Bureau of Engraving and Printing Issues New US$20 706
jea6 writes "Hot off the Western Currency Facility presses in Fort Worth! The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is issuing the new US$20 note to banks today. The newly redesigned Series 2004 $20 notes have background colors (so long, greenbacks) and improved security features. Ask your bank to send a few your way. Unlike the U.S Mint's "Golden Dollar", these notes will be issued to replace the Series 2001 note. Look for a redesigned Grant in 2004 and a new Benjamin in 2005. The US Government is spending $53,000,000 over the next 5 years to make sure everybody knows that this is a real note, so go get acquainted with one."
I Always Liked the Green Bills (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, I'm a little obsessive compulsive and my favorite color is green, but it's alright to have a biased position.
I don't get it. (Score:5, Insightful)
So, tell me, if I'm a counterfitter, why wouldn't I just copy the older bills and 'age' them in the washing machine?
Re:I Always Liked the Green Bills (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:pssst: the counterfeiters are winning (Score:1, Insightful)
Stop making our currency so irregular (Score:2, Insightful)
What's even more annoying is that small change comes in different sizes. Not only that, but the sizes are illogical. I mean come on! 5c is bigger than 10c! We need to make themn all the same size and all the same colour to remove this confusion.
Did anyone ask teh retailers? (Score:3, Insightful)
When I worked in retail where a typical purchase was about $35, we saw Twenties all day long. The only thing we did was make sure it was put in the drawer facing the same way so the manager wouldn't get upset when he did the count that night.
For $50 or $100 we had a yellow pen that you ran on the bill and the ink would be brown for a good bill, black if it was not.
THAT'S IT - there was no using a microscope to read Jackson's lips as he spoke the word "Republic".
Bottom line is, unless retailers perceive there is a problem to their bottom line because the banks won't accept their cash deposits full of bad cash, the best solution is for the mint to print fewer bills and assume a certain percentage of fraudulent bills are in circulation.
It woudl save the treasury money on ink and cotton paper!
Re:Unloved $1 Coins Keep Expensive George Around (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Thats a lot of money for... ummm... money. (Score:3, Insightful)
Hardly, i have no numbers, but the EU had a huge programme to educate people about the EURO, i wouldn't be surprised if it had cost more...
That's a very different issue - a new currency, not just a new bill. The euro was replacing many currencies at different values used by different nations, merging them into one.
Re:High time (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it is all what you are used too.
While this isn't a complete solution, at least the high-denomination notes will look different from the low-denomination notes, which will make it much less easy to, e.g., tip someone a hundred dollars instead of one.
Well, the various denominations of american money do look different from each other, they just don't use color cues to diffentiate themselves. I can't say I have had a problem accidently over tipping someone because I could not tell what the bill was that I was handing them. When you are used to ir you can tell what notes you are pulling out of your wallet without even seeing the number that is on them
You will find that, typicaly, lower denomination bills are softer and more worn. I think this is a good function of the paper that is used. I have yet to have a worn $100, and it is not too frequently that I have a crisp $1. (not that I have a lot of $100 mind you...)
Re:Euro - when will the usa adopt? (Score:3, Insightful)
all variations of "thaler","taler" and "dollar" stem from the silver coins produced at the "Joachimstaler Silvermine" (which is named after the village Saint Joachimsthal in the Erzgebirge in what is today Germany) where silver coins are produce since pretty early. You may look that up in your favourite book of etymology.
You may also know that Austrians speak german (or germans speak austrian, by the time the words came up nations like today didnt even exist).
So yes the term doller comes a word that is as much austrian as it is german. Just because some spanish guy used the term "taler" to denote something similar to a taler does not make it a spanish word.
Re:High time (Score:1, Insightful)
You can have your fancy, Fisher-Price currency...we have practical currency here.
Re:I Always Liked the Green Bills (Score:2, Insightful)
IANA human factors/ergonomics expert, but I think the BoE&P has enough on the payroll that we can safely say that the US is willing to change some ink, design and color to a certain extent, and is unwilling to change the paper stock and the size of currency notes. They can't use things like holograms (and I'd guess plastic derivatives) due to how they stress-test new notes - holograms are notoriously bad in the crumple test. Thus, the green/black metallic color changing ink on the front.
What gets me is that somehow currency got grandfathered out of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA, for those unfamiliar, basically says that facilities paid for by taxes have to be accessible to, among others, the blind. When I worked for a
It might just be that changing it would require so many infrastructure changes (every ATM, every change machine, every vending machine that takes paper money, the self-checkout lanes at the supermarkets, every machine that handles money) that Treasury just says "To hell with it."
US paper currency is archaic. BoE&P is using band-aids and moving the target, but it's not a good solution. Of course, knowing this country, if we redid currency, they'd want to put a smart chip in it or barcode or somesuch. TO PREVENT TERRORISM and oh yeah anonymity in general.
Re:Unloved $1 Coins Keep Expensive George Around (Score:2, Insightful)
I, for one, welcome our new coin overlords. Or something.
Re:I Always Liked the Green Bills (Score:3, Insightful)
Back in 1979 when Carter tried to issue the dang coins there was a LOT of outrage about it. The plan was to remove dollar bills from use and replace them with the coins and $2 bills. The plan was quickly abandoned when the market refused to use them. The golden dollar was just issued as a political stunt and was never intended to replace $1 bills. So it is met with Appathy or hoarded as trinkets. The government could have said "too bad" use them or do without but as our money system is now unbacked fiat money acceptance is required or the value of the money drops.
Re:High time (Score:4, Insightful)
One thing that is funny, though: dimes do not state their denomination. Nickels and pennies say "five cents" and "one cent" respectively, and quarters are, of course, a quarter of a dollar. But a dime just says "one dime." How useless is that?
Re:High time (Score:3, Insightful)
[snip]
Read? Picture? Overall design? What country's banknotes were you using?
Here in the US, all banknotes (including the ones which were issued by private banks 100+ years ago) are clearly marked with large, legible numbers, which (follow closely here, this is deep) indicate the denomination. We use a 1 to indicate a one dollar bill, a 20 to indicate a twenty, and so on. No reading, no picture, no overall design.
If you're blind, you're in trouble. Otherwise, there is no problem .
Re:I don't get it. (Score:3, Insightful)
I suggest you take a closer look at your bills. "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." The bills must be accepted for the payment of debts, services, etc., by U.S. law. You cannot pick which bills you will or will not accept, under U.S. law.
A common misinterpretation of the text. If you think carefully, it implies no obligation for me to accept it. Why can't I pay for my $150 grocery bill in pennies? That's "legal tender."
No, it's legal tender in that it can be used. Not that it must be accepted.
Re:I don't get it. (Score:2, Insightful)