Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Fort Worth

What a great tour to see how our paper money is made and managed. The staff was really friendly. Down on the production floor, the staff would routinely look up and interact with us while on the tour. At one point a gentleman down on the floor asked us to guess how much was in a stack that had just come off the printer, it was sheets of $100 notes and they were about three feet high. It was $16 million in one stack. Fascinating. Highly recommend this tour to help educate yourself and especially children about why money is something that should be managed and respected.

It was a little drizzly the day we visited the mint. There is a security lobby right off the parking lot where you walk through metal detectors. A trolley then takes you to the actual building where the money is printed. The self-tour is interesting. I never realized how much work went into making our money. I just figured a few copy machines and that was it. The people that worked there were very friendly and knowledgeable (except that they would not tell you how the money bundles were transported out of the facility). The only recommendation that I would have for them and for you, the visitor, is to use a sanitary wipe to clean the hand-held audio speakers that you hold up to your ear. You could tell that many people used them beforehand.