bank machine loading procedure

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Hi,

Today I withdrew $500 from Scotiabank in Toronto.  The bills I received were mixed polys and paper but when the cash came out, all of the poly notes were together and the paper notes were together. 

I have withdrawn large sums of cash from other banks' ATMs and I receive mixes of paper and poly notes too except that they are actually mixed in the pile.  Does Scotiabank instruct their employees to load separate hoppers with paper and polymer or do they order sorted bundles of circulated cash already separated into paper and poly from the BOC distribution centres?

This point will become moot as the paper notes disappear but I still find it odd that every time I go to Scotiabank, I get a mixed (but sorted) bunch of cash.

Also of note, all of the main branches in downtown Toronto (Bay St.) dispense exclusively polymer notes.

Dean

From my experiences, some machines dispense notes from two stacks at a time.  This is quite evident when the notes are new.  So when you withdraw $100, you will get three notes from one stack, two from the other.  Or you will get all five notes from one stack, and then the next withdrawal is taken from the other stack.  I don't understand this habit of alternating back and forth between stacks.

The mixing of paper and plastic notes is probably the result of the auspicious realization that bank machines can handle both at once.  Polymer notes don't stick together any worse than the varnished paper ones ever did.