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This article details the processes and challenges involved in manufacturing paper money by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. The bureau prides itself on putting out a superior product. No commonly handled manufactured goods are more painstakingly produced that are the nation's bills and coins. Yet few products are handled with such brutal disregard by consumers. Cases of burned, buried and oil-soaked currency arrives at the bureau for replacement. In many ways, the production of cash is like that of shoes or skis or playing cards. Coins and paper money have design-review committees, physical life spans, sudden shortages and occasional factory seconds. The money business even has its share of marketing fiascos. In other ways, producing money is not a bit like producing playing cards or shoes. In the case of paper money, the distinctive features is its markup. The bureau's facility has high-security system especially in the engraving department to prevent production of counterfeit money. Bank note engravers cut patterns in quarter-inch-thick steel plates using antique, hand-held styluses called gravers. Every image is composed of hand-cut dots, dashes and lines.