Although it takes slightly more of it to buy a hardback book, for many people the Canadian dollar has value. So it's a bit of a problem that some of Canada's money has reportedly started melting in the summer heat.

The bills in question are the new high-tech/falutin plastic polymer type the Bank of Canada began rolling out last winter. They are recyclable, virtually impossible to rip, and, according to news reports, "nearly counterfeit proof," because how can you counterfeit a puddle?

Actually, notes the Toronto Star, the notes in question aren't melting that into liquid; they're "curling up like bacon in a frying pan."

One man in Ontario turned $800 into bacon when he left eight $100 bills in a tin box near a heater last Christmas. [See above image.]

Now the Bank of Canada is facing claims the new bills are melting together in hot cars.

The source of these stories appears to be a teller at a credit union in British Columbia, who called in to a local radio station on Tuesday and reported that she and her coworkers had dealt numerous times with plastic bills that had become melted together like chocolate bars in your back pocket. (Why do you carry so many chocolate bars in your back pocket?)

"We're finding temperatures in cars, we've seen it a few times now, where three or four melt together."

A spokesperson for the Bank of Canada told the Star that, fine, yes, under some circumstances, it is possible the magic plastic indestructible money could become baconified.

"The Bank of Canada cannot rule out that polymer notes may be damaged under certain extraordinary conditions."

But, she added, the notes were found to withstand temperatures well above boiling (up to 140°C) and well below freezing (-75°C) in laboratory testing.

The National Post reports that Brittney Halldorson, the teller who called in to the radioshow maybe to share a true anecdote from her life—maybe to inject a little excitement into people's days with a story about money melting down the drain—could not be reached for comment.

Her employer, Interior Savings, told the paper she was not an authorized spokeswoman.

Australia has been using polymer bills since the 1980s. Most of theirs haven't melted yet.

They are available for tips, Canada.

[Toronto Star via Newser / National Post // Photo credit: Mona Billard]