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Re: man exhanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed doll
tomtuttle #216842 07/30/08 05:03 PM
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axiomite
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Tom, I'm easily confused. . .


***********
"Nothin' up my sleeve. . ." --Bullwinkle J. Moose
Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
terzaghi #216846 07/30/08 05:18 PM
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Yeah, I saw this story on CNN. My home was built in 1910 by a doctor, and part of the basement is just dirt. My wife and I joke that we should dig it up and see if he buried any money during the depression.

In college (10 years ago) I worked at a bank as a teller. You'd be amazed at what people bring in. I remember spending one afternoon going through a paper bag filled with burned-up money, trying to salvage as many bills as possible for a customer.

And as far as this guy is concerned, I guarantee that the IRS knows all about him. Any cash amount over $3,000 presented to a bank is reported to the IRS. Amounts over $10,000 get even more paperwork. Which is probably a prime reason why we used to do lots of Money Orders to persons of dubious citizenship for $2,990 cash.




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Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
PeterChenoweth #216868 07/30/08 08:15 PM
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Hey, I was 15 years old. I hadn't learned about morals yet.

Pete: Burnt money? How much of the dollar had to be intact?


Farewell - June 4, 2020
Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
nickbuol #216871 07/30/08 08:28 PM
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I am guessing it is at least 50% \:\)


-David
Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
terzaghi #216874 07/30/08 08:54 PM
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When I worked there, we were told that the official US Treasury rule is that 51% of a bill is still considered legal currency. Of course, how in the world could you tell the difference between 49% and 51%? You can't, exactly. We did once have some guy come in and try to exchange a few precisely cut bills for new ones. He was smart enough to not include two halves with equal serial numbers, but he was obviously trying to turn one bill into two.

So how did we handle it? Serial numbers. In order to exchange a damaged bill for a new one, we had to have all of one serial number and at least one whole digit of the second. Taped up, stapled or paper-clipped back together from shards was fine (I've seen it all...), but we just had to have those serial numbers. That guaranteed that we were replacing one old bill with one new bill.

In the case of the burnt bag of money, you can imagine what it looked like. As I recall, there weren't but a handful of bills that we could salvage. Hard to say how much was supposedly in there, but I'd guess maybe 5% of the value, based on the fragments we found. Most of it was ash or burnt beyond recognition. I never did learn the story behind it, but it was a good example of why it's not a good idea to keep a lot of money lying around.

And all those old bill remnants get sent to the nearest Federal Reserve for destruction.

The *vast* majority of damaged bills were simply ripped at a corner, which was NBD to replace. We'd occasionally get some that had been through a serious wash though. We treated these with some degree of suspicion, because that's a major way that counterfeiters try to pass their bills. I actually caught a couple of counterfeit bills while I worked there. Always fun to get to call the Secret Service. ;\)


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Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
PeterChenoweth #216879 07/30/08 09:16 PM
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But to add to the topic, the most money I've ever found was about $50.

Many years ago, as a young teen-ager, my parents had asked me to rake up the leaves in our front yard. About halfway through raking, I found a $5 bill in the leaves. Stuffed it in my pocket and didn't think much of it. A few minutes later, I found a $20. That got my attention. Raking continued and by the time I was done, I had found another $5 or two and a $10. All told, about $50, as I recall.

It didn't belong to anyone else in my family and my parents swore that it wasn't some sort of plant. I believe them as they wouldn't have paid me that much just to rake the leaves.

It was a good haul for an afternoon of leaf raking for a 13-14 year old kid. \:\)


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Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
PeterChenoweth #216887 07/30/08 10:15 PM
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And never once did it occur to you that you should just leaf it there?










God. I crack myself up.


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Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
MarkSJohnson #216896 07/30/08 10:43 PM
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I'll crack you up! Like a twig!


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
Ken.C #216902 07/30/08 11:51 PM
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You're giving me a woody, d00d.

Re: man exchanges 5.2 million muddy decomposed dollars
anthony11 #216903 07/31/08 12:15 AM
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Well, I think it's important to branch out from my usual function.


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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