Well, I have been here over a month now and I am still yet to do many cultural things. It is surprising how quickly the time has gone whilst here. In Petrozavodsk, time moved much slower but that could be due to the lack of free weekdays and linear class schedules.
As I have yet to do many cultural things, I thought I would write about a problem with Russia. A rant, if you will. But what will this be a rant on you say? Russian Bureaucracy? Russian Politics? Putin and Medvedev? Actually, none of these. Just a rant on why Russians need to change their attitude to their currency.
The R(o)uble (sometimes pronounced as "rubble") is the currency of Russia. At the moment, £1 would exchange for around 47-48 RUB. For those that don't know the Russian Ruble has a 1 RUB coin, 2 RUB coin, 5 RUB coin, 10 RUB note/coin, 50 RUB note, 100 RUB note, 500 RUB note, 1000 RUB note and a 5000 RUB note.
There are also kopeks. 100 kopeks is 1 RUB. Kopeks come in 1 Kopek coin, 5 Kopek coin, 10 Kopek coin and 50 Kopek coin. 1 Kopek and 5 Kopek coins are relatively rare. In my whole time in Petrozavodsk, I never received any as change. In my opinion, the Kopek needs to be withdrawn. They are so unnecessary.
For those who have not lived in Russia, getting to pay for your goods in a produkti (shop) and being asked for 70 Kopeks and when you say you don't have it, the shop clerk looks disappointed and a bit pissed off. There are arguments I could make for the RUB coin to be withdrawn too but maybe I will save that for another rant.
Above is pile of coins from the five weeks I have spent here in St Petersburg so far. The columns in order are 5 Kopeks, 10 Kopeks, 50 Kopeks, 1 RUB and 2 RUB. To prove how worthless the Kopeks are the first tower is worth 0.4p (GBP), the second is worth 4.4p and the third is worth 10p. For those who are interested the last two towers are worth 42p and 36p respectively.
All that shrapnel is worth less than a pound. Now the shop clerks can understand why I don't walk into a shop with the right change and would rather hand over notes. But even with notes problems occur...
The problem is their notes are in too big a denomination. Russian shops like 10 RUB - 500 RUB notes. Pay with a 1000 or 5000 RUB and you will be almost asked, do you have smaller change, sir? If I did, surely I would pay for my goods with it. The stigma is much like the stigma of paying for something with a £50 note in England. £50 notes are rarely given out of ATMs in England but 95% of the time, notes will be 1000s or 5000s from Russian ATMs.
A problem also lies in the hassle that is changing money in the bank. Do I really want to change money every time I withdraw some cash? And, yes, you might say "Why not withdraw smaller amounts?" Well, the answer is simple. Banks of England like to charge you a minimal fee and a percentage on top of what you take out so to get your moneys worth withdrawing bigger amounts is much cheaper.
Coming back to the argument of Kopeks, I recently went to SPB (A Russian equivalent of Wetherspoons mainly seen, but not limited to, in St Petersburg. The bill came to around 600 RUB and an odd Ruble. To get rid of some of my Kopeks, I put one 50 and five 10s in. The change came back. And, unfortunately, so did my Kopeks. Nobody, not even businesses, want them.
As I have yet to do many cultural things, I thought I would write about a problem with Russia. A rant, if you will. But what will this be a rant on you say? Russian Bureaucracy? Russian Politics? Putin and Medvedev? Actually, none of these. Just a rant on why Russians need to change their attitude to their currency.
The R(o)uble (sometimes pronounced as "rubble") is the currency of Russia. At the moment, £1 would exchange for around 47-48 RUB. For those that don't know the Russian Ruble has a 1 RUB coin, 2 RUB coin, 5 RUB coin, 10 RUB note/coin, 50 RUB note, 100 RUB note, 500 RUB note, 1000 RUB note and a 5000 RUB note.
There are also kopeks. 100 kopeks is 1 RUB. Kopeks come in 1 Kopek coin, 5 Kopek coin, 10 Kopek coin and 50 Kopek coin. 1 Kopek and 5 Kopek coins are relatively rare. In my whole time in Petrozavodsk, I never received any as change. In my opinion, the Kopek needs to be withdrawn. They are so unnecessary.
For those who have not lived in Russia, getting to pay for your goods in a produkti (shop) and being asked for 70 Kopeks and when you say you don't have it, the shop clerk looks disappointed and a bit pissed off. There are arguments I could make for the RUB coin to be withdrawn too but maybe I will save that for another rant.
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| My useless Kopek/RUB coin collection |
All that shrapnel is worth less than a pound. Now the shop clerks can understand why I don't walk into a shop with the right change and would rather hand over notes. But even with notes problems occur...
The problem is their notes are in too big a denomination. Russian shops like 10 RUB - 500 RUB notes. Pay with a 1000 or 5000 RUB and you will be almost asked, do you have smaller change, sir? If I did, surely I would pay for my goods with it. The stigma is much like the stigma of paying for something with a £50 note in England. £50 notes are rarely given out of ATMs in England but 95% of the time, notes will be 1000s or 5000s from Russian ATMs.
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| Don't try and pay with this.... |
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| or this. |
It is illogical to have such high notes if no-one likes to accept them. But then I would rather have one or five notes than 10/50 100 RUB notes (which did happen when I took money out before going to Yekaterinburg in "mixed"notes).
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| 1000 RUB in 100s |
Coming back to the argument of Kopeks, I recently went to SPB (A Russian equivalent of Wetherspoons mainly seen, but not limited to, in St Petersburg. The bill came to around 600 RUB and an odd Ruble. To get rid of some of my Kopeks, I put one 50 and five 10s in. The change came back. And, unfortunately, so did my Kopeks. Nobody, not even businesses, want them.
