NEW EURO BANKNOTES PRESENT VENDING MACHINE PROBLEM

Security Features on the new Five Euro note

The European Central Bank this month introduced a brand-new version of the €5 banknote, loaded with next-generation security features to deter counterfeiting.

There’s just one problem with the crisp new bills: Vending machines spit them out. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported this week on its own tests in machines selling everything from soft drinks and gasoline to transit tickets in 10 cities. Ninety percent of the new notes were refused. “You can try as hard as you want, but the new 5 euro banknote introduced on May 2 will not be accepted by vending machines,” the newspaper said.

Journalists in Belgium, meanwhile, found the bills rejected by parking-garage payment machines and by some ATMs when users attempt to make cash deposits.

Just to be sure, I tested one today in a vending machine at a post office in Paris. No luck there, either.

The new bill, which marks the first update of the euro’s paper currency since its introduction in 2002, features an enhanced watermark and a hologram with a portrait of the Greek goddess Europa. A numeral “5″ in one corner of the bill changes from green to blue when passed in front of a light.

These and other changes are intended to deter counterfeiting of the €5 note, of which approximately 1.6 billion are in circulation at any given time, according to the ECB. New versions of the €10, €20, and other higher-denomination notes are set to be rolled out during the coming months, and they will have similar security features.

To read the complete article, see: Euro Banknotes Designed to Foil Counterfeiters Also Defeat Vending Machines (www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-23/euro-banknotes-designed-to-foil-counterfeiters-also-defeat-vending-machines)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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