The Mutilated Currency Division

_ The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has a department called the Mutilated Currency Division.
• The bureau will accept almost any torn, chewed on, digested, discolored, blackened or shrunken dollar bill, no matter how bad it smells or how toxic its appearance.
• The bureau receives on average 200 to 300 envelopes, packages or moldy containers of mutilated currency each day. As long as at least 51 percent of a bill remains and can be verified as genuine, the bureau will, free of charge, refund the owner for the currency’s full face value.
• The bureau gets wounded U.S. money from all over the globe, and will cut checks even if someone lives in another country.
• New employees spend six months in training, where they learn how to reconstruct a note. Trainees also are taught by the Secret Service to be able to spot counterfeit notes.