A Sudbury, Ont., woman was surprised when workers at a coffee shop refused to simply accept her fee with an previous $5 bill.
Irene Nizzero tried to purchase a beverage with a bill printed in 1986, lengthy earlier than the present polymer financial institution notes had been launched in 2011.
Nizzero mentioned the younger individual working on the money register did not acknowledge the older financial institution word, so referred to as over a colleague to examine the bill.
“He was simply as leery,” Nizzero mentioned.
“And so yeah, I ended up simply paying with a 20. But I attempted to reassure them that no, that is truthfully, actual cash.”
To affirm her older $5 bill was nonetheless legitimate, Nizzero mentioned she returned to the coffee shop the following day and confirmed it to a supervisor.
“I believed, ‘OK, nicely perhaps, you recognize, perhaps I used to be fallacious in attempting to current this bill,'” Nizzero mentioned.
She mentioned the supervisor confirmed they need to have accepted the bill.
Merchants can refuse financial institution notes, central financial institution says
In an electronic mail to CBC News, Bank of Canada spokesperson Amélie Ferron-Craig mentioned it is as much as the vendor to find out what fee strategies they need to settle for.
“So sure, a service provider can refuse to simply accept financial institution notes, and even sure denominations of financial institution notes, as a technique of fee for items or companies,” Ferron-Craig mentioned.
In the e-mail, Ferron-Craig added that payments from 1986 had safety measures in place, comparable to raised ink and inexperienced dots, to assist forestall counterfeiting.
Ferron-Craig mentioned all older financial institution notes retain their worth and might be exchanged for newer payments at any financial institution.
In the meantime, Nizzero mentioned, she would not blame the younger employees for being cautious.
“I needed to actually rethink my place and I believe that is one thing that others would possibly need to think about too,” she mentioned.
“We’re now spanning sufficient generations that some individuals wouldn’t essentially have seen this bill earlier than, and there could also be some resistance. I believe it is also fairly presumably a mirrored image of how a lot plastic and digital fee have develop into fashionable.”