Cash Flow

Here’s a wee thing that is completely different from life in Makarska. When I first arrived in Makarska it took a fair amount of concentration to keep a stash of cash in my wallet.

Firstly the exchange rate meant that any cash that I had seemed like such a huge amount (the NZ dollar to kuna was about 4.7) - so I was always doing complicated division in my head… for example, to have 300 kuna in my wallet seemed like an inordinate amount of money – I would never have $300NZ in my wallet! The reality was that that was only $64NZD and would last a while.

But the thing that was really the issue for me was that I am used to living in a pretty much cash-free society here in NZ. I was just assessing my week, and because you are humouring me by reading this, you will need to assess with me.

I had to buy a train ticket on the train last Tuesday which costs $14.50 (and is one of the few things where cash is required) - (multiply that by 4.7 to get kuna). This is a ten ride ticket, so pretty cheap in terms of entertainment to get to the city each day and back for a week. I had no cash so stopped at a dairy (mini market) bought something random (chewing gum) so that I could get some change from the purchase. I paid for it with my cash flow card, asked for $20 cash which automatically debits the funds from my bank account. That gave me $18.00 in change in my wallet after the gum was deducted, $14.50 of which I handed to the friendly train conductor who insisted on a cheery ‘good morning’ and ‘have a nice day love’. Leaving me with $3.50 in my wallet, which I donated to the Melbourne Cup (the horse race in Australia – there was a bet in the office which cost $2). The rest is rattling around in my wallet still. That’s 9 days later.
You don’t need cash here – there are rarely shops that offer a discount of any sort for cash as opposed to a cash flow card.

I had half an hour to waste this morning before a specialist appointment (I have a finger nail that would scare small children- think there is glass under the nail from an accident 9 months ago – eeeuwh) and so went into a café. $4.50 for a velika kava s mlijekom but paid by cashflow card.

People came and went while I read the paper and drank my coffee, and I saw no-one pay with cash. Recimo, 20 people buying coffee (short black, long black, macchiato, late, flat white- we have a ridiculous variations of coffee, including soy milk chai late - but that's another conversation for another day)..and not one paid with cash in their pockets.

The taxis take cashflow, as do all shops – everything you can think to buy and all that other stuff you would never dream of buying you can pay by cashflow. You pay for your petrol, your meal in a restaurant. Actually buses have got really smart with a card that you transfer cash onto and you just ’beep’ yourself onto the bus instead of buying a ticket at all. Then you ‘beep’ yourself off again – you don’t even see a paper ticket. No little bits of tickets on the ground around the bus station…

I digress - what I am trying to highlight is that you just don’t need hard cash here. At all. Maybe on Breast Cancer day when you donate a gold coin and get a pink ribbon to show that you have been benevolent… but day to day life, you can have an empty wallet. You just have to have the real thing in your account to you avoid the words ‘transaction declined’ ¬ (especially traumatic if you have your trolley laden at the supermarket and are really hungry!