Getting cash is not something that usually elicits groans, but that’s what sometimes happens when someone is handed a $50 bill. For many people, a fifty is more of a burden than a pleasure, for reasons both practical and bordering on the silly. But despite their unpopularity in some quarters, $50 bills are having something of a renaissance.
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A record number of the notes were printed in 2022 — more than 756 million, according to data from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That was the highest total for the $50 bill in more than 40 years. In 2019, only 3.5% of all U.S. bills printed were $50, but that percentage more than doubled to 8.5% in 2022.
The reason so many $50 bills are being produced these days mainly has to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, when people started hoarding cash — not so much because they planned to spend it, but because they just liked the comfort of having cash on hand during uncertain economic and political times. It was easier to build up a large cash trove with $50 bills than smaller denominations, which increased their demand.
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The printing of different denominations has returned to normal levels this year. The Federal Reserve’s order for $50 bills to be produced in 2024 is less than one-third the total in 2022. According to a Fed report, consumers” continue to hold a significant amount of cash that may be unlikely to be used for daily purchases.”
That means a lot of $50 bills are still out there. Here are four reasons the denomination is so unpopular:
- Many stores don’t like them, either: Some businesses don’t accept $50 bills, and even those that do might not have change for them. In many cases you might have to buy close to $50 worth of merchandise just to be able to use the bill — whether you want that much merchandise or not.
- They’re easy to get mixed up with other currencies. One way U.S. currency differs from other currencies is that all the bills are the same size and roughly the same color, meaning that the $5 bill you thought you gave as a tip could have been a $50 bill if you weren’t paying attention.
- They feature Ulysses S. Grant: Grant might have led the Union Army to victory in the U.S. Civil War, but he was not considered a particularly good president. What’s more, he went bankrupt — which some people see as a sign of bad luck, according to CNN. There have even been efforts to replace Grant with someone else on the fifty, but so far that hasn’t happened.
- They are bad luck. This, of course, only applies to people who believe a piece of paper can carry “luck” in the first place. But some professional gamblers and casinos don’t like to carry $50 bills because they’re considered a jinx, CNN noted. This is partly because early Las Vegas investor and infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel was rumored to have died with only $50 bills in his pockets when he was brutally gunned down in Beverly Hills in 1947.
Whether you should avoid $50 bills really depends on what you want them for. If you aim to spend them at a store, you should first check the store’s policy on accepting large bills. Similarly, if you want to buy gambling chips with a $50 bill at a casino, make sure the casino accepts it. However, if you have a lot of cash lying around that you want to deposit in the bank, $50 bills work as well as any other currency.
Fifties also make nice holiday gifts when tucked inside a greeting card — and chances are the recipient won’t have a problem accepting it.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Reasons People Don’t Like To Use $50 Bills — Should You Avoid Them, Too?
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