When we were traveling in Argentina, Elizabeth posted about buying cold medicine and getting aspirin back in lieu of the coins she was owed.
The lack of monedas (coins) in Argentina was, at times, frustrating since no shop owners seemed to have them, but exact change was a necessity for taking public transportation. We often wondered why the government didn’t just produce more coins. But Argentineans seemed used to the change shortage and soon we were, too.
It turns out we weren’t the only ones annoyed by insufficient coinage.
photo credit: Daquella manera
I was browsing the internet recently in search of an article for my Spanish class assignment when I came across this article (it’s in Spanish) from Clarin.com, an Argentine news agency, about the “ingenious” plan hatched by Chinese supermarket owners.
Apparently the Chinese store owners have decided to create a system where, instead of giving change, they give tickets equivalent to that amount of change. And when customers come return to the store for their next purchase, the tickets are worth 10% more. Thus customers have incentive to be regular shoppers at these stores.
It turns out there’s a huge black market for coins in Argentina, which I was blissfully unaware of during my travels, that store owners are currently forced to turn to in order to have adequate change. How bizarre is that?
And to top it all off, the government and the banks don’t seem to have a better solution.
The one green traveler problem I foresee if this tickets-in-lieu-of-coins system really takes off? Supermarkets are some of the few places travelers can easily obtain change. There was one day Elizabeth and I went to four different supermarkets and small shops, trying to spend just the right amount on small items to get back the change we needed to take the bus across town. Eventually, we succeeded, but we were turned away by at least two stores saying they didn’t have any change.
If all of the markets start issuing paper tickets instead of monedas, how will travelers get the change they need to take public transportation?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Travelers could rob gumball machines to obtain the necessary fare.
btw: the depicted coins are euro-coins from spain. Not argentinian money.
@martijn Nope, it’s not Argentinian money. I just liked the photo!
What a great resource!