Plastic $100 bill meant to be foolproof
 

Toronto Sun

Dale Carruthers, QMI Agency
31.8.2011

London, Ontario

The new $100 bill will be out in November and while the Bank of Canada is busy promoting it, don't be in a hurry to cash one at some local businesses.

The new bills, made of polymer, a plastic film, have their strong points: they're more environmentally friendly, more secure, and they last longer than paper money.

But some businesses have a policy of not taking $100 notes -- no how, no way.

That's what QMI Agency found out when visiting a handful of downtown businesses. The businesses cited counterfeit bills, scammers and an inability to make change as reasons for not taking large bills.

But Manuel Parreira, a spokesperson for the Bank of Canada, says he wants businesses to be comfortable accepting the new $100 bills.

The note features security features including transparent text, hidden numbers (visible with a single-point light source) and raised ink.

"You shouldn't be hesitant to accept $100 bills," Parreira said. "The idea really is to get people to accept them with confidence by knowing the security features. We want people to use our money."

Parreira gave QMI Agency a sneak preview of the new $100 bank note Tuesday.

While the new note still features the face of Sir Robert Borden, Canada's eighth prime minister, the bill looks, feels and even smells different than its paper predecessor.

The note is smooth to the touch, unlike paper money. It also has holographic images and a frosted maple leaf.

The polymer bills will cost almost twice as much to produce as the paper variety, but will last 2.5 times longer, Parreira said.

"In the long run it's actually cost-effective," he said.

And not all businesses have a problem with $100 bills.

Joe Strano, owner of Strano's Italian Bakery in the Covent Garden Market, said he gets the odd customer paying with a large bill.

"Right now I take $100 bills, $50 bills, whatever," he said. "Why wouldn't people take them?

"It's a currency . . . Everybody's got to start accepting them."

Over the next two years, all the country's remaining paper bank notes -- the $50, the $20, the $10 and the $5 -- will be converted to plastic.

"Our intention is to replace anything that is paper with polymer," Parreira said.

Weaning Canadians off paper bank notes marks the biggest change in the national money system since the introduction of the loonie in 1987, followed by the toonie in 1996.

By the numbers

19 cents: cost of polymer $100 bill
10 cents: cost of paper $100 bill
17-20 years: lifespan of polymer $100 bill
7-8 years: lifespan of paper $100 bill
280 million: $100 bills in circulation