Dead Bills

Just some wishful thinking…..

When bills are too ratty to stay in circulation, they must be sent somewhere to be put out of their misery…
So just where do they go? Wouldn't it be cool to have a member (or two) of this site working at this place? Then when one of our marked bills come through, they could enter it here.

Besides the hit I think it would give us closure as they say.

You know, a comment like:
This bill arrived from xxxxx, XX, and met it's firey demise on dd/mmm/yyyy!

So cool!!!

My roommate works for Brinks and I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about taking bills to be destroyed somewhere. When he get's back from Wainwright this week, I'll check with him to see if we can get in touch with someone 'on the inside'… :)
-dr

Right!

Just hit me… SARGE should have some ideas on that too.

Whatcha know SARGE?

Sarge didn't know! I'll be d….

So does anybody know the process for taking bills out of circulation, and just where they end up????

SARGE did say the in Sask, most bills end up in Regina at one time or another. CIBC has a big central facility there. Could explain so many of our Sask bills end up being hit there.

When he get's back from Wainwright this week, I'll check with him to see if we can get in touch with someone 'on the inside'…

And so… did you learn anything?

I used to work in that main CIBC processing center. From there we used to bundle them and send them away. I don't know where to though. Sorry…

Hey, that's great!

Maybe you can tell us what you did, criteria for destroying bills, etc.

Great to have another person on the site who knows money!

dID YOU DESTROY ALOT OF OLDER BILLS.. How beat up do bills have to get before they go to Money heaven?

MMMBEER

I saw a news article where they said old bills get shredded and processed into cellulose fiber for insulation etc. Someone somewhere is being kept warm with old money…

As far as Criteria for destroying bills:

• extensively worn
• If they are of a non circulating denomination or date
• If they are torn, taped togeter or missing pieces
• If the are severly defaced (ie: colored, A lot of writing on them etc.)

Mostly it's a judgment call by the processor. Because of this, someone might destroy a stamped bill for no other reason than that it is stamped :(

Mostly it's a judgment call by the processor.

So how would YOU have handled one of our bills? Would it have depended on whether you were having a bad day?

Was there any kind of quota system? Like a max or min number of bills that had to be pulled?

And finally, where did most bills go? SARGE said that Saskatoon bills went to Regina, but from there were they recirculated in Saskatchewan or did they go to other provinces?

Personally I wouldn't kill a bill just cause it's stamped. They tell you not to scrap too many bills, but I don't think there is any kind of "Quota" so to speak.

I'm not really sure where the money goes. I think they were just distributed to other banks from there. I don't know the specifics.

SARGE got an interesting hit. Here's the comment:

I work for Alberta Treasury Branch. The bill is in very poor shape and I will be sending it to Bank of Canada for destruction.

Too bad it was anonymous.. it would have been nice to get this person involved! Contact with someone who actually sends the bills to their final resting place!

I fix ABMs and Cash Dispensers for banks, and I often have to clear money jams in their machine… Some of them are stuck so good, there is no way to remove them without tearing them to pieces. And they're off to bill heaven! (I know, I know, "what a brute I am…:o)" But if I see a bill with a stamp on it, I'll try to record it, for posterity I guess… ;o)

So are you Securicor or Brinks?

Or is it under a seperate contract?

Neither… even though I sometimes work with them. They watch over me, like my guardian angels ;o)… I work for IBM, fixing everything related to computers. Including cash machines.

Hey, then you must know SARGE! He used to work the night shift for Securicor.

Well, I'm not sure. First, I don't know his real name, and I didn't wanna ask (privacy stuff, I guess). I also work mostly during the day, but sometimes up to 11pm when I'm on call. I still don't meet the people from night shift. I am sure we know the same Securicor people though. (If I don't know him afterall…) We're only 6 guys from IBM working here in Saskatoon, and I'm the ABM Saskatchewan Specialist (Uh-Hum! ;o). SARGE might recognize me if he reads this. He must have a clue by know if he knows me! Wink-wink! ;o)

What happens to old bills pulled by banks? According to the Bank of Canada website:
"Financial institutions get bank notes through the country's Bank Note Distribution System and return bank notes that are considered unfit for further circulation to the Bank of Canada. These bank notes are verified on high speed note processing equipment and then shredded. The resulting shred is then disposed of in landfill sites."
If a person were to find the right landfill, with a little patience and glue…