Next time you hear someone complain that the government does nothing but print more and more money, you might want to place a big bet that the opposite is true. The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, established in 1877, is actually printing fewer paper money bills now than 20 years ago. First point of clarification: The US Mint churns out coins. The Bureau churns out bills in $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. It also prints $2 bills as well, although none have been printed since 2006. About 95% of the notes printed each year are used to replace notes already in or taken out of circulation -- small denomination bills generally last about six months.
The Bureau printed no $50 bills in 2010 -- odd since that's about what it costs to fill the average gas tank. Then again, it printed no $10 bills in 2010 either. It 'only' printed 1.856 billion $1 bills in 2010, down from 5.145 billion in 2001. The big winner in the currency printing process was the $100 bill -- 1.907 billion bills were printed in 2010, up from 201.6 million in 2001. Still, the number of bills produced is at its lowest clip in two decades.
* 6.381 billion bills printed in 2010
* 9.093 billion bills printed in 2000
* 7.002 billion bills printed in 1990
* 4.167 billion bills printed in 1980
The decline in paper money production can be directly linked to production and material changes that made the bills more durable and to rise of alternative payment options -- credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, etc. The latter offers a bad news - good news development. The bad news: politicians being bribed with a gift card makes for poor television compared to taking an envelope full of cash. The good news: teenage cashiers can avoid being confused over making change.
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