March 5, 2010.

On checking my email this morning,  I saw that a fellow editor had sent a link to an online news article regarding the 2010 budget. I was curious in what way Canada was going to catch up to  Australia. Writer Steven Chase from the Toronto Globe and Mail wrote about Canada going for plastic money. Here’s the headline:

Some change for a dollar: Money you can launder

I had to read more. It seems that a company in Australia has produced a  synthetic polymer that they already use for their currency. Don’t get too excited or worried. The only thing that’s about to be plasticized are the  $10 and $20 dollar bills, so they will last longer, be harder to copy, and less likely to harbour germs as well.

I had to chuckle at the laundering part.  A picture of my Uncle Pete comes clear to me. It’s a stormy winter day, the day of my grandmother’s funeral. Uncle Pete has volunteered to come and do chores so that Mom and Dad can get away and not worry about the stock. I’m home because I’m recovering from whooping cough that the cold wind is sure to stir up.

After feeding the cattle, pigs and chickens, Uncle Pete came into the house covered in snow, threw his coveralls into the washer, then dried them before heading home. At some point, he remembered that he had a $20 bill in his pocket.  I don’t remember whether he stopped the dryer and took out the bill or waited for his coveralls to dry and then took it out. Twenty dollars could buy quite a few groceries at the time and was not to be tossed away lightly.  He unfolded that bill very carefully so that it would not tear.

I can still see his grin as he joked about laundered money—meaning  his freshly washed twenty dollar bill.  With plastic bills, it won’t matter! He’d probably laugh about that now, if he were still alive to read this article or my post.

Apparently the initial production will cost a little more than the paper and cloth version we have now, but the bills will last longer and the savings will show up in the longer-term use.

I still have to chuckle about that $20 bill, and I’m sure that my uncle was not the only one to experience it, otherwise the bank wouldn’t be working on this new plan.

The rest of the article is not as humorous, but you might want to read it anyway. You can read about it here.