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Wed 29 Oct, 2003 10:31 am
The U.S. government has never been one to win prizes for thinking ahead:
Quote:New $20 Bill Causes Problems in Machines
Wed Oct 29, 8:05 AM ET
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
WICHITA, Kan. - As colorful new $20 bills circulate around the nation, more consumers are finding out that the notes do not work on automated payment machines like those found in self-service checkout counters at grocery stores.
The first calls started coming into the U.S. Treasury Department (news - web sites)'s Bureau of Engraving and Printing two days ago, frustrating government officials who had worked to overcome the vending machine problems that followed the 1998 redesign of the bill.
This time the problem seems to plague mostly automated payment machines ?- a relatively recent arrival in the industry, the bureau said.
"We learned from our lack of outreach last time, and we really made an effort to reach out to thousands of business industries and associations so they can start working with their customers and members," said Dawn Haley, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
When the colorful $20 bill was officially introduced into circulation Oct. 9, the first purchase made with it was stamps from a vending machine at a Washington, D.C., post office.
The ceremonial purchase was no accident. "The postal service wasn't ready last time too ?- so we worked really hard with them," Haley said. "We definitely wanted to showcase the fact the U.S. Postal Service was ready."
After the problems following the 1998 redesign, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing wanted to make sure its latest version was technology friendly.
So more than a year before the new bills were put into circulation, the bureau reached out to the vending machine industry, transit authorities and the gambling industry to help them get ready for the new bills, Haley said.
Vending machine manufacturers received test decks of currency to try out on their software and hardware.
But nobody thought about the automated payment machines until the first calls started coming in to the bureau after the new currency was put into circulation.
"The self-service group is really new," Haley said.
A sign on the automated checkouts at Dillon grocery stores now advises customers to trade their new $20 bills for older bills before using the machines. A similar sign is posted at payment machines at the 600 Sprint stores nationwide.
"This is a minor inconvenience for our customers right now," said Dan Wilinsky, a spokesman for Sprint. The company expects to upgrade its machines to accept the bills within a month, he said.
Manufacturers of various vending and money changing machines are advertising software and hardware upgrades on the Internet that range in cost from free to $40 per machine.
Have you encountered a problem because of the new bills?
Nope, not yet. But I did get several of the bills as cash back from a WalMart Automated Payment thingy. Ironic, isn't it?
Wasn't there a problem with the new $5 bills too?
No fair!!!
I have yet to see one of these bills. I am looking forward to it with eager anticipation...
I was in Washington D.C. on October 15, got a bunch of brand new ones at the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. Even saw them being printed. Loved the sign on one employee's desk...
Think your job is depressing? I print my entire lifetime salary every few minutes.
They've been around Connecticut for weeks. I much preferred the old style bills. I think the new twenty's look like Banana Republic money.
I will give you my address... could you send me a few ?
The new twenties look as though someone had run them through a washing machine in a brand new pair of levis, leaving them stained. They look goofy.
That said, in the more than 50 years of my life, there has been no change in the currency until quite recently, so i would suspect it is rather self-indulgent to complain about what other populations routinely experience. The only significant change in money in my lifetime has been the change in "change"--in 1964, the amount of silve in the coinage was reduced from .900 fine to .400 fine, and then in 1969, reduced to less than .050 fine, now using silver only to lend "color."
If they change the $100 again, the Ruskies will **** themselves--they are always suspicious of changes in bank notes, with good reason, and ol' Ben Franklin is the currency of choice there. I heard a few years ago on one of the "big three" network news shows that there was at that time 19,000,000,000 in c-notes circulating in Russia.
Setanta
A few years back "60 Minutes" did a piece on the Russian love affair with US one hundred dollar bills.
Only brand new one hundred dollar bills!
It seems that suitcases of these bills are shipped to Russia weekly and they are used by wealthy Russians (legitimate and othewise) to use.....however.
They wil not use (or even think valuable) any bill that shows any wear whatsoever.
Only brand new bills in packages of tens of thousands are considered "real". Used bills are considered suspect!
But what I still would like to know is what ever happened to the tens of millions of gold colored one dollar coins with the Indian Lady on the head?
Yes, I realize that the public never liked them but what happens to all that so called "money"......sitting around in government vaults?
It just sits, forever?
Well, actually it is used in some parts of the country. When my sweetie and I drove through Maine a few summers back, the vending machines at the rest stops accepted those coins, and every self checkout machine i've ever seen accepts them. Coincidentally, i got one in my change at a Wendy's outside London, Ontario the week before last. I told the girl behind the counter: "Hey, this is a U.S. dollar, not a Loony, are you sure you want to give this to me?" (A Loony is Canajun dollar coin, and a U.S. dollar was worth about $1.30 Canajun that week.) She replied that it was no good to her.
As people often have been in history, the Russians have been cheated on the exchange rate whenever new currency has been issued. They are deeply mistrustful of such an occurrance. When the "new" bank notes came out, including the c-note, i saw a hilarious little news item on the tee-vee. It showed a puzzled-looking embassy staff member in Moscow telling the Russian media that a hundred dollar bill is a hundred dollar bill is a hundred dollar bill. You could tell he really didn't understand what the fuss was all about--Americans wouldn't even think about this, money is money, and a c-note is worth $100 any day, and any description of the bill. I understand that to help out the Russian government, the U.S. shipped a great many bills to Moscow and St. Petersburg for people to exchange, one for one, so that they would stop being suspicious.
I get those dollar coins in a vending machine at work. Put a twenty into it, it drops 20 of the coins. What a racket walking around with those in your pocket.
I like 'em, myself. I wouldn't mind seeing the one dollar bill phased out in favor of the coin. Sure, it's more of a hassle to carry around. . .but the idea just appeals to me.
The Canajuns don't have a bill smaller than a five--they have a dollar coin ("Loony" because a loon is portrayed on it) and a two dollar coin ("Toony" for obvious reaons). Makes perfectly good sense to me. Americans would howl. Depending upon your age, you may recall the SBA dollar bru-ha-ha, with conservatives howling about it, because, i guess, opposing all change is basic to their agenda. That, and the fact that a woman was prominent on the coin. Hard to say with right-wingers, given the lack of any demonstrable thought processes.
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