Not too many years ago, people paid by one of two types of methods, cash or credit.
Those shopping would either provide the cashier with their credit card or debit card to pay for their purchase, or they would spend a few moments counting out their dollar bills and loose change in order to walk out of the store with their parcel.
In recent years, it seems like plastic is more and more the choice of consumers.
Walking into a store now, the option still exists, but people are increasingly swiping their cards rather than counting their change. And credit cards themselves have evolved.
Credit cards have been around since the 1920s in the United States when they were specifically targeted towards automobile owners for the selling of fuel. Western Union began issuing charge cards, which were most commonly printed on paper cardstock, to their customers in 1921.
The "Charga-Plate" was developed and used from the 30s to the late 50s. The piece of sheet metal was two and a half inches by one and a quarter inches and was pressed with the customer's name and held a small paper card for the signature.
But that too evolved. The credit card that we have all come to know is a thin piece of plastic with a magnetic strip on its back. Nowadays there are hieroglyphics and chips and all sorts of security codes. All of this in an attempt to create a credit card that is not easily counterfeited or used by persons other than the owner.
And it seems as though money itself is evolving as well.
As of Nov. 14, the money you hold is your hand may be paper or is may just be plastic. Well polymer to be exact. In an effort to modernize Canadian currency, the country's paper-cotton banknotes will gradually become replaced by newly designed plastic ones, or rather ones made from a polymer material.
Anyone who has travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam or Romania are well aware of the feel and look of these bills, and now those that live and visit Canada will be familiar with the bills as well.
The bills, plastic in feel, have hidden numbers that are only viewable with a single-point light source. Not only that, but there are security features such as raised ink, transparent text and hidden numbers, all of which are aimed at decreasing the ability to counterfeit the bills.
But not only are the bills more 'secure,' they sure look neat too. Look through the plastic window, and it will change colors as the viewing angle changes. Or take a look at the frosted maple leaf emblem. If you hold it close to your eye, you'll see a hidden circle of numbers that match the face value of the bank note.
And more bills are expected in the upcoming year. While the $100 banknote was the only one released this month, a $50 plastic note featuring Prime Minister Mackenzie King and the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Amundsen is set to hit circulation in March. Smaller denominations are set to follow and have unique features of their own.
These bills are not only harder to fake, but are recyclable and two to three times more resistant to tearing. The high-tech bills are expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the conventional paper bills.
There is no doubt about it; the feedback on the $100 banknote is varied.
Regardless, any bill that is better for the environment, reduces the costs associated with production and minimizes the potential for counterfeiting and therefore the impacts associated with it, sounds like a good idea to me.
