The dirty dollar

I realize that dollar bills aren’t supposed to last forever.  The shelf life of paper currency, I believe, is about two years in heavy circulation.  If a bill survives for decades in circulation and it somehow ends up in my possession, I’ll put the bill aside and save it for a special purchase.

Well, the dollar I received in change the other day… that went through a TON of heavy circulation, I suspect.

There it is on the right.  This bill was produced in 2009, but from all the wear and tear on the bill itself, this dollar looks like it went through more than its standard share of use and abuse.   The ink looks like it was scrubbed off the paper.  The bill’s barely holding together along a center fold.  Trust me.  I’ve tried putting this bill in a vending machine, and the machine spits it back out as if it were coated in cod liver oil.

Arrgh.

This dollar bill shouldn’t bother me.  A dollar is a dollar, there’s no difference as far as the U.S. Government cares.  But a bill like this… I don’t want this dirty dollar in my wallet.  It’s bad juju.

So what do you do with a dirty dollar?

Any bank will exchange a worn dollar for a fresh new dollar bill or dollar coin upon request.  Simple enough.

But what if the paper currency was more damaged than the bill you see here?  Again, if there’s at least 51% of the bill intact, you can get reimbursed.  According to this website, if your money has been damaged by fire, flooding, mildew or munching mice, you can send it to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  Here’s another website with more information on what to do with your mutilated money.

So what can I do with this dirty dollar?  I mean, I could fold it into some dollar origami if I wanted to…

Or maybe I could just write some “good luck” message in black Sharpie marker and give it to the guys at the Brown Bag in Troy the next time I have a call for 3:30 a.m. munchies.

Or maybe I’ll just drop the dollar in a collection plate at a charity event, or deposit it in a tip jar.

Or I could just fold it into a paper airplane and throw it as far across the room as it will go.  Yeah, the way this bill is looking, it’ll probably nose-dive right onto my shoes.

You know what?

No matter what I do with this dollar…

It’ll be a better fate for it than if I just kept it.  Because if I kept this dollar around… then all I’m going to think about is how worn out it is, and how I don’t want bad, dirty dollars sharing space in my wallet with all the good dollars.

Somewhere along the line, that dollar will leave my possession.  Whatever might happen to it… I don’t care.  As long as I get my dollar’s worth of usage out of it… even if it looks like it went through hell and back… I’ll be fine with that.

And whoever gets the dollar after me… let them deal with whatever bad juju that dollar might contain.