In the US, $2 bills and 50 cent coins are uncommon so it feels more special when you get them.

From an autistic POV: it allows me to more-greatly acknowledge goodness, per dollar spent [because of perceived rarity — I get bills free from bank].

Ahhh. That makes sense :(

The fact that you have to go to the bank to get them (vs say from the ATM), also shows that you put thought and effort into the gift. So you way of saying "thank you for giving a shit" in itself rings more true, you gave a shit about thanking someone rather than an empty "hey thanks".

What's your bank? Mine always charges me $2 for mine

Regional credit union. Whether I've been broke (or not), they've never charged for denominational straps. I do often have to "order" twos (returning a week later).

Yep. I carry a few of them in my glove compartment and use them whenever I see lemonade stands in the summer. The kids go crazy when they see them

But why $2.50. Seems like an cheap tip.

A $5 would be 2x better

The math checks out.

It’s the recognition, not solely the value, which it is being conveyed. $2.50 is still worth more than $0.00.

Does that distinction matters to the person who the $2.00 and $0.50 is handed to? That’s an exercise left up to the reader to try.

Addendum: I interpreted the OPs comment to be regarding appreciation of people who work in roles not typically tipped in the course of their service.

Tipping with $2 bills was a "cool" thing oldsters would do, because the bills are a novelty but not actually that hard to get. They'd also give them for birthday money and such (I have a bunch in an envelope somewhere for that reason).

You're right that at this point you'd need to be giving out a lot of them each time for it to count for much. Dollars are worth so little that we're beyond "let's get rid of pennies" and approaching "WTF is the point of coins smaller than the quarter?"

[EDIT] That first bit comes off as harsher than I meant. I just mean that this was a more common thing years back, lots of folks of a certain generation (or couple of generations) did it, and at this point I can definitely see how giving out $2 bills, which was once novel (though when the eighth older person did it in a year, not so novel...) and also a decent amount of money, is getting into "yeah, thanks for the two whole quarters, grandpa, I'll be sure to buy a candy bar with them when I get several more" territory, thanks to inflation.

[EDIT EDIT] I'm struggling with internalizing new prices, too, incidentally. I've finally learned that when my kids get $10 it is not worth getting them excited about going to get a toy with it. They'll need, bare minimum, double that amount, and even then there won't be a lot of options after tax. There's almost nothing they can get with $10 but candy or shitty collectible (ahem, kiddy gambling) card crap.

At the risk of going too far OT, here's a story of how I did something different that wasn't expensive but was still seen fondly by all concerned.

So ~15 years ago our son had been invited to his best friend's birthday party. Unsurprisingly, the birthday boy had a list of electronic toys on his gift list, as had become tradition.

While my wife and I were out shopping for said gift, she located one of the electronic items. Probably a game cart for whatever was popular at the time.

Meanwhile, I had come across something that had stirred up fond memories of my own: a sleeping bag + flashlight (+ some other related item) combo. Woo :)

We decided to get both the game and the sleeping bag combo, just in case the latter wasn't well-received.

At the birthday party, I think literally every other gift was for his gaming system. Once he opened the sleeping bag gift, he, his mom, and at least a few of the other kids had a "wait - okay that's different and kinda cool" reaction.

Even if he never went camping with them, I hope he got many hours of use out of that sleeping bag and flashlight. I know I did with mine.

I believe it’s a way to reward the person for going above and beyond of what is expected of them, and for caring enough to do a good job.

Indeed, additionally - these are not "common" currency pieces. It isn't the monetary value, but the novelty in acquiring such pieces to give out.

"I gave a shit enough to go out of my way to get these, and carry them. Now I am giving one to you because you gave a shit enough to go out of YOUR way. Thank you."

Amen, my virtual brother.

May a real $2.50 some-time-soon cross your path.

It's a strange and oddly specific amount. Being transferred any value less than about $10 feels like more of an insult than anything, to me. Might as well be handing out gold star stickers and a lollipops.

If you are making $7.25 an hour serving several dozen people in that hour, $2.50 is a small but meaningful recognition of gratitude. It will not set one up for financial independence but should generate a moment of goodwill between two human beings.

(As well, I'm a Canadian but I believe those are unusual currency denominations so another little plus).

I think for a lot of people, even some on the ever bubbly hacker news, amounts less than $10 are still not considered insulting (context depending).

It has nothing to do with the amount. It’s an uncommon item with real value. Gold stars and lollipops are not US currency.

Also, I hope most people don’t believe a gift of less than $10 usd is an insult. It’s not nothing.

I would honestly be delighted to receive a free lollipop

I think I would even enjoy someone handing me a gold star sticker.

Once we get settled at our new house, I plan to send out some postcards with a quick note on them. It's been a pretty big move.

I figure that's enough of a lost art that someone might actually think "oh cool" and either pin it to the cork board or add to a shoebox of keepsakes.

Two dollar bills are really cool. I haven't even seen a 50c coin myself, need to track one of those down.

Looks like you can get $100 worth of half dollar coins for $147 from the US Mint https://catalog.usmint.gov/kennedy-2023-half-dollar-200-coin...

Pro tip: Go to your bank and you can order $100 worth of half dollars for $100.00.

Pro-er tip: You can also do this with two dollar bills.

yea - U.S. Mint is a ripoff

If you order $200 worth of two dollar bills, you'll likey get uncirculated bills, in a strap so you can feel gangsta/baller/whateverthe cool kids are saying these days.

Thank you for the wonderful tip. I am going to order these coins to handover to kids for Halloween. I am sure that they will love this unusual gift.

I am offering each visitor two candies, and the option to instead receive a half-dollar for each rejected tooth-decayer.

Yes, I'm the "full-sized candy guy" because I don't want the neighborhood kids vandalizing / stealing from my vehicles. Yes, I'm that old. Yes, my neighborhood is that sketchy.

A price I'm willing to offer. So far, no burglaries (and I leave the doors unlocked).

it's a novelty, they're not super common, and it has nothing to do with the monetary amount. Gold stars don't have any value either, yet they can represent something really special to both the giver and receiver.

You should try and look past the literal aspects of things.

Ah, the uncommonness aspect is completely lost on non-US audiences (such as myself)

To give another example: there was a small restaurant in my hometown that gave change in two dollar bills. It's sort of an easy way to be pleasantly quirky.

Ok agree. It makes no sense and is annoying for anyone to be given $2.50 as a tip.

I did the same with silver dollars for a long time,. Gave them as tips eating out but it sucks if your not autistic because everyone is confused/overly excited.

It's worth about $15 but people would think they won the lottery when I gave them a coin. That's why I stopped.

Junk silver is selling at my local coin store for 21x nominal value.

This makes leaving a Franklin half dollar all-the-more rewarding [to an observant recipient]. For reference, a Franklin half dollar is 90% silver. It is also, IMHO, the most-beautifully-surfaced US coin ever produced. It "tings."

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It is in my fantasies that I had reason to celebrate a grand-enough "night on the town" as to leave just a single golden buffalo coin as payment [about $2000USD].