Maira

I have been following the development of the Euro closely and for what I read, it's going well. I also read that some establishments are still getting familiar with the denominations and consequently, with handing out the right change, etc. To those using the Euro, what has been your experience?

Sjoerd

Here in the Netherlands, the euro is now used in the vast majority of cash transactions. In general, the changeover process has gone smoothly. Of course, people have to get used to the new coins and banknotes, so it takes a little longer to get the correct change out of your pocket, but this has not resulted in very long queues.<BR>The only queues are in banks, because many, many people want to change their last guilders for euros. (I will wait until a later moment to do this, because banks will still change without any fees until end of March) <BR>There have been some reports about taxi drivers charging guilder fares in euros to ignorant tourists (making the ride 2.2 times as expensive!), but these are the exceptions, not the rules.<BR>Supermarkets have used the euro introduction to start a price war, making manyn products cheaper, and bars and restaurants have increased prices to get "nice looking" euro prices. (for instance: a beer that was 4 guilders before which is exactly 1.8151 euros wiill now cost 1.90 euros)<BR>All in all, prices are expected to go up slightly but not dramatically.

Paige

I live in Munich and have experienced no problems whatsoever. Check out lines are moving a little slow as cashiers count and double count then buyers do the same. There are a lot of people who look a little confused, but no one is freaking out or anything. I'd say it's going incredibly well here.

Ashling

Ditto for here in Dublin. Everything seems to be going very smoothly. Again like Sjoerd's experience, most transactions seem to be in Euro as well. And most people seem to be getting used to it pretty quickly. So complaints from me.

Zoe

I went to a bureau de change this morning to cash in some french francs and greek drachma and the cashier told me she had had problems getting hold of euros to stock! Only in circulation 4 days and already in short supply!

Bob Brown

I saw a news story that reported good progress. Shops in Ireland and the Netherlands were experiencing as high as 75% of all cash transactions being in euros. Electronic payments have declined, probably because people are still paying with old notes and receiving their change in euros.<BR><BR>The laggard, according to the story, was Italy. <BR>It reminds me of a joke that was told on this forum a while back.<BR><BR>Heaven is where the cops are British, the cooks are French, the lovers are Italian, the engineers are German, the Dutch make the beer, and the Swiss organize and manage everything. (You can substitute any nation here of your own choosing.)<BR><BR>Hell is where the engineers are French, the lovers are Swiss, the cops are German, the cooks are British, the Americans make the beer, and the Italians run everything.<BR><BR>Old stereotypes die hard.<BR><BR><BR>

Pedro

I would say things are going on really well here in Sevilla. Elder people are generally a bit more confused but sometimes you see they carry electronic calculators. But overall I am certain many Europeans had never expected this would be so easy.

c

The Euros are making an appereance even in Indonesia, yet it appears the British are not partaking on the Euro experience. Of course, another way to set themselves apart, I guess. Any British care to share an opinion?

sylvia

Many shops and most tourist attractions are taking Euros including Marks and Spencers, Harrods etc.<BR>The British being a pragmatic lot and who make 40,000,000 visits to the mainland each year will get used to the convenience when they go abroad and will come to welcome the Euro. Unlike many of the other European countries we will have to decide the matter in a referendum

melva

Just returned from the Netherlands, and on the trip to the airport, our taxi driver charged us a fee for using Euros, effectively doubling what we would usually pay in Guilders. We didn't have the time to argue with him.

Sjoerd

Melva: you should have given him the correct fare and not a cent more. It is illegal to refuse euros. You met a criminal taxi driver who would also have overcharged you if there hadn't been euros.

xxxx

The Euro experience have been better than expected, leading many economists to the prediction that the Euro will soon replace the Dollar as the most important international currency. We'll see how long the Britons resist.

christina

ciao maira<BR><BR>since today i can say: i don't have a lire anymore but i do have euro and i'm happy that it finally arrived. here around florence and i know particularly in the north of italy, there is no problem handling euro. the old people are affraid but it's maybe because the "low" numbers put them emotionally back to war when they have had the famous "mille lire" jobs ("thousand lire"). but the rest is doing fine. <BR><BR>other in the south of italy, my best friend is from the south and they (as usual) have problems even to get euro at the bank... a lot of the people there don't even know that the euro really comes. anyway. the smartest thing i saw was in tv, asking a barista from milano how they handle the new money: signora, we do have 2 cash desks, one for euro the other one for lire. who pays in euro gets the change back in euro, who pays in lire gets the change back in lire. we don't have problems and neather our clients. there are still some italians they say that they use the lire till 28th of february.<BR><BR>prices were lifted in the last month and so the payment is more or less the same. they want to make lotto cheaper, but there.... let's see.<BR><BR>have a good evening in the rest of europe and in the states.<BR><BR>christina

Maira

Hi Christina! and all who has so kindly share on their experiences. A very healthy and prosperous 2002!<BR><BR>So interesting to see this historical event unfold and hear first-hand accounts.<BR><BR>I did read that the first three counterfeited Euro bills have been detected in Ireland today. One of them of poor quality seemed to have been issued with the intent to "test the waters", the other two were considered of good quality. I was wondering how long was going to take....

KT

Got Euros on Jan. 2 from a Bancomat (ATM) in Terni, a city in Umbria, with no problem. That same day, I paid for a meal that cost about 8 Euros at a self-service in Rome with one of the 50-Euro bills from the Bancomat and got my change in Euros -- not bad, considering I know some places in the USA that would balk at getting a 50-dollar bill for an 8-dollar meal.<BR><BR>In most places, I paid in lire to use them up -- it was a little slower, because they had to calculate back from Euros into lire (not just for me, but for all of the other customers who were doing the same thing), but I didn't have any real problems. The ticket machines in the Rome metro were out of order because they hadn't been switched over yet, so I just went back up to street level and bought a ticket with lire at the newsstand.<BR><BR>No problems at all, of course, when I used my credit card. My hotel in Rome had originally quoted their price in lire, and they charged me the exact equivalent in Euros, just like they were supposed to. While I was paying, there was an American couple who were totally confused by the whole thing, but that's because they were clueless even about the dollars-to-lire thing ("Wasn't the price supposed to be 90 lire?" 90 lire!! Now that would have been a REAL bargain....)