As has been experienced by every porteño, written about by every local (and foreign) correspondent, and mocked in this funny Slate piece, there is a massive coin shortage in Buenos Aires. In typical fashion, this has been sold as the fault of the big "they," a conspiracy of bus companies hoarding coins and reselling them on the black market (a theory given credence by the October bust of a company hoarding 13 million monedas). But an explanation in the kicker of a very short AP piece published yesterday has the benefit of fitting Occam's razor--that the simplest explanation is usually correct--and to me seems most likely. The cause of our tragic, tragic moneda shortage? They haven't punched out enough coins:
There are about 125 coins per person in circulation in Argentina — well below the 1,000 coins per person circulating in the U.S., according to The United States Mint.
2 comments:
I only seem to have three in my monedero...where did my other 122 go?
I'm just back from a couple of weeks in Uruguay. Despite its many similarities with Argentina, in Uruguay I noticed nobody, ever, asked me for small change when I handed them bills well over the amount I had to pay. They always had coins available. In fact, I returned to Argentina with a surplus of Uruguayan coins I had no chance (or need) to spend, and which I must have reflexively hoarded for fear of running out of them. It's obvious we're doing something wrong on this side of the pond.
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