Chewed up and spat out: Pokies, vending machines and checkouts reject new Aussie $5 note
Australia’s new $5 notes were supposed to make life harder for counterfeiters, but they are proving troublesome for plenty of people from outside the criminal fraternity.
The Reserve Bank began releasing 170 million new notes into circulation on September 1, backed by world leading technology aimed to make the notes even harder to forge.
But new reports claim vending machines around Australia are chewing up and spitting out the bills.
Problems with gambling machines have also been reported and even the major supermarkets are having problems.
News Corp reports Woolworths has rushed to upgrade its self-serve checkouts, because the transparent strip running through the centre of the bill confused its note readers.
Vending machine operators around the country are also paying to retrofit about 100,000 machines failing to recognise the notes.
“The note reader starts to read the note and sees the clear strip, it identifies that as the end of the note and of course it can’t recognise it, so it spits it back out,” National Vending Association president Nick Aronis told the Daily Telegraph.
There are also reports of machines crumpling the notes as they struggle with the clear strip.
Other major retailers like K-Mart have also struggled with their self-serve facilities.
Your Choice Vending owner Bruce Davey told Fairfax Media he faced a bill of about $18,000 to buy new note readers for 40 of his 550 machines whose manufacturers have been slow to introduce software and hardware updates.
Gambling machines have also proved problematic, with TAB posting notices on its machines urging punters to swap their fives for vouchers.
A spokesperson told Fairfax it was planning to have its machines upgraded by the end of the year.
News break – October 5
