High-income Canadians like the new polymer bank notes, poll finds

Canadians have been living with their new plastic money for more than a year now and a poll suggests they like them, despite controversies such as melting bills and trouble with vending machines and ATMs.

The Globe and Mail reports that a poll by Forum Research found 60 per cent of those surveyed approved of the bills, compared with 24 per cent who disliked them and 16 per cent who didn't care one way or the other.

The Bank of Canada began replacing the familiar rag paper-based back notes with polymer bills in 2011, starting with $100 and $50 bills and, last fall, the much-used $20. New $5 and $10 notes will be issued this year.

The new plastic bills were touted as more durable and less vulnerable to counterfeiting. But stories soon began cropping up that the bills shrivelled if exposed to heat. The Canadian Press reported in January the Bank of Canada would not discuss the reported problems out of concern for national security and international relations.

[ Related: New $20 plastic bills a headache for vending machines across the country ]

There have also been reports that bank machines have dispensed either too many or not enough bills. And the vending machine industry complained it didn't get enough time to reprogram its equipment to handle the plastic money.

The Globe said survey respondents' biggest complaint (38 per cent) was that the polymer bills stick together more than the old cotton ones. Only four per cent of those surveyed had any issues with imagery on the notes.

Critics have questioned whether the maple leaf depicted on the $20 is actually a native Canadian species. And inevitably someone managed to find hidden images, including naked women and the destroyed World Trade Center towers, on the $20, according to Britain's Daily Mail last year.

Interestingly, the Forum poll found higher-income and better-educated Canadians were the most satisfied with the new bills. Some 73 per cent of respondents earning more than $100,000 a year and 67 per cent of university or college graduates were happy with the plastic money.

According to a 2011 BBC story, 23 countries use polymer banknotes to some degree, though only six have converted completely to plastic money.

[ Related: Canadians still expect retailers to accept their pennies at the cash: survey ]

Australia first introduced the technology in 1988, including features now found on Canadian bills such as transparent windows and micro-printed watermarks to make counterfeiting harder.

Canada introduced the $100 polymer bill in November 2011, followed by the $50 and $20 last year.