Isn't a dollar worth anything?
No.
Well, not exactly.
Dollars make good wallpaper.
If you visit Charleston, South Carolina, don't miss the Griffon English Style Pub. You'll find the interior papered with dollar bills.
There are dollar bills on the walls. There are dollar bills on the ceiling. There are dollar bills plastered on the columns. No matter where you are in the establishment, you'll find easy money within arm's reach.
And yet, no one takes it.
Why would you? What are you going to do with a dollar?
Little.
In order to buy a drink you'd have to take about 10 bills off the wall.
Why not use the US currency as your wallpaper - it even has a nice shade of green!
Now, if the Griffon were wallpapered with $100 bills, the owners might have a security problem. And imagine if the bar were covered in gold coins.
But dollar bills?
No problem.
It's just not worth bothering to steal.
This wasn't always the case. A dollar in 1970 was worth about $8.44, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI-based inflation calculator. Back then, one could have picked a bill off the wall and bought a drink.