If one dollar bill can go far; imagine the lengths a two dollar bill will travel. This is exactly what the Maho Group, one of the largest employers on St. Maarten, intends to test when it pay its staff annual bonuses partial with US two-dollar bills.
The annual bonus will be paid via the regular payroll system, but the first US $100 will be paid in cash to each employees of the Maho Group with US two-dollar bills. This means every employee will receive 50 of the seldom seen US two-dollar bills to spend. This will put some 32,500 of this rare official US tender note into circulation on St. Maarten/St. Martin.
"Each US $2 bill that circulates on the island will be reminder of the Maho Group’s commitment to our loyal and hardworking employees and to the economy of St. Maarten," said Armando Pizzuti, Maho Group Vice President Hotel Operations.
Marco de Jong of the Maho Group said the hotel company is always looking for new ways to keep employees motivated and inventive avenues to keep its resorts on the forefront of vacationers and residents’ minds.
The rare US $2 bills will be paid the employees of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino, Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort Casino and Spa, Royal Islander Club, and La Terrasse.
The stack of US $2 bills, official and legal tender at all businesses, has been brought in specifically for the Maho Group by Scotiabank.
The United States two-dollar bill ($2) is a current denomination of U.S. currency. The third U.S. President (1801–09), Thomas Jefferson is featured on the obverse of the note. The reverse features an engraved modified reproduction of the painting The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull.
The bill was discontinued in 1966, but was reintroduced 10 years later as a potential cost-saving measure. Today, it is seldom seen in circulation, and as a result, the production of the note is the lowest of U.S. banknotes: fewer than on per cent of all notes currently produced are $2 bills.