Skip to main content

Won for the money, to show


Korean currency is denominated simply into Won.  Given inflation of the 70s, it now has lots of zeroes.  However, because the exchange rate is quite near USdollar decimals — at 1100won to the dollar, now increasing in value so it will soon be 1000won to the dollar — it is easiest for us to simply treat 1won as equaling 1/10 of a cent.  Thus, a one-thousand-won bill is like a dollar bill.   A ten-thousand-won bill is like a ten-dollar bill.  Easy!

I think the won has a bit better purchasing power also — many small items can be purchased for under a dollar, whereas it is rare for anything substantial in the US to be sold for under a dollar.
It is interesting to note that, just as in the US, coins are less and less important:  there is no coin valued as much as a dollar (unlike in Canada or Europe).

I would guess that the government in Korea has a problem similar to that of all mints — it now costs them more to produce and distribute small coins than those coins are actually worth!  The US penny and nickel cost the government around ten cents to produce.   To their credit, a couple years ago, Korea changed their penny-equivalent 10-won coin to a tiny copper-colored aluminum thing that’s hardly worth messing with.  And now, we use them only in grocery stores.
Because Korea uses the Value-Added Tax system that incorporates the consumption tax into the price of the goods, most products sell at nice even hundred- or thousand-won increments.   As a further benefit, the service charge (tip) is priced into all services — that is, No Tipping -- so it is wonderfully easy to budget and allocate spending money in restaurants, taxis, stores, etc.   and wonderfully easy to split the tab when dining with a group of people!

I wonder how much the US sales tax method of charging obscure percentages on top of a stated price actually costs in terms of miscalculated values, overcharged customers, time spent calculating and arguing over the calculation; add to that, time spent counting and dealing with pennies and nickels that such a percentage method causes.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fleeing Trump, Americans go to Portugal

  Fleeing Trump, Americans go into exile in Portugal. “I'm afraid to go back” Not only minorities feel threatened by the Trump administration. Three couples, a mother and an academic tell us why they chose to live in Portugal. Some say: the American dream is over.      The above is today's headline article in our favorite trusted newspaper in Portugal, O Publico .  It's a centrist newspaper, owned by a big supermarket corporation.  Let's combine this with the recent news that Portugal's Air Force is now shifting away from its planned purchase of F-35 jets.  Even though Trump has not even mentioned Portugal in his various diatribes against former allies, Portugal and the rest of Europe are reeling from the attacks.  We hope it has the ironic effect of freeing Europe from American dominance and improving the chances for centrist leadership (against Trump-like parties that have been gaining prominence).  The original text follows: Em fuga de Tru...

EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

 As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico .  There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver.   Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government.  As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time.  I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government?   And what will it take to recover from the damage?  Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever?   Only ni...

Captain America dominates the news, in many ways

KoreaTimes newspaper of April 5, 2014:  the front page features five items: a photo of the Avengers2 film shoot, with Captain America posed on the set; four stories with these headlines:   Japan adopts absurd claims in textbooks ; Obama plays favorites ; Ortiz’s selfie makes White House uneasy ; and ‘US knows japan at fault on row with Korea’ … all about America and Japan!  (Obama is said to be favoring Japan -- he even supposedly pressed the Virginia governor to veto the bill requiring Virginia textbooks to add the name “East Sea” to Sea of Japan!). And the Avengers2 filmshoot dominates public talk -- students and teachers alike discuss sightings of the film crew or actors, and the resulting traffic delays at the bridges in use. But it is considered worth the effort, to show the world that Korea is a hip, modern place, worth the effort for Captain America to defend against the villains (from the north, perhaps?).