Learning to touch type quickly is what TypeTopia is all about. But we also look at the neatness percentage. Because if you make a lot of typos when typing at lightning speed, you still lose a lot of time repairing those mistakes. A typo also looks very sloppy. And if that is not reason enough, a typo can also be very expensive. How expensive? You can read that below, because we have listed 7 expensive typing mistakes from home and abroad for you.
NASA forgot a hyphen ($80 million)
In 1962, NASA wanted to send the probe Mariner 1 to Venus for a discovery mission. But someone made a mistake in the code, the programming language used to determine the speed and trajectory of the probe. As a result, the probe exploded within minutes. What was the mistake? Someone forgot a hyphen. A costly mistake!
Transferred money to the wrong person (€43K)
This is an error that we often see in our search for expensive typing errors. You want to transfer money, but you make a mistake with the name or the account number and then the amount goes to someone else. Or you type a few extra zeros. And then try to get your money back. A Dutch man from Wageningen wanted to transfer 43,000 euros to his son, but it ended up with someone and she did not want to return it voluntarily.
Error with flight tickets ($7.2 million)
Say you can fly first class from Toronto to Cyprus for just $39. That’s a good bargain, right? Almost 2,000 lucky people scored this deal. It turned out to be a mistake on the part of Alitalia Airlines, as the ticket was $3,900. Fortunately, the airline had the good sense to fly everyone over for a bargain, but they had to pay 7.2 million to save their reputation.
Blunder on Japanese stock exchange ($340 million)
You can make a mistake at work too, but in 2005 it cost a Japanese company employee dearly. He was supposed to sell shares for 610,000 yen each. But he turned it around, pressed the wrong button and sold 610,000 shares for 1 yen each. This cost his company so much money that it is probably the most expensive typing error ever.
An ancient beer on Ebay ($503K)
A man wanted to sell a 150-year-old beer on Ebay. He accidentally wrote Allsop’s Arctic Ale instead of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale. Because a ‘p’ was missing, collectors overlooked the ad. Eventually, someone spotted the beer and bought it for $300. That was a bargain, because he sold it for a whopping $503,300!
Most expensive ‘s’ ever ($14 million)
The company Taylor & Son was accidentally put into a database as Taylor & Sons, so with an extra ‘s’ at the end. Taylor & Son was on the verge of bankruptcy and their bad reputation had a terrible effect on Taylor & Sons. This 124-year-old engineering firm lost clients, suppliers and important contracts in a matter of weeks. All because of a terrible mistake. The firm went bankrupt and held the British government liable for $14 million.
Picked the wrong symbole ($45 million)
Even in an investment bank, typing errors are made. In this particular case, it is a mistake in a Goldman Sachs prospect. The formula that determined the price of options contained a / instead of an x. This made the options super cheap. As a result, the options were offered at super-cheap prices. Nice for the buyers of course, but it cost the bank about $45 million.
Avoid typing errors?
We are human beings and we all make (typing) errors. Unfortunately, this cannot be prevented. However, you can minimise the risk by learning to type correctly and accurately. This is possible with TypeTopia, the most exciting typing course in the universe, especially for children. Take the free trial lesson together and discover our typing course. If your child is already typing accurately and well at a young age, he or she will be able to learns touch typingand will profit from it for the rest of their life. And it may even prevent expensive typos!
Sources:
https://blog.typing.com/expensive-typos/
https://www.daskapital.nl/3512111/een_dutje_van_222_miljoen_en_a/
