Banks Are Still Giving Out Journey $20's

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Well, I always thought that the banks had to discontinue giving out Journey $20s, and had to send them back for destruction.

But apparently, I heard from a co-worker that she received some Journey $20's from a ATM at a bank recently.  And I heard from a cashier that some banks are still giving out the Journey $20's.  Didn't the banks even receive a memo about the recall?

And I thought the banks were done with giving out the pre-2012 issue $20's.  Guess not.

Are there any banks that are still receiving shipments of crisp Journey $20's?  If so, then it's possible that there may be a backlog of crisp Journey $20's at the Bank of Canada regional branch that they have to clear out before the polymer $20's come to the banks in my region full-time.  So maybe it's the banks that have received Journey $20 prefixes of BID or close to it that have to recall the Journey $20's, but when the Polymer $20's were first issued last November, my region was many, many prefixes away from the Macklem/Carney Journey $20's.

Here in Montreal, the Desjardins Bank machines that i've seen are still giving Journey 20's and have been seeing lots of BIA-BID prefixes, mostly in EF condition at best (no UNC). These machines have yet to give out polymer notes.

I'm fairly certain there is no "recall" of Journey series $20 notes occurring.  I receive both series of $20 notes from my financial institution.  Interestingly, the two major gaming institutions in this city are still giving out exclusively Journey $20 notes.  They take in polymer notes, but they don't give them out.  There's clearly a backlog of Journey notes that has to be used up, and that problem is way more serious than any counterfeiting problems.  I spoke to a cashier at one of the gaming institutions, and she told me that a lot of less-than-perfect $20 notes are being sent out for destruction, that only the notes in the best condition are getting recycled.  There may be some truth to that, but I still find a lot of Journey $20 notes in all conditions from lightly used to limp rag.

I think there are too many $20 notes in circulation for a quick series change to take place like we saw with the $100 and the $50.  There was never any recall on the Birds series $20 note, and I still found a few of those up until this past calendar year.

Here's the official memo from the Bank of Canada to financial institutions. It says to send all pre-polymer $50s and $100s in for destruction, but to continue to circulate Journey $20s until further notice.

http://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/fitness_poster_en.pdf

There is no recall of Journey 20s in Toronto either. It's about a 50/50 chance you'll get polymer 20s from any ATM (all major banks included.) I've also found it quite common that both paper/polymer notes are mixed together in the same batches.

For a few days after the polymer 20s came out, I found a few machines that had UNC Journey 20s, but haven't seen once for 1.5 months or so.

So long as they're still in EF or better, they'll stick around.  I have yet to hear of anyone get Poly $20's out of a TD machine in Montreal.

Met a friend of mine for lunch today and she took $120 out at a RBC machine and they were all K/D-signed VF-EF condition Journeys.  My father got a string of 10 BSB from a Caisse Pop machine this week.

It's really hit or miss.

Think back to the Journey release.  How long did it take for all the Birds $20's to go?  I'd say by end of 2006 they were all gone.  The BoC did mention a two-year (give or take a month or two) transition period.

they were all K/D-signed

Sorry, brain cramp.  J/D-signed.