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Interesting Facts About Money
- $1 bills wear out in about 17 months. If you were to stack all the worn out dollar bills for one year, they would reach 200 miles in the air. Bills of larger denomination last longer because they are used less. Several billion notes per year are currently being printed. To keep up with demand, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing often keeps its currency presses running day and night. These presses are located at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC and Fort Worth, TX.
- A $1 bill costs about 3 cents to make, and a $100 bill costs the same. Security at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is extremely tight. There are several hundred closed-circuit video cameras, several thousand alarms, and an army of security officers. Obviously there are not many windows.
- The paper for money is made specially for the Bureau by a Massachusetts paper maker and is shipped to Washington and Fort Worth by armored truck. Possession of the blank paper by outsiders is a federal crime. Genuine currency paper is one quarter linen and three quarters cotton.
- The Office of Currency Standards at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing provides a free public service for those people who have been careless with their money. Their specially trained currency examiners armed with small tools pick through mutilated money searching for redeemable currency. If they can find 51% of a bill, they will redeem it.
- Though best known for protecting presidents, the U.S. Secret Service first set up shop in 1865 specifically to combat counterfeiting. At the time, between one third and one half of all paper money was thought to be phony. That proportion has dropped considerably, but computers and new copy machines have created new challenges for the Secret Service. As usual, however, they keep several steps ahead of counterfeiters.
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