Credit-card-issuing banks found that they could not issue new cards, which could be used beyond 1999. Airlines were unable to accept reservations for 2000. And periodical subscribers received bizarre notices like "your subscription will expire in 1901." Governments and enterprises began to take notice.
於是近幾年全球陸續傳出一些怪現象，譬如信用卡發卡銀行無法發出使用期限跨越西元二千年的新卡，航空公司無法接受二千年後的機票預約，雜誌社訂戶收到「貴訂戶將於一九○一年到期」之類的通知… … 等，各國政府及企業才發覺事態嚴重。