- buy a pack of gum with a counterfeit $100, get 98 real dollars back
- even with legit currency, it can throw off the drawer. Business might have a policy for cashiers to never have more than, say, $200 in the drawer. Force half of that to be your $100, and now the cashier has crippled change-making ability. Business have this policy to make them less tempting to rob and limit the damage if they are.
I have walked out of a few places when they said they either do not accept $100 bills or cash at all. This is how we pressure businesses and fight back in the war on cash. But if you are just buying a pack of gum, you should be considerate of transaction costs for them.
Grocery stores still accept $100s. It is the places where the average purchase is much smaller (or robberies are more common), like coffee shops or convenience stores. Gas stations might accept the bill but only if the change needed is under $20. And then they drop the bill in the safe, rather than put it in the till.
It was not uncommon for someone to show up with their paycheck to do their weekly shopping, handing it over to the cashier and taking the rest in change. The amount of cash that worked through a busy grocery store must have been pretty amazing.
Most tills don't have change for a $100, and the clerk isn't allowed to accept it even if (latter in the shift) there was, so while you can pay with one a manager needs to be called to do the transaction. Every time I've paid with a $100 they need to scramble to find enough change, i've even been turned away because they don't have enough cash on hand to give me change.
I'm surprise when places will even accept them. Was at harbor freight a day ago and the total for my two items came to $98 and I mentioned to the clerk "Wish I could just give you a Benjamin right now", he said, "You can we accept them", "Would if I had one!"
Then paid with card. That was the first time for me a dollar total made sense to pay with a $100
People don't like accepting them because 1. It feels like a huge denomination, and with that comes fear of mishandling and counterfeits, and 2. You have to then make change... and you only have so much of that
And then on the customer's side, you're just back to carrying a bunch of 20's and 10's
circulating bills don’t have to be in your wallet. 100 dollar bills are primarily used as stores of cash abroad and for illicit wealth. which is why despite the fact you raised people will be skeptical when you try to pay with one.
A quick peek at the Fed suggests there are more $100 bills in circulation than $1s: https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currcircv...