Why are bills freshly printed when buying foreign currency? I've used the same exchange for 15 years or so now and I've noticed the bills I receive have always been fresh and I don't mean they just look "flat" and "neat". My curiosity grew to the point I put them under a scope and there isn't so much as a microtear on the notes.
They're USD notes to be specific if that makes a difference.
Apologies if I'm in the wrong community, this seemed like the best fit.
It's likely that the exchange you use has a single direction of that particular currency, or if it's not single direction, the "return" direction is a much smaller volume. The exchange has to purchase the notes and use what is also likely a structured process for the volume typically used by this exchange. The bank would require an advance notification for specific quantities and would remove them from the vault, to be packaged for delivery by appropriately armored transport. The bank is not likely to take publicly distributed paper money, if any existed in the country, but would rather keep it in circulation with the tellers.
You may discover that your notes have consecutive serial numbers as well.
Source: I was an IT service person for a financial institution during the last century and observed tons (tonnes) of paper and coin distribution and asked tons (tonnes) of questions. Tellers and cashiers informed me that fresh notes require more handling caution to prevent double "dispensing" and loss, when manipulated by human hands.
