About Two Buckaroo
Two Buckaroo documents what happens when the $2 bill, our most inconspicuous piece of currency, is used in cash transactions — vastly positive experiences, but sometimes negative — and shares the stories of the waiters, bartenders, cashiers, shopkeepers, and other folks who offer up their reactions to the bill.
Two things typically happen when I spend a $2 bill: A stranger who receives the bill reacts with surprise and happiness, and then the stranger shares a personal story about a $2 bill. I almost never start the conversation — the stranger starts it. Observing and documenting what happens organically when I spend the bill is the object of this project.
Many people who are into $2 bills save them, but I spend them. I get them from banks in a bundled wad and circulate them with the hope that they’ll keep moving from hand to hand, not wind up forgotten in a shoe box under someone’s bed.
Heather McCabe
heather@twobuckaroo.com
Heather lives in Brooklyn, works as a writer and editor, runs a karaoke night, is a Scottish Highland dance student and competitor, and has had a lifelong fascination with the $2 bill. (Photograph by Reuben Radding)
Two Buckaroo Media Coverage
Podcast interview: Something Offbeat; episode: “Money or Happiness? The $2 Bill Buys Both,” Audacy, April 24, 2023
Interviewed: “Why It’s Time to Start Paying With $2 Bills,” CNN Business, September 20, 2022
Coverage of Two Buckaroo’s Dave Grohl interview on Ultimate Guitar, Alt 92.9 Boston, X96 Salt Lake City and 93.7 KCLB Coachella, February 11-12, 2019
Interviewed: “AMLO y la peculiar historia del billete de 2 dólares que el presidente de México siempre carga en su billetera,” BBC News Mundo, February 11, 2019
Discussed in podcast: “What’s the Deal With Two-Dollar Bills?” Ridiculous History podcast (How Stuff Works / Stuff Media), May 1, 2018
Mentioned in “Drake’s Favourite Lawyer Wants to Change the World With $2 Bills,” Vice, June 12, 2017
Mentioned in “The $2 Bill Finally Gets Some Love, and Its Own Movie!” Huffington Post, April 26, 2017
Podcast interview: Dead Presidents With Daniel O’Brien; episode: “Thomas Jefferson’s $2.” Howl, February 10, 2016
Movie appearances: The Two Dollar Bill Documentary, 2015
Interviewed: “The Mystery of $2 Bills,” Pacific Standard, May 15, 2015
Interviewed: “The Curious Case of the $2 Bill,” Mental Floss, May 13, 2014
Mentioned on media-news website Romenesko: Morning Report, May 7, 2014
Interviewed: “Unusual But Treasured $2 Bill to Get a Turn in the Spotlight,” South Florida Sun Sentinel, April 27, 2014
Radio interview: “Terrorists, Two Dollar Bills and Taxes,” BYU Radio, April 15, 2014
(31:36 – Start of $2 bill segment; 36:22 – Start of Two Buckaroo interview)
Interviewed: “Two Dollar Bill Is Oddity, But Some Love the Tender,” The New York Times, April 1, 2014
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