0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (07/08/90)
..Here's a mini-laugh just arrived here as republished in TE&M
magazine for July 1, 1990:
"A recent article from Knight-Ridder newspapers describes the
payphone situation in Poland:
"`Want in on the best little bargain in a changing Eastern
Europe? Step right up: A local call at a Polish payphone is still
only 20 zlotys -- about one-fifth of a penny in U.S. terms.
"`Don't have a 20-zloty coin? Not to worry. With some
shrewd dealing you can buy one for as low as 200 zlotys.'"
(I make that out to be about 2 cents U.S. !)
"`Since Polish payphone mechanisms were increased to
20 zlotys several months ago, 20-zloty coins have gone into hiding.
"`Not all 20-zloty coins, mind you. Just the ones that fit
payphones. There are three sizes of 20-zloty coins in Poland,along
with a 20-zloty bill. (Don't ask; explaining all of this is going to
be complicated enough.)
"`The payphone-sized 20-zlotycoins are selling on the streets
for 200 to 1,000 zlotys apiece.'" (I still say cheap at a thousand
zlotys -- about a dime U.S., isn't it?)
"`The whole thing might strike you as it strikes Miroslawa
Firlej, 35, a Polish waitress who recently coughed up 1,000 zlotys for
a coin to call her son's school to report he was sick. Of the
payphone situation, she remarked, "It's crazy."
"`A great many Poles, like Firlej, have no phone in their
homes, so they rely on payphones. And with the breathtaking inflation
that has resulted from the country's sudden change to a free-market
economy, 20-zloty coins don't circulate much because they aren't worth
much, except in a pay phone. And there, incidentally, they are a good
deal, considering that a local call from a private phone is now 150
zlotys.'"
Seems I recall a similar situation in Greece, where the local payphone
rate was a few drachmae, a price so cheap that coins of such a small
denomination were hard to come by.john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (07/09/90)
"Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> writes: > "`Don't have a 20-zloty coin? Not to worry. With some > shrewd dealing you can buy one for as low as 200 zlotys.'" > (I make that out to be about 2 cents U.S. !) On a trip to La Paz (Mexico) last year, a local teenager demonstrated how to make a call if one didn't have the correct change (or didn't want to actually expend the funds). One takes the coin, (US coins seem to work for this purpose as well) and insert it partially. When the telephone appears to have recognized the coin, simply remove it. Many of the payphones there didn't even require that much effort--they just provided free calls. Obviously, the Mexican telephone company doesn't consider public phones to be the gold mine that they are in the US! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
wnp@relay.eu.net (wolf paul) (07/11/90)
In TELECOM Digest 10/469, Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> writes: > "`Since Polish payphone mechanisms were increased to > 20 zlotys several months ago, 20-zloty coins have gone into hiding. > "`The payphone-sized 20-zlotycoins are selling on the streets > for 200 to 1,000 zlotys apiece.'" (I still say cheap at a thousand > zlotys -- about a dime U.S., isn't it?) A Polish colleague of mine informs me that payphones were recently converted to use a special phone token, which presumably is available at the official rate at various outlets. It is interesting how some coins cause such a strong public reaction: The Susan B. Anthony dollar comes to mind in the US, or the small, thick, and heavy 1-pound coin in the UK, which was very little used until 1-pound notes were withdrawn from circulation. Here in Austria, the 20-Schilling coin is hardly used by the public; in order to increase its acceptance, the state-owned Austrian Radio conducted a campaign in cooperation with the National Bank rewarding randomly picked members of the public on the street with AS 100, if they had a 20AS coin on their person. Wolf N. Paul, Int. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa.at!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa.at@uunet.uu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET
KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) (07/12/90)
In TELECOM Digest 10/469, Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail. com> writes: > "`Since Polish payphone mechanisms were increased to > 20 zlotys several months ago, 20-zloty coins have gone into hiding. > "`The payphone-sized 20-zlotycoins are selling on the streets > for 200 to 1,000 zlotys apiece.'" (I still say cheap at a thousand > zlotys -- about a dime U.S., isn't it?) Wolf Paul <iiasa!cossun!wnp@relay.eu.net> writes: > A Polish colleague of mine informs me that payphones were recently > converted to use a special phone token, which presumably is available > at the official rate at various outlets. > It is interesting how some coins cause such a strong public reaction: > The Susan B. Anthony dollar comes to mind in the US, or the small, > thick, and heavy 1-pound coin in the UK, which was very little used > until 1-pound notes were withdrawn from circulation. Two reasons the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin failed to gain acceptance in the US, even though it was a good idea in those inflationary times, were the Federal Government's unwillingness to withdraw the $1 bill from circulation and the telephone companies' (and vending machine manufacturer's) reluctance to allow pay telephones (and vending machines) to accept the SBA coin. The latter is also a reason you rarely see JFK half dollars anymore. Some people are secure in old habits, even if new adjustments make life easier and save money, because of the feeling they would create inconvenience. These same people tend to ignore the inconvenience created when the cost of a long-distance telephone call requires you to have two pounds of change (I know, that's what Calling Cards are for) or when you can't get a pop because the dollar changer is broken for the umpteenth time. Come to think about it, a dollar token for US telephones wouldn't be a bad idea. Another example: In the early '80's when the US was floundering in its attempt to convert to the metric system, I suggested that Congress pass a law saying that on August 1, 1985, the US will use the metric system for all measurements and if you don't like it, you can move to Liberia (the next largest country in population that uses the US system of measure). Richard Budd Marist College Poughkeepsie, NY KLUB@MARISTB.BITNET
rpw3%rigden.wpd@sgi.com (Rob Warnock) (07/12/90)
In article <9626@accuvax.nwu.edu> KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) writes: | Another example: In the early '80's when the US was floundering in its | attempt to convert to the metric system, I suggested that Congress | pass a law saying that on August 1, 1985, the US will use the metric | system for all measurements... Lest we forget: The metric system *is* now the official U.S. system for standards, and has been for quite some number of years. (The U.S. inch at some point in the process was re-defined to be *exactly* 2.54 cm.) It's just that we haven't yet faced up to killing off this unofficial but pervasive English system of measures... ;-} ;-} Rob Warnock, MS-9U/510 rpw3@sgi.com rpw3@pei.com Silicon Graphics, Inc. (415)335-1673 Protocol Engines, Inc. 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94039-7311
johns@scroff.uk.sun.com (John Slater) (07/16/90)
In article <9668@accuvax.nwu.edu>, rpw3%rigden.wpd@sgi.com (Rob Warnock) writes: >It's just that we haven't yet faced up to killing off this >unofficial but pervasive English system of measures... ;-} ;-} Good luck. We gave up years ago. (Walk into a pub and ask for half a litre of beer, and see how long it takes the rest of the pub to stop laughing). John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office