Are Bankers Pulling Out Radars?

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I went to TD the other day to get my first few bundles of Frontier fivers. The bundles appeared to be UNC but did not have The BoC bands on them, instead it was TD bands. Going thorough them, everything looked as expected; nothing was out of order and all notes followed consecutive serial number increases with the same prefix. I was left to assume that the bundles  had not been looked through or manipulated (other than placing new bands on them) after leaving The BoC. When I looked closer at one of the bundles, where there should have been a radar, the note was missing but both notes were present on either side of the sequence. So, for example I have 9058506-08 (9058509 is missing) and then the bundle continues on with 9098200, 9058201, etc. My question is, could there be a simple explanation for why this note is missing? Is it likely that, knowing radars have some inherent value, someone at TD pulled it out?

What makes this missing note even more interesting is that I found other missing numbers in the bundle that don't seem to have any unique value propositions in the same manner that radars do. One example of this is the notes go from: 9173019-21 (9173022 is missing) and then carry on with 9173023, 9173024, etc. Could this missing note have been damaged and pulled out at the printers, or what may be going on here?

Bankers do pull notes.  That has been going on for decades.

The polymer series has lots of missing notes that would otherwise complete sequential runs.  There is no way to tell if your bundles had notes plucked by an eagle-eyed banker or if they came from the Bank of Canada like that.

I experienced the same thing with bundles I picked up, someone when through mine but I did find one radar.

I am convinced that individuals working for the banks and money handling companies like Garda and the Brinks all have their eyes on anything that can bring them extra cash.

I bought $5,10,20 and 50 and not a single bundle was intact.So easy to check the first and last number and pull the ones you need.

I was  also told that at facilities like Garda,the employes that see premium items like radar,errors,low numbers etc can just pull these notes  out and replace it with same value bills from their walet. I once sold a $20 printed on one side only for one of the employee.

If you are a collector and your employer let you pick the inventory,you would be incline to do so. Be freindly with your bank teller.Bring her a coffee once in a while.

with the way bricks/bundles in polymer are now it is unlikely that employees have the time to go through them and pull special numbers since they are not all consecutive as they once  were
Cracking open a brick when putting it into an atm is one of the few places where it could be done but many ATMs are in locations (depending on time of day) that are too exposed so the money goes in quick..there is no time to be sorting through it and all cash going to banks are in sealed packages which the messenger cannot open.....
Most banks do not allow employees to go through money and I personally know atleast 2 employees (long term) that have lost their jobs over this...As for others, it is getting harder as well, since most have policies against this...and I know this for a fact...it you are caught the chances of being terminated is great...
risking a job over making a few bucks on a radar/rotator/etc cannot possibly warrant the risk...
I know in the past of some dealers that have received special items from employees of various institutions/companies but it has dried up a lot in the past 1-2 years...
As for radars ask any bricker doing polymers one brick has no radars another may have 5

Although it is tempting to suspect otherwise (I have had missing radars too) I am inclined to agree with Fried S.  Most banks/businesses that handle money have strict "no touch" policies. It would be more likely the note was pulled for inspection or other reasons.

Someone is always in charge when it comes to handling money, so there is always someone who could access the money and pick out interesting items.  Bank teller, bank manager, whatever.  It's just less likely that someone earning a 6-figure income is going to care about 3- and 4-digit radar notes.

It's a problem that the BoC have tempted (and much succeeded) to get rid of. In the "good'ol time", when the notes were put strictly in order from XXX****000 to XXX****999, when one looked to the first note, he was almost assured there was a least a radar and often a repeater note, and even could tell which kind of radar the brick hold (as well as any other interesting number).

But since the new way the printers (CBN and BAI) put the bundles together by mixing thoroughly the notes from differents ranges, in short and long sequences, I really don't figure how any employee, guard, banker or cahsier can tell, just by looking on the first note in a bundle (whitout opening it), that this bundle have a radar (or any collectable serial number) in it.  He must go through all the bundle just to be sure that there is a radar note in it...It's almost impossible to tell if a given bundle have a radar note in it (unless the first note is a radar...), just by looking at the first note, since there is no assurance whatsoever that the next note is from the same sequence, nor if the sequence continue for all the bundle...
The majority of the bundles have often 2 sequences of serial numbers, sometimes 3, even 4 sequences...(the number of consecutive notes is very variable). 

If you look on the first note from a sealed brick, there is no assurance that the brick hold a collectible number.  I got many sealed bricks and since the bundles are mixed-up, I got many times an "empty" brick, i.e. a brick (that I paid for) absolutely devoid of any radar, repeater or any interesting note...But you can also get a brick with 2, 3, 4 radars or even more in the same brick.  Overall, on a large number of bricks, the odds tends to equalize and you'll find that, on average, there is one radar note per 1000 notes...exactly the proportion one can calculate from the numbering sequence.

So, unless the guard (employee, banker, etc) have time to loose and have the possibility to scan through many bundles in hope to get the interesting note (during his duty time), I don't believe that there is as much radar notes pulled out by the bankers or guards as before (about 5 years ago).  The BoC have cut much of this speculation.  We can't eliminate  the possibility to get a good number by pure luck, but the chances are now the same for all of us.
Someone (a bricker for instance) may complain that the chances to get a collectible number from a brick are drastictly reduced since the new method, but the chances are more equal for all, including the bankers and other peoples which get theirs hands on the fresh notes before the others...They don't have time to spend to search through bundles whitout having a serious chance to get a good one...

If you find that there is less radar notes as before, it's maybe because the chances are now really 1/1000 to get one...getting a brick or not. 

Thanks for all the valuable information. I am glad to see that  serial numbers are now mixed. It makes the hunt more challenging.
 All I found in my bundle was a $10 palindrome note FTC6602066.
The bundle contained 3 different series of numbers same Prefix FTC  2  of 2 consecutive numbers and 1 with 96 consecutive numbers.
I would post the note but uploading failed

96 continuous notes is great.

I find that there is a lot of care required to go through the bundles as they contain notes 9000 apart with same plate numbers that easily get mistaken as continuous notes if paying attention to the last two digits only.