No Cambio

In every country I have been to everyone wants to get rid of their change. People don’t want coins rattling around in their pockets. It is given to their kids to put in the piggy bank or if you are flash you may say “keep the change.” There are even machines where you can convert your change into hard cash at Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s. 

The situation is totally the opposite in Buenos Aires. If you don’t go out of the house with a decent amount of coins and low denominated notes you could be in for a rough day.

Buenos Aries Colectivos 

Let’s start with the buses. Buenos Aires has the most aggressive bus drivers in the world. These guys have been put in charge of a six ton weapon of mass destruction and they know it. Going around one way cobbled streets taking each gear change to maximum revs is the norm and they use the horn given the slightest opportunity. Don’t even bother joining the queue if you don’t have small change. The driver will in the best case scenario do a lot of waving with his hands and role his eyes while everyone in the queue says “Que pasa?” Or at worst he’ll throw you off. Most of the buses don’t have change for notes at all.

Where the problem starts -
the coin till on the Buses

Taxi drivers come a close second in the aggressive stakes, but it can be even more awkward because you have to pay at the end of the journey.  These guys are not armed with the weight of a bus but have the speed and nimbleness to show they mean business. Blindly ignoring road lanes, they do as they please. When you reach your destination you’d better have something close to the right amount or you will be sent to the nearest shop to get some change. I experienced this madness in my first week of being in Buenos Aires. Even buying groceries can be an issue. Usually, you’ll get your change eventually but don’t be surprised if it comes in the form of an extra banana or some sweets which is no use to me or a taxi driver.

The reason for the shortage is the bus companies have kept all the change and then sell it on for a premium of 8%. You can walk down some streets in Buenos Aires and hear people saying "Cambio Cambio" (change change) selling change on the black market. A deal is done by exchanging 50 pesos in notes and receive 45 pesos back in coins from the change hawker.

An unhappy shop keeper with a sign saying
buy cigarettes with with change - there are no coins

This in turn has created a nation of coin hoarders. People are simply afraid they will run out of change and will not be able to go about their normal lives. You will find a plate or a jar full of coins in every home in Argentina which is compounding the problem.

The government keep printing more coins and say there are enough, but nobody trusts anything the government says, so the hoarding continues. There is now a shortage of two peso notes which makes the problem worse.

Argentine Monedas (coins)

All this hoarding creates a web of lies and deceit, which I have to admit I have become a part of. I took the attitude that everyone was doing it and so would I! I first stepped into this web one day in a shop called Disco, Argentina’s equivalent to Waitrose. I bought some shopping worth around 25 pesos (about £4). I had 130 Pesos in my wallet so I nervously handed over a 100 peso note

so I would have some change for the rest of the day. 

When the cashier asked if I had any change I lied straight through my teeth and said no but I was sorry. I was surprised how easy it was to go over the edge to the dark side, but I was even more astonished when she told me that she didn’t have any change either. Well you can’t kid a kidder I thought and quizzed her. I said “so everyone who came in here today has paid with the exact change?” “Yes” she casually replied. She fell straight into my neatly laid trap.  I replied “well as it is 8PM in the evening you should have a lot of change then." At this point she knew the game was up and I had won cambio face off. She immediately called over her assistant to bring some fresh coins and notes to the till.