And sadly, two months after the release, the new tens are very scarce in my province. I don't even know if any bank in Newfoundland is even interested in ordering any of the new $10 bills, but one Scotiabank branch in my hometown informed me that they did have the new tens, but they were mixed in with mostly the MacDonald variety. I am not sure if any bank received a full order of all new tens.
There had been no new tens in my province since 2014, and the more I think about it, the more I am starting to realize that Newfoundland's economy no longer supports a need for tens anymore, especially when the cost of fast food meals - which was what drove the existing but weakening demand for $10 bills in my province - is greater than $10 with tax, and if it doesn't cost that much yet, it is very close.
I also noticed that in the last two years, there have been fewer and fewer new $20s in my province, so based on that trend, it looks like, here in Newfoundland, the $10 bill's days are winding down, and the number of $20 bills in my province is very close to its peak.
As for the "16.9 million bills in circulation" claim from the article, that may still be true. Do realize that they were delivered to main branches, and for there to be only 5 prefixes reported so far, it implies that the smaller branches never got to see those other prefixes yet, and probably won't until the older tens have worn out. Either that, or the banks are having a hard time going through them.
Or, by the time the tens were released, banks in Newfoundland had already ordered their supply of money for the winter months, especially considering the bills might have to be delivered via ferry, and Newfoundland tends to have rough weather, possibly causing delivery delays. Banks don't want to be impacted by long delays, so they probably ordered a big supply of recycled bills to do them through the end of March or April, and my province's banks may not see the first wave of new tens until the spring. Maybe the 3.3 million outstanding tens waiting to be released are being held for Newfoundland until the main branches in that province are ready to order them, likely when the weather will be better and it is smooth sailing (definitely by May).
Banks in Newfoundland used to have no problem getting new bills in the winter months in the 1980s and early 1990s, but in 1996 or so, it seemed as if the first wave of new bills for the new year for Newfoundland wouldn't come until April, and in this day and age, it doesn't happen until May.
