Paying euros gives shoppers pause

[unhappycamper]

Paying euros gives shoppers pause
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, November 18, 2007

BÖBLINGEN, Germany — Feels good, doesn’t it?

Hand that food-court cashier a 20-euro bill, and get back $21.75 plus your food. What a deal! Or is it?

“When you pay in euros, it seems like you get more back,” Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Danziger said Saturday. “You don’t really, but it makes you feel better.”

At the Army and Air Force Exchange Service post exchange on Panzer Casern in Böblingen — far from the on-the-economy ravaging of the dollar — the dollar vs. euro game still played out.

Sometimes the players won; usually they didn’t.

Danziger paid in dollars this time. He knew he’d have been nicked for a few cents per dollar if he’d paid for lunch in euros.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50360



uhc comment: The dollar has lost about 14% of its value since 1.1.2007 --> http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory