Small Change (good news)

[JG]

Some will consider this good news about small change, small news. However, i think its good to know theres a new law in favor of the customer. They dont use cent coins anymore in argentina, and this new law says that if the difference is less than 5 cents, the difference is in favor of the Customer. Most stores i go to round UP when they charge you, then without missing a beat, round DOWN when they give you your change. this is now illegal.
Example, Eki supermarket across the street charges me 8 cents for each and every bag, yet always short changes me (the machine says my change is 20.24 and they give me 20.20 instead of 20.25). i might let it slide if they didnt charge me for the darn bag. now i demand my change.
This is good news for all consumers, expat and argentine. Of course if a place doesnt comply what can you do. In argentina, if you can make a report etc. usually nothing is done at all in my opinion, they have laws with no teeth and lawbreakers with no fear.
Citation: Ley no. 26.179, effective december 19, 2006. called "Ley de Redondeo"
(its always possible theres something i didnt get right, but i read a summary of the law and this is what it said. several stores have had it posted in their windows)

 

[igor]

Yes, this is extremely important. Let's say every day you loose 5 centavos because of the rounding issue. It makes a whopping 18 pesos and 25 centavos in one year. And for this money you will be arguing every day with cashiers in the stores you usually buy things and with waiters in the restaurants you usually eat, recite them law numbers, try to scare them with filing a report somewhere. What are you going to do with these 18 pesos? Have a meal in the same restaurant? But it is a matter of principle I guess.

 

[chris]

To most Argentines a few centavos has real meaning. I remember speaking to a cleaning woman in an office. She told me how she traveled to work: a forty minute walk to a train and then a very long train ride to a poor area far from the capital. I asked why she didn't take a bus to the train. She explained that 80 centavos each way added up and she simply could not afford it. A friend who is principal of a state school related this story: the teachers staged a mini strike for some reason. In response their monthly salaries were reduced ten or twenty pesos. There was a huge outcry. They needed what we expats think of as a small amount. It's easy for many of us who have so much compared to most people in Argentina to lose sight of how many needy people there are. Barrio Norte and the few relatively affluent areas in and around BA are not typical of the country. Fighting for a few centavos may be a matter of principle for an expat but not for many millions who struggle for the basics of life.

 

[JG]

Well naturally you can do whatever you want, Igor. i was just letting others know that although most places favor themselves at your expense, now the law says that they must make the change in your favor. Must, so do insist people.
I think consumers should stand up for their rights, i think your passivity perhaps might be from the Communist rigid state system you grew up with.
Even in argentina, apparently, we have some rights. i call that good news.

 

[Paul_NL]

To most Argentines a few centavos has real meaning. I remember speaking to a cleaning woman in an office. She told me how she traveled to work: a forty minute walk to a train and then a very long train ride to a poor area far from the capital. I asked why she didn't take a bus to the train. She explained that 80 centavos each way added up and she simply could not afford it. A friend who is principal of a state school related this story: the teachers staged a mini strike for some reason. In response their monthly salaries were reduced ten or twenty pesos. There was a huge outcry. They needed what we expats think of as a small amount. It's easy for many of us who have so much compared to most people in Argentina to lose sight of how many needy people there are. Barrio Norte and the few relatively affluent areas in and around BA are not typical of the country. Fighting for a few centavos may be a matter of principle for an expat but not for many millions who struggle for the basics of life.

Argentina has around a million problems who cause more trouble.
But whatever makes your day