Some of the new $100 bills scheduled for release this fall will be destroyed after they did not pass an inspection by the Federal Reserve.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has reportedly hit a production snafu at one of the country’s two currency factories, according to a document cited by The New Yorker, causing the agency to ask its Texas facility to expedite production ahead of an Oct. 8 deadline.
“The cause of the latest blunder is something known as ‘mashing,’ according to Darlene Anderson, a spokeswoman for the bureau,” The New Yorker reports. “When too much ink is applied to the paper, the lines of the artwork aren’t as crisp as they should be, like when a kid tries to carefully color inside the lines — using watercolors and a fat paintbrush.”
The Federal Reserve will return more than 30 million $100 bills while another $30 billion in bills await examination.
That error, according to The Atlantic Wire, is a $3.79 million mistake since the bills cost 12 cents each to produce and will cost another $12,000 to destroy them.
According to a July memo to employees from Larry Felix, the bureau’s director, recent batches of the bills from the Washington, D.C., plant contained “clearly unacceptable” versions intermixed with passable ones.
The redesigned bill will feature a Liberty Bell that changes color and other small 3-D images. It was originally scheduled for release in early 2011, but other issues have delayed its release.
Read more: The New Yorker
