Pesos for Pizza?
[Photo: World United by Pizza by FortDrastic.com]A Texas-based chain, Pizza Patron, has started allowing its customers to pay for pizza using pesos at 59 of its restaurants across Texas, Colorado, California, Nevada and Arizona. The company focuses its stores in Hispanic communities and claims that 60% of its customers are Hispanic. Therefore, they assert that the ability to pay for their products with pesos is a customer convenience. After posting signs advertising the promotion, the company began receiving threats and hate mail.
I was a bit taken a back when I read this story and naively wondered if it is even legal to do business in foreign currencies. I am curious to know how people feel about this topic. Does such a policy make sense in border cities alone? How would you feel if businesses in major cities such as New York, LA and Chicago started accepting pesos for payment? Why not also accept other foreign currencies?
I think the story also highlights the fact that there is not steadfast, clear cut definition of what it means to be an "American." We are a diverse, changing population from a multitude of backgrounds, making the meaning of the word "American" more and more vague. How do you define the term? What does being an American mean to you?
I was a bit taken a back when I read this story and naively wondered if it is even legal to do business in foreign currencies. I am curious to know how people feel about this topic. Does such a policy make sense in border cities alone? How would you feel if businesses in major cities such as New York, LA and Chicago started accepting pesos for payment? Why not also accept other foreign currencies?
I think the story also highlights the fact that there is not steadfast, clear cut definition of what it means to be an "American." We are a diverse, changing population from a multitude of backgrounds, making the meaning of the word "American" more and more vague. How do you define the term? What does being an American mean to you?
Technorati tags: Pizza Patron
When we crossed the river into Canada some years back, the restaurants and stores we went to took US dollars as payment, which was a bit of a relief.. We hadn't really thought to go exchange money or anything, since we were really only going to be over there for the day.
('course, it didn't prevent the store from giving us change back in canadian currency, which was mostly worthless to me back here :) And I'm sure they knew it, too.)
I'm glad to see that Pizza Patron accepts other currencies though.. I can't think of a reason why it'd matter to me that a store would accept pesos, or yen, or rupies, or whatever.. /shrug.. What about Currency Exchanges? :) They do business in all sorts of things... do they get hate mail too? :)
If the store wants to go to the bank at the end of the week and convert all that over, so be it.. *shrug*
If they switched to -only- pesos, I could see people complaining.. since it'd cause an inconvenience for folks using our nation's legal tender...
--
As for being 'American'.. I do think it's funny that there's people fighting to exclude certain individuals' freedom and choice to express and believe (and spend!) what they wish.. while at the same time they boast about how free they are to express and believe (and spend) what they wish.
Always these emotional ramblings about "This country was founded on [their belief], and [those people] have no right to bring [their beliefs] here! If [they] don't like it, [they] can leave!"
... hrm. Freedom? Really? :)
Posted by
LV7 |
1/11/2007 08:54:00 PM
Q: so you are gonna start carrying pesos?
*grins* see, that would suck. If you had no idea what currency certain stores 'only' dealt in it'd be like...
..like them only accepting certain credit card types!
er... wait... ;)
Posted by
LV7 |
1/11/2007 09:06:00 PM