Printer Error Blamed For US Banknote Calamity

A printer is to blame for the production of flawed US banknotes, it has been reported.

According to the BBC, CNBC said that a problem in the printing process meant that up to 30 per cent of new $100 notes, worth $110 billion (£69 billion) and scheduled to go into circulation in February next year, were produced with a blank patch on them.

Consequently the US has had to stockpile all of the notes, as the flawed ones are mixed in with the sound ones. Officials are now working on a way to remove and destroy the damaged bills, the news provider said.

They are hoping to devise a mechanical sorting process, as removing them by hand would take up to 30 years. "We are confident that a very high proportion of the notes will be fit for circulation," the news provider quoted Treasury Department spokeswoman Darlene Anderson as saying.

Recently, an Australian telecoms firm, Telstra, committed a slightly lower-level blunder when it sent out 220,000 letters to the wrong addresses. However, in that case it was found the printer was not to blame.

Posted by Johnny McMaster.