Chipping away at things
With the weather heating up and given the amount I walk, my consumption of Mr. Freeze-Its has increased dramatically. There’s nothing like frozen flavored ice chips to combat the sun’s rays. I’ll need to execute taste-testing research, although I’m pretty sure I like the purple ones best. No research is needed to say any brand other than Mr. Freeze-It pales in comparison. Finding the tasty ice-pops for sale is sometimes a challenge. It’s not like vendors sit in the sun for hours with this particular product. I hope the rumor that vendors store them in the morgue is not true. The other day I was in a desperate search for a Mr. Freeze-It. I saw lots of people eating them and without thinking, I found myself asking anyone and everyone with one in their hand if they were selling. In part, it was the heat and my desperation affecting my brain and preventing me from looking for an actual vendor. But also, it made me realize how I’ve become accustomed to thinking that pretty much anyone and everyone in Zimbabwe is selling something. The term actual vendor has come to be expansively defined.
I’ve been wondering if vendors will begin selling imported products in US$ and local products in ZWD. Like the Spar stores now do. I’ll admit I felt relieved when I went in Spar, looked at a tin of tuna for US$2.10, and knew exactly what it costs. I didn’t have to do math. I didn’t have to remember the rate at which I last changed money. I didn’t have to wonder if the price just increased or if by chance, the store had forgotten to increase the price making it a good deal. That said, I find the mix of US$ and ZWD products unsettling. It seems the US$ shopper can most readily do three things: 1) clean their house and wash their clothes; 2) season food with chutney sauce; and 3) eat many flavors of Simba chips and Doritos chips. The first two are not such bad things. It’s that third one that I find depressing.
I do like chips. But I don’t like that it’s availability in US$ which makes me like and buy them more. And apparently I’m not alone in US$-driven love of chips. I was in Spar Saturday morning, one aisle was all chips, and everyone’s basket had chips. I went back to the Spar later that day and the queue was long. Everyone was buying chips. I went back to the Spar the next day and the chip aisle was like most aisles in Zimbabwe – empty. Time will tell if selective US$ sales helps or hurts the economy. I’m no economist, but somehow it seems contradictory to be phasing in US$ and suspending bank transfers through RTGS (unless it’s same-bank RTGSing). Then again, the two fiscal policy moves might work themselves out in similar ways. People will buy whatever is for sale in US$. Even chips they know they don’t really need or want. Chips will boost the economy. Just as people will chip away at the RTGS suspension. Say you need a bill paid, but don’t have an account at the bank where the payment needs to go. Not to worry. Someone who has an account at the bank will be selling the service to RTGS for you. Either that or open an additional bank account.