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Germany

 
 
Schnell Household and dishes
Schloss strasse, 26
Neuenstein
Storekeeper Contact
   
 

Already some months before the change we had to operate a new labeling with DM and euros; it was for us an enormous work because our registering of goods on computer only dates back to three years and goods not changed since this date were not able to benefit from a double labeling printed by computer.
For the invoicing no problem because our programs on the computer are updated regularly.
We were afraid that the first weeks should be very problematic because it seemed indispensable to have two cashes in order to permit to the customers to pay in DM or in euros while returning them only euros.

We are agreeably surprised seeing that almost all the customers pay exclusively with euros which gets our task much easier.
We had few tourists which means that we did not take much advantage of the fact that our nearby countries also have the euro as the currency.
Barbara Schnell
 
 

 
 
Ruth Laser
Pupil (15 years old)
Grenzweg 12
Untermünkheim
Inhabitant Contact
   
To me the passage to the euro does not mean much, except that the prices of the canteen and at the baker seem reduced to half. I am not enthousiastic over this change and I shall certainly need a whole year to become used to it. The only interesting thing is about the holidays in France : no more need to change !
 
 

 
Austria
 
 
Michael Rauscher
Model maker in a publishing house ( 39 years old)
Vienna
Inhabitant On Web
   
There is always an important celebration in Vienna for the New Year. This year, monuments were in the colours of the euro. During the concert of the New Year, which is broadcast in almost all the countries, there was a gigantic logo of a Euro in yellow and blue flowers. It was magnificent!
Like in France, several politicians went to buy flowers for their wives but they did not blunder like Jospin who believed that one baguette was worth 8 euros!
To simplify the task, I went to the bank on Wednesday morning to change all my schillings against euros but I was not the only one to have had this idea. The paper on which are printed notes is very thin, in my opinion it is very fast going to get damaged. On the other hand, the idea to put into relief the amount of notes for the blind is excellent. As far as coins are concerned, for us, it is a disaster. We rarely had any before and I am going to have to buy a purse. I am not nostalgic of the schilling but it is an example in smaller of the DM: a very stable and useful currency in the nearby countries. The Austrians were rather proud of it...
 
 

 
Belgium
 
 
François Thonnard
Relations customers in a bank ( 27 years old)
Brussels
Inhabitant On Web
   
For New Year's Eve I was with friends in Liège. At midnight I went out to get some money to show to them. It was all the same a historic moment! We were a little disappointed. It is a little like " dunk money "! That morning, in shops, it was boring. I went to buy cigarettes. A package is worth 3,10 euros. So I gave a 50 note and 10 cents of euros. The storekeeper began to convert in Belgian francs. It was quite hard for me to convince him to give me the change in euros.
An image marked people: Didier Reynders, Minister of finances, was called in the street by a tramp who asked him if he had 1000 francs . He took advantage of it to tell her that he didn't have 1000 francs but tightened her a 5-euro note. The woman did not look much convinced. I believe that the Belgians feel strongly European and doubtless more concerned than the big countries. The passage to the euro is a strong sign. Now we can't get back any more !
 
 

 
Spain
 
 
Arnau Coma
Student and musician in bassoon ( 22 years old)
Barcelona
Inhabitant On Web
   
On Wednesday morning in shops, everybody was talking about that. The storekeepers complain not to be helped enough by banks and find that the period of double traffic of pesetas and euros, which is of 2 months in Spain, is too long. Perhaps we should have done like the Germans with their Big Bang.
I saw quite a lot of my fellow countrymen arriving with big banknotes for small amounts just to get the change in euros and avoid queuing up at the bank. As for notes, they look so new that I do not even dare to put them in my pocket for fear of creasing them! I did not have this kind of scruples with pesetas. For me, I shall feel more European when I have euro coins of the other countries in my pockets: that will mean that money circulates!
 
 
 
 
 
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