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Podcasts Take Two
New $100 bills plagued by another production snafu
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Aug 14, 2013
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New $100 bills plagued by another production snafu
The first batch of shiny new $100 bills that we've been promised are set to go into circulation in October, more than two years late.
Newly redesigned $100 notes lay in stacks at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
Newly redesigned $100 notes lay in stacks at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
(
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
)
Newly redesigned $100 notes are printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
Newly redesigned $100 notes are printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
(
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
)
A worker inspects newly redesigned $100 notes during the printing process at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
A worker inspects newly redesigned $100 notes during the printing process at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
(
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
)
A stack of newly redesigned $100 notes sits on a bench at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
A stack of newly redesigned $100 notes sits on a bench at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
(
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
)
Newly redesigned $100 notes lay in stacks at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
Newly redesigned $100 notes lay in stacks at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The one hundred dollar bills will be released this fall and has new security features, such as a duplicating portrait of Benjamin Franklin and microprinting added to make the bill more difficult to counterfeit.
(
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
)

The first batch of shiny new $100 bills that we've been promised are set to go into circulation in October, more than two years late.

The first batch of shiny new $100 bills that we've been promised are set to go into circulation in October, more than two years late. 

The new bills that show a more dapper Ben Franklin have been plagued by printing problems and production snafus; 30 million $100 bills are currently sitting in boxes waiting to be destroyed.

Now, yet another printing problem might delay the release of the bills even further.

David Wolman wrote about the $100 bill drama for the New Yorker. He's also the author of "The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers--and the Coming Cashless Society."