I would be remiss in my duties as an expat blogger living in Buenos Aires to not address the severe coin shortage afflicting the city. As has been recently covered in Slate, the Wall Street Journal and countless blog, the city just doesn't have enough coins. The root of the problem is that the city's buses only accept coins. Recently the bus fare went up from 90 cents to 1.10 pesos thus breaking an important psychological barrier. It's very difficult to get more than a pesos' worth of change from a single, small transaction. Kiosk's typically warn you in advance of their lack of coinage as you can see in the photo above, written with typical Argentine understatement.
Survival in Buenos Aires requires a combination of meticulous planning and ruthlessness. Every transaction is a goal to achieving the maximum amount of change. You eventually learn how much change various vendors are willing to give out and you plan your purchases accordingly. One always pays with the highest value banknote possible. This occasionally requires some white lies as the forlorn check-out girl at Coto sighs as she asks if you have any monedas. I respond with an equally resigned voice, no, lo siento and promptly pay for my small purchase with a 100 peso note. Remember, she's just an employee and Alfredo Coto does not need your monedas.
Of course this whole problem could easily be solved if card readers were installed on buses here. Mendoza and Mar Del Plata both use magnetic cards and I can confirm that coins were much easier to come by there. This article in Critica lays the blame at the feet of the bus companies, saying they are resisting installing card readers because it would require them to fully declare their income and not cheat on taxes. There's usually an obvious reason why equally obvious solutions aren't implemented and it usually has to do with money.
5 comments:
Some years ago, on Saturday evenings and nights some bus drivers drove with the machine turned off. In such a way, the companies would not declare any income and get peid black by the owners of the bus companies...
By the wat, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) bus companies in the City of Buenos Aires, Plaza, belongs to the city governor M. Macri.
Maybe, as a foreigner, you may understand with a more objective eye, why people preferred voting for someone who already took money from teh state (Macri used to have the concession of the post, but it has been taken back by the State, as he never paid the required fees), instead of any other candidate.
I insist on my former comment: Do the candy-currency series! :P
Saudos,
David
David, actually I'm rarely offered candy instead of change. The MO seems to be simply refusing the purchase. Vendors usually have 10 or 20 centavos in change. It's when they have to give you 1.50 pesos that it becomes a big deal and nobody wants a big handfull of caramelos. If it's 5 or 10 centavos they just round it in your favor usually.
The coin shortage problem seems to be on its way to being solved. At least, I do feel there are more coins now than before, probably thanks to the tarjeta monedero thing. But what's interseting about this society, is the natural ability we have tu turn a social problem into a convenient business for some. I have to mention the many bus companies that "sold" coins up to twice their price. I would have liked to see that happen in Germany. I bet it wouldn't...
Anyway, amazing pictures! I like this blog a lot!
BA's coin shortage hits The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/06/08/090608ta_talk_surowiecki
Post a Comment