So far the US Dollar has been the undisputed king of the currencies. A $100 bill worked like a passport in many countries of the world and dollars were used as the mandatory currency for international transactions in some markets. At the same time, when foreigners had to go the the States they always had to exchange their money because – Canadian and Mexican borders excepted – nobody would accept foreign money in American shops.
By the way, every time I’ve been to New York I have been disappointed by how few and how crappy ATMs and exchange counters there were between Customs and the Taxi station of Delta’s terminal at JFK. Didn’t they think of the just-landed foreigners having to pay $45+toll cash for a cab to Manhattan?
Anyhow, things are quickly changing now. Dollars fell 15% in the last year compared to the the rest of the world and tourists (Europeans in particular) are visiting the States and shopping like crazy. For this reason more and more shops in Manhattan are displaying “We accept Euro” tags. Stuff there is now so cheap that last time I felt like I had to buy something, because it was a shame to come back home with spare room in my luggage. Eventually, I bought a 250G portable USB hard drive. Friends in Italy also asked me to carry something for them.
Because of their crappy pricing policy (or should I call it a rip-off?) Apple products are even cheaper. Apple apparently doesn’t know how to apply exchange rates. I mean, a Macbook Air is 1799$ in the USA and €1699 ($2497) in Europe. No wonder there are people who fly to the States just to carry back a couple of macs and sell them to friends. Their flight is paid by Apple. It’s called arbitrage.
Americans are now very worried of their money. Friends in New York kept on talking on how lucky I was, how much the dollar was falling, how I should invest my money by buying some real estate in New York because flats in Manhattan are a bargain nowadays and so forth. I was shocked. Euro money is now trendy! Next time I’m going to try to pay drinks in Euros in one of those coll rooftop bars, just to see how they’d take it.
