATMs always seem to break up your bills - giving a mix of $50s, $20s and $10s.

antichef

In Hong Kong many years ago I enjoyed passing a leisurely wait in the marbled air-conditioned hall of a bank whilst I tried to get a few 1c notes!

Apparently they were normally only used intra-bank for balancing accounts, and they were not in circulation. 5c was a cheap bus fare, and c in circulation were all coins.

eefor jfp

These were the highest denominated banknotes issued during the period of hyperinflation in Serbia in 1993. Wednesday was new bill day and every week a zero was added. So 50, then 500, then 5000, and so on up to five hundred billion. Then they chopped off all the zeros and started again. It was a wild time. Stores closed an hour early every day so that the clerks could mark up prices for the next day. And prices were "set" a few days ahead since everyone paid by check. So if you were paying with cash, you basically couldn't afford to buy groceries unless the store was a private one that took German Marks. A friend and I paid for a weekend trip to the Montenegrin coast with a stack of bills a foot high. It took the travel agent twenty minutes to count the money. The hotel (Sveti Stefan, now an Aman) was expensive but the round-trip flight only cost $8.

On another note, ATMs today in Serbia dispense 1000 dinar notes (worth about ten Euros). The machines can only dispense a maximum of 40 notes at a time, so if you want to get $1000 cash (the daily limit on my US account) as I recently did, you have to make two separate withdrawals back to back (and pay two separate fees). Ah well, at least you can do that now.

crabbing

my favorite coins are my 1 won (korean), 1 reichspfennig (germany, during ww2), and 3 kopeks (soviet union).

Crampedin13A

Lots of Geldautomats in Germany spit out €100 notes. So much so that as soon as I land in MUC I take out €190 rather €200 or €300 just so I can get a couple of €20's and a €50 so I don't have to go to buy a beer to crack a €100 to buy my S-Bahn ticket.

slawecki

on my visit to the roulette table at the Venice winter casino, the table was covered in €500 bills(not chips, but bills). the way people threw their money around, i wondered who could figure out what belonged to whom. payoff was in chips. we were also there at about 2 or 3pm on a weekday. wondered what action was like on a late weekend night.

mntblue

Wow, 1000 CHF bill. I think this is the winner for most valuable single bill commonly in use.

On the other hand, I may have this under my mattress somewhere.

u2fan

I would think another reason the Japanese prefer big bills is to avoid ATM fees. The banks in Japan charge their own customers to use their ATM's at night and weekends (because these are after banking hours). Larger withdrawals mean fewer withdrawals and fewer fees.

kitsura

I think this is the reason most Japanese rather keep money under their pillow than in a bank.

milan luka

Was handed a couple of RM1000 bills when changing cash at the bank before my first big overseas trip, Kuala Lumpur in 1994. USD1=MYR3 or thereabouts.

When I got to Malaysia no one wanted them, had to visit the bank to get them broken down.

Now I believe theyve had a currency revamp their highest denomination note being RM100.

mivadar

About "eurozone" - it really depends on the country.

In Germany or Italy nobody will blink an eye if You pay with a 200 or 500 bill - there are a few small shops that don't like them, but they'll take them.
Most ATMs will give You 50s, some 100s - I have never received a 200 or 500 from an ATM, but did get them from banks (and from people owing me money), they are in normal circulation.

In Portugal, if You pay with anything over a 20, they'll look at You weird, 100/200/500 is barely accepted.
Most ATMs give 5s and 20s, 50s are very rare - some machines are loaded only with 5s.
(Yes, I have withdrawn 500 Euros as 100 pieces of 5 ... biggest wad of cash I've ever had.)

I think it depends mainly on how comfortable people are with paying cash (related: how wide-spread and cheap for the retailer debit card payments are), and the general standard of living (how large sums people usually handle).
In Germany and Italy people are traditionally comfortable with paying cash also for large purchases, and the retailer cost of debit card acceptance is quite high - it was mainly these two countries that were pushing for the 500 Euro bill.

jbcarioca

I'm fairly sure the CHF1000 is the largest value note in common use. The Euro500 is far less value but it may be #2. I have had Euro 200 from my ATM in France, but never Euro 500.