In the ongoing battle against counterfeiters, the United
States Treasury will begin circulation Sept. 24 of its latest
defense -- a newly-designed $20 bill.
To help ease the transition from current bill to new, the
Treasury in conjunction with local businesses, is promoting a
public education campaign, aimed to create awareness of the new
bill among employees and consumers. This is especially
important because the $20 bill is so commonly used and is the
primary denomination of ATM machines.
"We have brochures in our lobby and we're handing them out
to each of our customers," said Charles North, vice president
of Riverside Bank in Poughkeepsie. "We want to make sure that
our customers are aware that the $20 bill is changing and that
they won't be shocked (during the transition)."
The Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union's employees have been
trained to deal with the new bill.
"We've ordered brochures to hand out to our members when
appropriate," said Sandy Ludlum, director of branch
administration.
Also participating in the education campaign is the
Poughkeepsie Galleria.
Other banks, however, haven't taken such an active role in
alerting the public.
"We really haven't instituted any district-wide campaign.
... The individual branches will be able to give (customers)
directions on what to look for," said Deborah Wilkins-Flippin,
regional marketing director for M&T Bank Corp.
Some unaware of new bill
Several local businesses were unaware of the new bill and
didn't think its introduction would present any problems. Those
who were aware did not have any concerns either.
"We have no plans (to inform customers)," said James
Calpin, manager of the Poughkeepsie Galleria Sears.
"I can only suspect that it will look strange. Our sales
associates are used to looking for the (security) markings in
the bill."
Another goal of the education campaign is to cut down on
counterfeiting. Like the new $100 and $50 bills, introduced in
1996 and 1997, respectively, the new $20 bill is armed with a
series of anti-counterfeit features.
In 1995, the face value of accounted for counterfeit bills
was $108 million, according to the Secret Service, the agency
that monitors counterfeiting issues. That number went down to
$72 million in 1997.
Despite the downward trend, counterfeiting operations
continue to run at the expense of taxpayers.
Cases of counterfeiting comes "in spurts," according to
North. "Unfortunately it's the retailer who gets hurt the
most. The experienced banker can usually detect
counterfeiting."
