Shops in New York City have begun accepting foreign currency as payment

[December]

Shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise....

We all know that Dollar is not doing that great... But this info is just scary.
I mean.... What is next?...

Vatican will relocate to Washington DC?......
China is going to build a Great Wall on the border with Mexico?
American people will be taking oath on Karan?

:(

"Euros Accepted" signs pop up in New York City

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates.
"We didn't realize we would take so much in and there were that many people traveling or having euros to bring in. But some days, you'd be surprised at how many euros you get," Chu said.
"Now we have to get familiar with other currencies and the (British) pound and the Canadian dollars we take," he said.

READ MORE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080206/us_nm/newyork_euros_dc

http://www.deljpn.ec.europa.eu/data/local/20040727042030_2.jpg

[lily]

Vatican will relocate to Washington DC?......
China is going to build a Great Wall on the border with Mexico?
American people will be taking oath on Karan?

Yep.....that keeps me up at night.:rolleyes:




I'm not so sure what the problem is......maybe because I live so close to Canada that taking foreign currency is second nature. Money is money........even if you have to figure out the daily exchange.

[December]

I'm not so sure what the problem is......maybe because I live so close to Canada that taking foreign currency is second nature. Money is money........even if you have to figure out the daily exchange.

Do I really have to explain that a weak dollar spells weak economy and weak contry?

There was a report on CNN about six months ago or so about pizza restaurants in the South which began excepting MEXICAN PESOS!

http://www2.travlang.com/money/peso10.jpg

[AnnEsthesia]

I would bet it has more to do with the fact that New York draws a LOT of business from people from other countries than with the weak dollar. The UN is there and New York is a major destination for overseas travel, so it makes sense. And the same with restaurants down south. If you have hundreds of people coming in and that is what they have to pay with, eventually it makes good business sense to take that form of currency.

[just a grunt]

It is an acknowledgement that there are enough customers with euros in hand to make it good business to accommodate them: no more,no less.

[December]

I would bet it has more to do with the fact that New York draws a LOT of business from people from other countries than with the weak dollar. The UN is there and New York is a major destination for overseas travel, so it makes sense. And the same with restaurants down south. If you have hundreds of people coming in and that is what they have to pay with, eventually it makes good business sense to take that form of currency.


This is very good point, of course, but American dollar is not excepted in other countries as it used to be:

Iran stops accepting U.S. dollars for oil

08/ 12/ 2007

TEHRAN, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - Iran has stopped selling its oil for U.S. dollars, the Iranian ISNA news agency said on Saturday, citing the country's oil minister.

"In line with a policy of selling crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the sale of our country's oil in U.S. dollars has been completely eliminated," ISNA reported Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari as saying.

He also said "the dollar is no longer a reliable currency."

Iran is the world's fourth-largest crude oil producer.
At a November summit of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries heads of state, Iran proposed that oil sales be carried for a variety of currencies, excluding dollars, but was not supported by any other members except Venezuela.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had previously called the U.S. currency a "worthless piece of paper."

2007 has seen a significant fall in the value of the U.S dollar against other major world currencies.
Tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S., which has accused the Islamic Republic of attempting to build a nuclear weapon, as well as providing insistence to insurgents in Iraq.

The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), published on Monday, stated that Tehran had put a stop to weapons production in 2003, although it was continuing to enrich uranium.

read more -

http://en.rian.ru/world/20071208/91488137.html

[just a grunt]

How does that have any relationship to retailers' choice to accept foreign currency?
When have Iran's pronouncements on the stability of any foreign currency held any meaning for the rest of the world?

[December]

How does that have any relationship to retailers' choice to accept foreign currency?

This thread is not just about New York shops, just a grunt.
I just have to assume you did NOT read the article.
Here are some quotes:

- In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be...

- The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies...

- the acceptance of foreign money in Manhattan was unheard of until recently.

Not far from Chu's downtown wine emporium, Billy Leroy of Billy's Antiques & Props said the vast numbers of Europeans shopping in the neighborhood got him thinking, "My God, I should take euros in at the store."
Leroy doesn't even bother to exchange them.

"I'm happy if I take in 200 euros, because what I do is keep them," he said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080206/us_nm/newyork_euros_dc

[just a grunt]

Actually, December, you CHOSE to ass-u-me that I didn't read the article since I didn't come to the same conclusion as you. I did read it. I just do not accept the writer's premise that retailers' policy change foreshadows economic doom. The US market has been criticized for years as arrogant for not being more accommodating to foreign tourists. Now it's changed. It's a market decision. Probably should have been done years ago.

[December]

Probably should have been done years ago.


Maybe it was illegal before....[hr]I'm not so sure what the problem is......maybe because I live so close to Canada that taking foreign currency is second nature.


Bloomberg: The dollar hit three decades low against Canadian dollar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaxdUPNYj2s

[Buck Laser]

I'm not so sure what the problem is......maybe because I live so close to Canada that taking foreign currency is second nature. Money is money........even if you have to figure out the daily exchange.

Do I really have to explain that a weak dollar spells weak economy and weak contry?

There was a report on CNN about six months ago or so about pizza restaurants in the South which began excepting MEXICAN PESOS!

http://www2.travlang.com/money/peso10.jpg

You say that like it's a BAD thing.

[brien]

Iran stops accepting U.S. dollars for oil

So what The US buys zero oil from Iran.[hr]This knife cuts both ways. If I as a shop keeper, accept the Euro today as let's say @ 2.00 US per 1 Euro, and tomorrow, the Euro moves lower against the dollar, I as the shopkeeper will lose money on my sale. But, if the Euro moves higher against the US dollar, then I as the shopkeeper, will make even more on the sale. Furthermore, most banks charge for the exchange, which will cost the shopkeeper as well.

It is a gamble, either way you wish to slice it.

[lily]

I'm not so sure what the problem is......maybe because I live so close to Canada that taking foreign currency is second nature. Money is money........even if you have to figure out the daily exchange.

Do I really have to explain that a weak dollar spells weak economy and weak contry?

There was a report on CNN about six months ago or so about pizza restaurants in the South which began excepting MEXICAN PESOS!

http://www2.travlang.com/money/peso10.jpg



December.......maybe you should actually read the articles you post:
"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates.
"We didn't realize we would take so much in and there were that many people traveling or having euros to bring in. But some days, you'd be surprised at how many euros you get," Chu said.
"Now we have to get familiar with other currencies and the (British) pound and the Canadian dollars we take," he said.

The sky is not falling.

[jafar00]

Why is this news. I used to work in a large retailer in London's West End and we accepted pounds, US/Canadian/Australian dollars, Yen, Riyals and Shekels. If you work in an area that has a lot of tourists and your business depends upon them, it only makes sense to make it easier for them to part with their cash, no matter what form it is in. ;)

[Labrocca]

The dollar is weak. Merchants are ok with accepting a foreign currency that's strong. What's wrong with that? In the past if I took Euro's or Peso's they were so unstable they might devalue at any minute. btw..my store was 3 blocks from that wine merchant...I actually used to buy my booze there to get sloshed at work.

December do you ever post positive news? What's your point in all this? Everyone already knows the dollar is weak.

[PatrickHenry]

December do you ever post positive news? What's your point in all this? Everyone already knows the dollar is weak.
Even though December is alarmed by it, I find this kinda positive.

Accepting currencies of foreign powers shows that New York shopkeepers have confidence in the international monetary system...

[Keith Hamburger]

There is so much at play in all of the personal decisions involved in what to accept as currency, it is almost meaningless to speculate.

Perhaps the guy who owns the store is planning a European vacation in the next year or so and doesn't want to get ripped off exchanging his money. It's far better if he can charge a 10% premium over the exchange rate, in his store, rather than pay a 5% exchange at a money changer.

Sure, December is right that it is a concern that our weakening dollar is leading to an unstable currency that is not respected throughout the world as greatly as it has been in the past. However, individual business decisions go much, much deeper than that one problem.

It seems that the panic over such a thing includes an implication that those that start to accept other currencies are somehow "unAmerican". Perhaps they are being true capitalists and don't want to brag about how they're making so much more profit off their foreign customers for the convenience of paying in that currency that they will go ahead and use on their next vacation. Or, they're planning to travel to buy more stock (wine from France, for example) and the extra profit they make from the exchange will allow them a better deal when they pay cash for $9999 worth of European product (can't buy $10,000 worth, that would make them subject to having to declare the money and it might be stolen by the government).

In a true free market, with competing currencies, none of this would be questioned. It just goes to show how controlled and nationalistic our economy has become that this makes headlines.

Keith