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The hard and fast life of U.S. currency |
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What's our life expectancy? Here are the BEP's estimates:
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| What's our life expectancy? |
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| $1 bill |
21 months |
| $5 bill |
16 months |
| $10 bill |
18 months |
| $20 bill |
24 months |
| $50 bill |
55 months |
| $100 bill |
89 months |
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What are the conditions that would signal my forced
retirement? When I meet the great reckoning machine that tests my
fitness, here are a few things the Fed's proprietary software will
look for, according to its publication, "Fitness
Standards for Federal Reserve Notes":
Excessive soiling due to dirt, aging (yellowing) or extraneous
markings.
Tears, folds and holes of various dimensions.
Ink wear -- bills are deemed unfit if they have lost more than
25 percent of the ink on their face side or 40 percent of the ink
on their back side.
Outdated series -- $10 and $20 bills produced before 1996 and
$5 bills issued before 1999 are pulled from circulation and destroyed.
The last mile
Hey, we all gotta go sometime, even if it is estimated that you'd
need to fold me 4,000 times before I tear. Carol Eckert, spokeswoman
for the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, says that when the
time comes for me to walk that last mile, the end will be swift.
"When the currency comes in for deposit, it comes
in through cash receiving rooms where it is verified that the right
number of straps and bundles are there as stated in the order,"
she says. "Then it goes to a counting room, where it is fed
into this high-speed machine, where it is actually piece-counted.
It is also checked for fitness at the same time, and unfit currency
is automatically destroyed, right inside the machine. There are
no stacks of unfit currency around; it is all shredded right away
and gone."
That's right: One day, I'll end up as what is called
"shred." Eckert says I'm not able to be recycled because
of the security features in my makeup, so I'll most likely wind
up in landfill. (Prior to high-speed shredder technology, I would
have met a fiery end in a blast furnace.)
There is a chance that Treasury will sell my shred-self
to a novelty company, where I could come to my final rest as confetti
for your birthday party or encased within a Lucite paperweight on
your office desk.
Me, I'm hoping for confetti. After all, money loves to party!
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