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 Replies: 15 / Views: 4,709 |
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Valued Member
United States
439 Posts |
It looks like their was a problem in the printing process of the new $100. The paper was folding over leaving a blank area on the note. They are hoping to automate the system to find the proiblems and kick them out but I am sure some of them will get through. They will make a nice find. This value of this error is over 10% of all dollars in print worldwide. Only the ogvernment. Here is a link of the article. I don't know if that is ok or not but I will try. http://www.cnbc.com/id/40521684 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
haha it's been reported before, but hopefully this new round of media coverage will make the BEP at least try to fix it faster. Interestingly... http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/newsrel/.../2010_36.htmCA's license just got a makeover, and they're having problems with the quality of the card blanks/machine/etc... No wonder I've been waiting 9 weeks already for my replacement license to come... My temporary one just expired and I don't feel like dragging myself to the DMV again... |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I guess everyone will be looking for a bunch of gutter folds (I am guessing that is what this is called) once these get released because you know some of them will leak into public hands
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Moderator
 United States
23487 Posts |
$100 bill's new facelift goes awry--CNBC
More than 1 billion of the notes quarantined due to printing problem
A significant production problem with new high-tech $100 bills has caused government printers to shut down production of the new notes and to quarantine more than one billion of the bills in huge vaults in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, CNBC has learned.
Initially scheduled for release in February of 2011, the new bills were announced with great fanfare by officials at the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in April.
At the time, officials announced the new bills would incorporate sophisticated high-tech security features, including a 3-D security strip and a color-shifting image of a bell designed to foil counterfeiters.
But the production process is so complex, it has instead foiled the government printers tasked with producing billions of the new notes.
An official familiar with the situation told CNBC that 1.1 billion of the new bills have been printed, but they are unusable because of a creasing problem in which paper folds over during production, revealing a blank unlinked portion of the bill face.
A second person familiar with the situation said that at the height of the problem, as many as 30 percent of the bills rolling off the printing press included the flaw, leading to the production shut down.
The total face value of the unusable bills, $110 billion, represents more than ten percent of the entire supply of U.S. currency on the planet, which a government source said is $930 billion in banknotes. For now, the unusable bills are stored in the vaults in "cash packs" of four bundles of 4,000 each, with each pack containing 16,000 bills.
Officials don't know exactly what caused the problem. "There is something drastically wrong here," a person familiar with the situation said. "The frustration level is off the charts."
Quarantined
Because officials don't know how many of the 1.1 billion bills include the flaw, they have to hold them in the massive vaults until they are able to develop a mechanized system that can sort out the usable bills from the defects.
Sorting such a huge quantity of bills by hand, the officials estimate, could take between 20 and 30 years. Using a mechanized system, they think they could sort the massive pile of bills, each of which features the familiar image of Benjamin Franklin on the face, in about one year.
The defective bills -- which could number into the tens of millions, potentially representing billions of dollars in face value -- will have to be burned, they say. American taxpayers have already spent an enormous amount of money to print the bills.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the bills are the most costly ever produced, with a per-note cost of about 12 cents -- twice the cost of a conventional bill. That means the government spent about $120 million to produce bills it can't use. On top of that, it is not yet clear how much more it will cost to sort the existing horde of hundred dollar bills.
Officials say they remain optimistic that the majority of the 1.1 billion bills will eventually be cleared for circulation.
The problem with the new hundred-dollar bills has remained largely hidden from public view, despite a press release issued by the Federal Reserve on Oct. 1 that announced "a delay in the issue date" of the new bills and cited "a problem with sporadic creasing of the paper."
The redesigned bills are the first $100 bills to feature Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's signature. But to stave off a cash crunch as existing $100 bills deteriorate and can't be replaced, the Federal Reserve has ordered renewed production of the current-design $100 bills, which feature Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's signature and do not have the new security features.
Officials say that is an important step, because there are 6.6 billion $100 notes in circulation at any given time, and they wear out quickly. Reprinting the current design bills will prevent any disruption in the global circulation of US currency.
The production of American banknotes is a convoluted process. The paper is manufactured by Crane & Company, which has continually supplied the government since 1879. Design and production of the bills is handled by the Department of Treasury and its Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But the currency is actually issued by the Federal Reserve, which is why the bills are emblazoned with the phrase "Federal Reserve Note."
Anti-counterfeiting measures
The new $100 note is the latest denomination of U.S. currency to be redesigned with special anti-counterfeiting features. Treasury first introduced the redesigned $20 note in 2003 and has also redesigned the $50, $10 and $5 notes.
The government says that more than a decade of research and development went into the new security features on the redesigned $100.
The bill features a blue, three dimensional security strip that pictures bells that change to 100s as the strip is tilted. The ribbon is woven into the paper, not printed on it, which is why it is the focus of speculation as a potential cause of the paper creasing problem on the printing presses. The note also features another color-shifting image, of a bell inside an inkwell. The bell shifts color from copper to green as the bill is tilted.
As part of the rollout effort for the new $100 bills, the government set up a website explaining the changes, which can be seen at this website.
After they were printed, officials discovered that some of the new bills have a vertical crease that, when the sides of the bill are pulled, unfolds and reveals a blank space on the face of the bill. At first glance, the bills appear completely printed, but they are not.
Officials have mixed views on what caused the problem, and who is responsible for it. "This is not about assigning blame," said one. But another person familiar with the matter said finger-pointing has already begun. "The Fed's very unhappy, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is taking a beating unnecessarily," the person said. "Somebody has to pay for this."
© 2010 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Fortunately the vast, vast majority of new currency issued is electronic -- the "blank check" the Federal Reserve uses to buy US treasury bonds and mortgage securities. Cash in circulation is just a small fraction of the total US money supply (1T v/ about 8T)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
592 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1285 Posts |
This could be combination of issues as they were also using new equipment, new paper (so to say), anti counterfeiting etc.
Why did they print so much? They could have printed 10 or 20 mil and then reviewed it OR was it an issue that happened later on in the process meaning after they had already printed about 600 / 700 mil notes.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
At least they didn't spill coffee on them.
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Valued Member
United States
102 Posts |
I agree.
Why/How did they print so many, before this was discovered? Apparently, notes are checked multiple times during production for serious errors, such as this. You'd think somebody would have picked up on it.
Maybe a few will make it out into circulation, making for another neat numismatic find!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
764 Posts |
Parhaps this is a secret security feature. If a $100 bill is printed perfectly, it is counterfeit!
<---waits for secret service to break down my door for exposing the secret. ^_^
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Moderator
United States
187864 Posts |
Quote:
Parhaps this is a secret security feature. I would not be surprised, not at all. |
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Valued Member
United States
176 Posts |
notes printed correctly are actually going to be worth more than star notes!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1285 Posts |
Quote:
notes printed correctly are actually going to be worth more than star notes! I was thinking the same thing and the goal here should be to go after "small run sizes" and keeping a tab on them. But then again any other denominations getting over looked, (everyone is focused on the 100) that too should create an opportunity. The issue I see with 100 is that they are going to run them through some type of sorter to do the separation and I am not sure what impact it's going have on the good notes (grade wise). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1599 Posts |
Let's see...
Social Security broke
Healthcare broke
$500 hammers
Can't print money
Anyone else see a pattern and a common factor?
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Valued Member
United States
65 Posts |
Anybody got any news on the New $100 bill, it was originally was to be released this month before they ran into the November stag which I supposed delayed them. But I have not heard of new release date.
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Valued Member
United States
160 Posts |
Why did this have to happen to the new $100. I was looking forward to actually having one on hand....and I can't do searches with bills that high
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Replies: 15 / Views: 4,709 |
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Posted 12/06/2010 4:34 pm
