Published 05:16 IST, July 13th 2020
US town prints its own unique money to revive local economy amid COVID-19 pandemic
With businesses and residents struggling to survive amid COVID-19, a town in US has come up with an ingenious idea to save its economy.
With businesses and residents struggling to survive in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, a US town has come up with an ingenious idea to save its economy. Tenino, a small city in Washington State, had become a ‘ghost town’ following lockdown restrictions when the city administration announced that it would be printing its own currency notes. What is more intriguing about the ‘Tenino dollar bills’ is that they are not printed on paper but on small wooden planks.
Tenino Mayor Wayne Fournier told an international news portal that with the lack of business, the city would go quiet between 3 pm and 3 am. He then added that he used to get several calls from businesses saying that they won’t be able to battle it further.
As per reports, he then came up with the idea of printing the city’s new bills using the old printing machine lying at the town’s museum. Reportedly, $10,000 worth of currency notes were made on wooden rectangles with each normally worth $25.
All the wooden currency notes have a portrait of former US president George Washington and bear a Latin inscription that translates as "we've got it under control".
'COVID dollars’
Known as ‘Tenino dollars’ or ‘COVID dollars’ or even ‘Wayne dollars bills’, these bills are reportedly accepted in almost all shops with a fixed rate equivalent to $1. The notes are also granted to locals, who can demonstrate they have been harmed by the pandemic. Moreover, the maximum credit issued is unit $300 per month.
Apparently, Tenino had previously used similar bills during the great depression of 1930. Over the years, the item has attracted the interest of collectors with the vintage bills being sold online.
Updated 05:16 IST, July 13th 2020