Large currency denominations COMMONLY in use
 

I've often noticed that Europeans don't seem uncomfortable using much larger denominations than do Americans. When I go to an ATM in Europe and take out a couple hundred Euro it is common to receive 2 100 Euro bills, or maybe 50s. When I go to use them no one blinks an eye.

In the US, ATMs almost never give out anything larger than a twenty, and when I have a 50 or 100 dollar bill for some reason I have to convince a store to take it.

Just an interesting cultural difference.

I've struggled to use €50 bills at many places in the Eurozone. €100 and €200 are almost always politely declined.

There was once a website where people posted ATM locations that only gave out smaller denomination notes - i.e. €20's, AUD/CAD/NZD$20's, CZK 200's, etc.

Only place I've seen any regular acceptance of CZK 1000 or 2000 notes (and presumably 5000) was in casinos.

It really depends on the country. You're likely to get by with large notes in Germany without much problem, for instance, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to do so in other countries. (It's said that the Germans were quite insistent on the Euro having €100, €200 and €500 notes, as they had previously enjoyed high denomination Mark notes.)

In the UK, you'll often struggle to spend a £50 note in most shops or bars. £100 notes (which are only issued by the Scottish and Northern Irish banks) are often even more problematic, as most people simply aren't familiar with them so aren't willing to accept them in case they may be forgeries.

Well it depends on countries and location where you like to spend the money. In Singapore, the highest banknote is SGD 10,000. These bills are excellent way how to bring over from overseas larger sums.

I got $200 from an ATM once and it spit out $5 bills, I was so pissed. I personally have never had problems with big bills unless its a gas station or something during the evening or night.

It's not uncommon to be using $100,000 notes in Vietnam, whereas the $500,000 (that's right, half a million) isn't as widely used compared to the $50,000, $20,000, or $10,000 notes. $100,000 dong is equal to about $5.25 USD - a taxi ride in a 7 pax Toyota to the airport from our hotel in District 5 including tip was $150,000 or less than $8 USD - and the driver was very happy with the run for 4 of us plus our luggage (that's $2 per person, what a bargain);)

Thus, Americans can easily feel like billionaires in VN - given the official exchange rate - but, prices are rising fast due to inflation (much like China) :D

Zimbabwe used to make those Vietnamese bills seem puny.

How about the opposite situation: China. The largest bill is worth about $15.

In Japan the 10,000 Yen (~USD $115 atm) is very common, I've never had a second look when using it anywhere.

I got one of those out of an ATM at Osaka. Didn't have a problem with the size of the bill, but felt very odd putting it into the vending machine for a bus ticket. Not too often would an American consider putting a $100 USD bill into any sort of vending machine. To top it all off I got the wrong change from the machine, but a small window popped open that I had not seen before then and a man leaned out and said not to worry, here is the rest of your change. Whew, that was going to be one expensive bus ride to put on my expense report.

I once had a landlord repay the security deposit on an apartment I'd just finished renting in €500 notes. I ended up taking them to a bank as no shops or restaurants would touch them.

Since the U.S. Treasury is always changing the notes, why don't they print $500 or $1,000 bills? 100 bucks doesn't buy nearly as much as it did in the 1800's!

But the largest note from ATMs, and hence the largest in common use, is only SGD 50. Even SGD 100 is quite rare.

I'll second Japan: Y10,000 notes are the default from ATMs and it's not unusual for people to carry a stack of them. It's a cash society and even many hotels don't accept credit cards, so I often carry Y50-100k in cash when traveling.

You can thank the perpetual "War on Drugs" for this. The US Govt is convinced anything larger than a $100 note would just make it easier for drug dealers (or other criminals) to conduct their illegal activities. The US used to have larger notes in the late 1800's early 1900's

There is no need for that. Only a small % of US$ is in paper form, the rest is electronic. Larger denominations would make it easier for organized crime to move money (as is the case with the 500€ bill, according to some reports)