Five-Euro Chaos

Vending machines “unsuitable” say filling station owners. Oil companies “waiting for new €10 and €20 notes”. No more Trenitalia ticket machine problems

Martino Landi, chair of the federation of independent petrol stations (FIB), affiliated to the Confesercenti retailers' association, shudders to think what will happen when the European Central Bank starts printing the new €10 and €20 notes. “Almost all of Italy's more than 20,000 filling stations have still to update the software that runs the petrol vending machines. The delay is down to the oil companies. I'm waiting to see what will happen a short time from now”. Tobacconists are also waiting. Giovanni Risso, chair of the tobacconists' federation (FIT), says that last month's problems are behind us although the new note in circulation since 2 May, the one with the face of the Greek goddess Europa visible against the light and in a portrait hologram, did create problems for aspiring petrol purchasers who had the notes in their wallets when they needed to use a vending machine. It was no use meticulously folding them, aligning them or turning them the other way round. The problem was the software.

VENDING MACHINES - There was a similar story with parking meters and snack vending machines in businesses, hospitals and schools. But Lucio Pinetti, chair of the Confida trade association, says the problems were sorted out some time ago: “We were lucky because most of the machines only take €0.50, €1 and €2 coins and it wasn't much trouble to update 100,000 machines [out of a total of 2.4 million - Ed.]. It would have been very different if the BCE had issued new coins. That would have been a disaster”. But all's well that ends well, at least in the case of Trenitalia. Internal sources at Trenitalia say that, apart from the first few days when the €5 notes were being refused, the software issue was quickly overcome by updating the program at a reported cost of €20,000. Small change to the former transport monopolist. Meanwhile the Milan transport authority, ATM, which a month ago threw in the towel with a message saying “at the moment the new €5 note is not accepted”, has now issued assurances that by “the end of July all metro stations will be compliant”, confirming that some of the problems remain. As do some of the irritations.

FORGERS - Leaving start-up glitches to one side, the actual use of the new banknotes by consumers is constantly monitored by the Bank of Italy. The logic behind new €5 euro note is to deliver a high standard of protection from forgery, thus conserving the public's confidence in the single currency as a payment instrument. It's a pity that for the time being the effect is the opposite. Distrust is growing with the new €10 and €20 notes due from a Frankfurt keen to protect us from forgers. By upsetting a computer program we have to deal with every day.

English translation by Giles Watson

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