It’s all about Money…by Vidya
Vidya Nalawade
If you stay in the USA for a while, then you will come to know, what I am talking about.During your initial weeks in the USA, you can not apply for a credit card right away. The eligibility criterion for the application of the credit card is a “Credit score.” This criterion is related to your credit history. So for some time, until you get your cards (Debit/Credit) you need to use CASH for any purchases. Nowadays, in most of the countries the use of credit/debit cards has been increased. As a result, people, especially the younger generation use CARDs everywhere and not cash.
When you will start using US dollars there will so much confusion. When I started handling cash, so many questions came across my mind… What is a Dime? What is a Nickel and Penny? How come a Dime is smaller than a Nickel in size? So much confusion… You know, the USA is the only country who has no numbers on the coins! And this leads to more confusion for the international students. During the first week of my stay in the USA, my wallet was overflowing with coins.
In India, we don’t much care about pennies. For instance, if we purchase anything for Rs. 10.89 we usually pay Rs. 11. But here in the USA, if you buy anything worth $10.89 you will get 11 cents back. This was confusing for me. First, I felt “how crazy is this?” But now I feel, in fact this is the best and fair way of exchange.
US currency is very important currency; all currencies peg their values against the US dollar. This reminds me— I visited the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC and the way Dollar bills are printed is just amazing! If you ever get a chance to visit it, don’t miss it. You will get so much information…such as during Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced approximately 26 million notes A DAY with a face value of approximately $907 million. $907 million in ONE DAY! Wow… Everything is just incredible…
(Note: Bureau of Engraving and Printing is the place where Dollar bills are printed.)
Cheers,
Vidya