The Treasury Department may have overextended itself during the latest round of security upgrades to the nation’s greenbacks. A $110 billion snafu means that the latest version of the $100 bill might not be hitting the stores anytime soon.
Anti-counterfeiting measures run amok?
For decades, U.S. currency used the same design. While some anti-counterfeiting measures existed, the ability to manufacture realistic fake money was limited to those with sophisticated – and expensive – equipment. However, in today’s computer age, anyone with a little computer savvy and the right printing technique has a shot at duplicating traditional bill designs.
As technology sped forward, the federal government rolled out the first major change to U.S. currency since the Depression Era in 1996. That included enlarging the portrait of Benjamin Franklin and weaving a security ribbon into the bill.
Now, the C-note is getting a facelift again and was expected to re-launch in February 2011. According to the government, more than a decade of research went into redesigning the $100 bill with the latest security measures that are intended to thwart even the most advanced counterfeiters.
New features include:
• Elimination of the frame around Franklin
• New view of Independence Hall
• Addition of a 3-D security ribbon
• A bell in the inkwell that changes color
• Added text and graphics
The new bills will also retain some of the older security features from the 1996 upgrade including the security ribbon, color-shifting 100 and portrait watermark of Franklin.
Too much of a good thing
While the new features will undoubtedly make the bills harder to counterfeit, they also make them apparently more difficult to print on government machines. As the paper for the initial run was fed through the printers, it apparently became creased in spots, leaving a section of the bill blank.
Rather than notice the error immediately, it was not spotted until 1.1 billion bills were printed. Whoops! The kicker is that only about 30% of the batch of bills is affected. With the new bills costing twice as much as the old ones to print, the government stands to lose $120 million if it pitches the entire run.
Of course, simply riffling through more than a billion bills to spot the faulty ones is easier said than done. By hand, the process could take decades. That might ensure a little job security for some government workers, but by then, the bill design could be obsolete. Reports are that the feds are searching for a way to create a mechanized process to scan for the bad bills.
Until then, don’t expect to see the new $100 bills from your customers any time soon. Even a mechanical process for sorting the bills could take months. In the meantime, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is troubleshooting the problem in anticipation of a second run.
Hopefully, this time, there will be no ‘whoops’ involved.
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Maryalene LaPonsie is an accomplished writer who has extensive experience reporting on education, career advancement and workforce development topics. She specializes in sales and marketing consultation as well as general copywriting services.
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