Re: New $5 note creates havoc for commuters

[matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au (Matthew Geier)]

In article <9419cd$bof$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
James C.  <james_ccj@my-deja.com> wrote:
>In article <ELa86.2655$65.16328@newsfeeds.bigpond.com>,
>  "D Lindstrom" <D_Lindstrom@Bigpond.com> wrote:
>> The new $5 note has reportedly created havoc for commuters and
>gamblers
>> because it is not compatible with some ticket vending machines and
>poker
>> machines.
>>
>> The Sunday Telegraph said today that Sydney train network CityRail was
>> warning commuters not to use the new $5 note in automatic ticket
>machines.
>>
>> The note was introduced by the Reserve Bank of Australia in January to
>> commemorate the Centenary of Federation.
>>
>
>Connex's homepage news also said the new 5$ note can't be accpet by
>ticket machines in Melbourne until 1st Feb.

 Not just the railways, but ANY vending machine that accepts $5 notes will
have to be 'trained' to accept the new notes. Cityrail and 'MetCard' machines
are probably the biggest groups of affected machines, but 1000s of vending
machines around the country will all need to be visited by technicans and
their note readers equiped with new patterns to recognise.
 I belive this process involves putting the reader in 'learn' mode and feeding
a small sample of the notes through it several times and then testing that it
reads the entire sample back correctly.

 The next biggest group of note accepting vending machines are probably
cigarette machines in pubs and changes machines in clubs with pokies. They
will all have the same problem as the railway ones.

 Do all these people get to send the technican call out bills to the reserve
bank ?