Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Bank of England Will Switch to Plastic Pound Notes

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has formally announced that Britain will switch to using plastic banknotes in 2016, ending 320 years of paper money, reports the Guardian.

The Bank said it would introduce "polymer" notes, as it prefers to call them, in two years' time, starting with the new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill in 2016 and the Jane Austen £10 a year later.

Speaking at a press conference in the Bank's Threadneedle Street headquarters, Carney said: "Our polymer notes will combine the best of progress and tradition. They will be more secure from counterfeiting and more resistant to damage while celebrating the history and tradition that is important both to the Bank and the nation as a whole."

Laboratory tests showed polymer banknotes only begin to shrink and melt at 120C, so they would fare better in washing machines but could be damaged by a hot iron.

5 comments:

  1. He did it in Canada before he left for the big time. The funny part is the note will shrink and melt under heat. It's a perfect analogy: they can't even afford the paper to print the money on so they use cheaper plastic. Plastic from recycled garbage no less...God has a perfect sense of ironic humor.

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  2. You can't eat plastic.

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  3. We have plastic bills in Chile—I hate them. And they tear more easily than cotton bills.

    GL

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    1. And they can't even be used for toilet paper in an emergency...

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  4. And why do they insist on continuing to call them "notes"?? Shouldn't they be embarrassed to call something a "note" that is not redeemable?

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