The Euro Change-Over in The Netherlands
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2003
Although the transition from the guilder to the euro went quite smoothly, there are of course the usual exceptions.
An obvious mistake the banks made was to stuff the ATM's with too many notes of a high denomination (20 euro's and up). This was especially cumbersome for the bars, nightclubs etcetera that were open on New Years Eve because they ran out of small change rapidly and they couldn't get more until January 2nd. This problem was solved after a couple of days however, so it turned out not to be a real problem in the long-run.
What was fantastic, or rather horrific, was the delivery of the new Euro-coins to the shops.
As some people are aware I work for the concert-podium Het Kasteel in my hometown. On December the 27th the new Euro-coins were scheduled for distribution to all the shops and businesses, including Het Kasteel. As the delivery-service could not guarantee delivery in a specific time-frame, the only option was to be at the office all day waiting for the money to arrive. As the day came to a close, and no money had been delivered, we started to be a bit worried. After all, the money would only be delivered on the 27th. After that we would be the first at the bank on January 2nd! If you keep in mind that Het Kasteel was to open on New Years Eve(01/01/02 01:30 am), this meant that there would be no trading in Euros. We were extremely annoyed (to say the least) when, around 18:00 hrs, we found a note in our mailbox from the deliveryman stating that:
'They had come by around 11:45 hrs but they could not find the doorbell!'
This although there were at least 15 people that day who did find it as they came to buy pre-sale tickets for the New Years Eve party...
The deliveryman's note resulted in a frantic round of phonecalls but, initially, to no avail. The delivery-service pointed at the bank, the bank pointed at the delivery-service, etcetera. Finally, our chairman had the brilliant idea of calling the DNB (De Nederlandse Bank - the official national bank of The Netherlands). They made it possible for us to go to their head-offices in Amsterdam where we could pick up the necessary small-change the next day. By the way : small change indeed! It consisted of a couple of thousand coins! One so quickly underestimates the weight of money. Lack of experience in carrying so much of it around probably...
Another point of interest made prior to the inception of the Euro was that there would be no prices raised as a direct result. This has now turned out to be a load of dingo's kidneys. There really are loads of companies, shops, etcetera who have treated the Euro as being worth Fl 2 guilders, whereas the fixed rate is Fl 2.20371 guilders. Basically this is illegal but that did not stop the merchants from fixing their own rate anyway.
To give you one example : I happen to know that our revered Post-editor is quite fond of playing games on the Photoplay-machine in Het Kasteel. One game used to cost Fl 1 guilder. Now you get two games for one Euro(Fl 2.20371 guilders). The difference: a price-increase of roughly 10 %!
Several official organisations are now looking into this matter and they have already announced that they are going to come down hard on the violators.
Basically, we at Het Kasteel were quite lucky to be able to work with the Euro so soon after it's introduction. Just work behind the bar for an evening, do the arithmetic for a night, and thinking in Euros goes much easier.
Anyone who has ever handled foreign currencies should not have a real problem switching to 'Euro-thinking', although part of the elderly population is still coming to grips with the new coins.
And finally, to satisfy our English Euro-sceptic colleagues: yes, there is a drawback to the Euro in The Netherlands! We used to have the old-fashioned quarter (25 guilder-cents). This was not replaced by a Euro-quarter; it's either 20 cents or 50 cents. If one has done the financial arithmetic for years, this is cumbersome to say the least. I am sure that all will end well, and that we will get used to living without the quarter, but quite a number of people here lament the loss of that ever-so-easy coin. Especially because the small-change coins (50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c) look quite similar at first glance. Dutch money was easier and way more beautiful. It was world-famous for its beautiful lay-out. It also lead to surreal situations when foreign banks just wouldn't believe it was real money... but that's another story.
So, all in all, the Euro-changeover went quite smoothly. We must not forget that, after all, this was the biggest currency-operation since the Romans introduced a standard currency throughout their empire. It will be interesting to see what the effects of the introduction of the Euro will be. We should find out in the next couple of months.
