Self-Serve Checkouts at Denver-Area Grocery Stores Don't Take New $20 Bills
Eight weeks after being introduced, the new security features intended to thwart counterfeiters continue to vex self-serve machines at King Soopers stores and at RTD light-rail stations.
December 05, 2003 18:46
Self-Serve Checkouts at Denver-Area Grocery Stores Don't Take New $20 Bills
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By Louis Aguilar, The Denver Post
Dec. 5--You can use the new $20 bill to play the slots at mountain casinos or to buy a book of stamps from a self-service machine. But for now, forget about using the colorful notes in the self-serve checkout line at some grocery stores or in ticket kiosks at light-rail stations.
Eight weeks after being introduced, the new security features intended to thwart counterfeiters continue to vex self-serve machines at King Soopers stores and at RTD light-rail stations.
"The self-service industry is relatively new and expanding rapidly," said Dawn Haley, U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing spokeswoman. "I think some of (the manufacturers) understood the message, and others made a conscious decision not to be ready." A year before the new bills went into circulation, the feds reached out to vending machine manufacturers, including the makers of slot machines, to help them get ready for the changes.
Although most retailers and vendors were ready for the switch, technology glitches and equipment delays thwarted some of the best laid plans.
The new $20 has an array of new features, including a watermark image ingrained into the paper and color-shifting ink, which changes from copper to green when the bill is tilted against light.
What that meant for King Soopers customer Bob Hoffpauir, 49, on Tuesday was that his $20 bill was spit right back out after he slid it into the self-serve cashier machine. He had to rely on a clerk at the West 13th Avenue and Speer Boulevard store to complete his purchase.
"This is the first time I had a problem with them. It's no big deal," Hoffpauir said.
The glitch is trickier to fix than anticipated.
"There wasn't supposed to be a problem," Regional Transportation District spokesman Scott Reed said of the trouble at light-rail kiosks.
The German makers of the light-rail ticket machines, Scheidt & Bachmann, installed new software that was supposed to enable the kiosks to accept the new bill.
That change corrupted the machines' hard drives instead. Scheidt & Bachmann promised the repairs would be completed by mid-November, Reed said.
"Now, we're having trouble getting our phone calls returned," Reed said.
Calls to Scheidt & Bachmann's U.S. office in Burlington, Mass., were not returned to The Denver Post this week. The manufacturer is covering the cost of the repairs, Reed said.
Machines at two metro Albertsons stores that didn't accept the new bills early last week were functioning by Wednesday.
Spokesman Trail Daugherty said computer chips to correct problems with King Soopers' self-serve cashier machines were delayed.
"But we have received the chips this week, and we hope to install them into the machines immediately," Daugherty said.
It may take several weeks to reach all the King Soopers stores, Daugherty said.
Most customers seemed to take the hitch in stride.
"These things (automatic payment machines) are so testy," said RTD light-rail customer Caroletta Howard, 32, as she waited at the Colfax-Auraria stop Tuesday morning. "I'm happy when they take any of my dollars."
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Posted by Craig at December 6, 2003 03:07 PM