I thought you'd either get a chuckle out of this, and some may even find a use for it for your classes. Track Georges and Track Willys--dollar bills, that is.
kelley
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Ever wonder where your dollar bills have been or where they will go next? Then www.wheresgeorge.com is the place to find out. (For Canadians, the site is called: www.whereswilly.com). Just enter the denomination, series, and serial number of any U.S. dollar bill, and your current USA zipcode. If the bill you enter has been entered previously, you will get back a list of all the cities/states where that bill has been. If the bill has not been entered before, you started the list! Users mark the money with the URL www.wheresgeorge.com before spending it.
There is a counter at the site, updated frequently, that states (similarly): "George says: 'We now have 1,070,048 users who have entered 15,875,052 bills, totalling $93,802,221 worth of U.S. currency!'" The registered bills are a fraction of the estimated 20 billion bills in circu- lation.
The Federal Reserve states that the average $1 bill wears out after 18 months. The life of a $100 bill, which is in circulation less frequently, lasts about nine years.
Hank Eskin, 34, of Brookline, MA founded the Internet site www.wheresgeorge.com "The Great American Dollar Bill Locator" in 1998. Eskin doesn't officially recognize the bill that's travelled farthest. But anecdotally, at least, one travelled from New Jersey to Ireland and back.
Eskin, who holds an MBA from the prestigious Wharton School and has a day job as a database architect, says the idea for the site struck him on the way to lunch one day. Eskin says he's entered only about 400 bills himself. Although he makes no profit, he prefers maintaining the site and interacting with people who are clearly enjoying it.
He acknowledges the site isn't for everybody. Some people tell him they think it's stupid. But many regular visitors are very faithful, and more than 1,000 new users a day visit the site.