Small Change Hoarding

The common bills used in Tanzania are 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10000. (Divide by 1400 to get Canadian Dollars equivalent). When I get money from the ATM, it is usually all 10000. I usually get 400,000 Tsh (Tanzanian Shilling) at once. Imagine carrying that around. Actually I had just paid rent for the next three months, which amounted to 1,819,000 Tsh. Imagine getting that out of the ATM and storing it in my house. Craziness.

Anyways, the reason why I’m saying this is that it’s extremely hard to get change for the 10000 sometimes. Especially if you’re buying vegetables from a local stand, or buying a newspaper, or taking a bujaj (small open air taxis – super cool and fun to be in). Therefore, everyone desperately tries to save up their small change all the time. When we go out to eat or go to a larger supermarket, we always try to take as much small change as possible.

I think the fact that we have to consciously always try to save small change tells us a lot about the economy here. There’s basically a divide between those who always get lots of 10,000 Tsh bills and those who almost never get one.

I guess in Canada, it would be the equivalent of me taking a $50 bill and buying a newspaper. All the time. I guess that’s why foreigners seem so rich (we are in comparison to many; of course there are many, many, many really rich Tanzanians too).