Where's Willy
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Where's Willy?, is a website that tracks Canadian paper money — most commonly five dollar bills, but also higher denominations. "Where's Willy" is free, supported by advertising, sales of T-shirts and other memorabilia, and by users who pay a fee for extra features. The name Willy refers to Sir Wilfrid Laurier - the first French Canadian Prime Minister whose portrait appears on the $5 bill.
Since Canada has replaced the one and two dollar bills with more durable coins, the $5 note is the smallest denomination tracked by Where's Willy.
The free site, established by Hank Eskin, a computer consultant in Brookline, Massachusetts, allows people to enter their local postal code and the serial and series of any Canadian denomination from $5 up to $100 they want to track. Once a bill is registered, the site reports the time between sightings, the distance traveled and any comments from the finders, and anyone who registered the bill earlier learns about it by e-mail and/or text messaging.
To increase the chance of having a bill reported, users write or stamp text on the bills encouraging bill finders to visit www.whereswilly.com and track the bill's travels.
Where's Willy is a currency tracking spinoff of Where's George, a site that tracks United States dollars.
External link
- Where's Willy? web site (http://www.whereswilly.com/)