Members of the public who want crisp new dollar bills for their red packets will need to make an appointment with their local banks (DBS, OCBC, and UOB) before visiting the branch, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Jan. 11, 2021.

This can be done through an online reservation system, and each bank will have details on how to pre-book and collect the new notes.

Two groups are exempt from the pre-booking: those 60 and above, and persons with disabilities.

New notes can also be withdrawn without a prior booking at pop-up ATMs by DBS.

Pre-ordering of notes are similarly available at non-local banks Maybank and Standard Chartered, although it is not compulsory.

For Maybank, only S$2 and S$10 fortune bundles are available.

Details

The pre-order period for new and good-as-new notes will start from Jan. 18.

The collection for online orders, withdrawal at DBS’ pop-up ATMs, as well as walk-ins for those exempted, start from Jan. 25.

MAS, however, encourages Singaporeans to use e-red packets as they are more environmentally friendly, and can also help to reduce physical queues.

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Top image via DBS