A sanitizing system for sanitizing currency bills at a retailer has a sanitizing apparatus that has an inlet for the insertion therethrough currency bills by a customer, the sanitizing apparatus including a reader for reading the currency bills to establish the total monetary value thereof, and for issuing a receipt to the customer reflecting the total monetary value. A reader located adjacent a cash register at the retailer reads the receipt and accepts the total monetary value as cash tender for merchandize being purchased. A counterfeit detector tests the currency bills and rejects currency bills that do not meet predetermined genuine criteria.