Less money was printed by the U.S. government in December than a month earlier, and the total value of the bills made was also lower, data from the agency responsible for manufacturing U.S. currency shows.
This up and down monthly pattern has recurred since September.
342.56 million in $1s, $10s, $20s and $100s were printed last month for a total value of just over $10.6 billion, according to December production figures released by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP).
In month-over-month comparisons, the quantity of banknotes declined 36.8% and the total dollar value fell 32.9%. The type of banknotes printed in December matched those from the prior month, excluding a unique run of $2 bills in November. The biggest differences for the month resulted from 109.14 million fewer $1s, 44.8 million fewer $100s and 32 million fewer $20s. Alone in gaining, by 6.4 million, were $10s.
Here are reports from the BEP showing the type of banknotes manufactured during the month:
December 2013 BEP Money Production
Facility at Washington, DC
Facility at Fort Worth, TX
Last month the BEP produced 9.6 million $1 star notes. These are referenced by the "*" designator in the above money production charts. Star notes are replacements for misprinted notes or certain serial numbers, like 000 000 000. Money collectors find them more desirable since they are more difficult to find.
The following table lists the type, the amount and the total value of notes printed by the BEP in November:
Banknotes by Denomination: Total Printed and Values
December 2013
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 124,960,000 | 124,960,000 |
| $2.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $5.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $10.00 | 51,200,000 | 512,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 83,200,000 | 1,664,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 83,200,000 | 8,320,000,000 |
| Totals | 342,560,000 | 10,620,960,000 |
For comparison, four prior monthly money production tables are below:
November 2013
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 234,100,000 | 234,100,000 |
| $2.00 | 19,840,000 | 39,680,000 |
| $5.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $10.00 | 44,800,000 | 448,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 115,200,000 | 2,304,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 128,000,000 | 12,800,000,000 |
| Totals | 541,940,000 | 15,825,780,000 |
October 2013
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 192,000,000 | 192,000,000 |
| $5.00 | 19,200,000 | 96,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 96,000,000 | 960,000,000 |
| $20.00 | 128,480,000 | 2,569,600,000 |
| $50.00 | 3,200,000 | 160,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 3,200,000 | 320,000,000 |
| Totals | 442,080,000 | 4,297,600,000 |
September 2013
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 332,800,000 | 332,800,000 |
| $5.00 | 169,600,000 | 848,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 2,176,000 | 21,760,000 |
| $20.00 | 6,400,000 | 128,000,000 |
| $50.00 | 57,600,000 | 2,880,000,000 |
| $100.00 | 615,040,000 | 61,504,000,000 |
| Totals | 1,183,616,000 | 65,714,560,000 |
August 2013
| Banknotes | Total Printed | Total Value ($) |
| $1.00 | 192,000,000 | 192,000,000 |
| $5.00 | 83,200,000 | 416,000,000 |
| $10.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $20.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $50.00 | 0 | 0 |
| $100.00 | 313,920,000 | 31,392,000,000 |
| Totals | 589,120,000 | $32,000,000,000 |
So where do the $2 notes go? Banks in my area say they aren’t available at face value anymore. Are they all shipped to TV cable networks for resale?
The Banks have to order the $2 notes.
You may get lucky and have a bank that has a few in stock.
They can order them for you if you ask. A good relationship with your banker is key here. The downside is that You may have to wait until the next printing.
Thanks I will try that.
The relationship I have with banks is they take my money and use it for .001 APR and they give me a credit card where I can use their money at 21-28 APR. There seem to be some huge charges for being late or doing anything special for a customer.
Otherwise they don’t want to be bothered and just make up some false objection to any other requests. Probably some more fees but now that we have the correct info we will try.
Series 2009s $1.00 Star Notes total 5000 sheets = 160,000 notes. Very Low printing amount. I’m not a Star Note collector, but I would like to find a few of these, CU, sequential…grade those babies and get ’em on E-Bay for some over face premiums. P.T. Barnum would be dancing in his grave if he saw what people pay for paper !!!
I saw people selling the new $100 bills on “the Bay”, no special serial numbers, just new and sequential, making heavy premiums for what you could get from most any bank. Amazing !!!
You may have better luck with smaller community banks or even credit unions for getting $2 bills and other “odd” denominations like half dollars and dollar coins.
When my old bank wouldn’t get them for me, I looked around for a bank that would get those denominations (and keep them in stock) and then moved my deposits over to my current bank. My old bank apparently did not want my business and/or was not interested in customer service so they lost out.