The Swiss Franc

Since Switzerland is not apart of the eurozone, they have their own currency, the Swiss Franc. Even though the Swiss Franc is the dominant currency, most businesses will still accept payment in Euros. Also, at Migros, they will print on their receipts how much the total was in Francs and how much it was in Euros. I don't know how many other businesses do this, but I found it pretty interesting, especially because the exchange rate changes daily.

Most banks in Switzerland will have the exchange rates of the top currencies in the world displayed on a digital screen. It's very convenient, especially when you have a bank account with US dollars in it instead of Swiss Francs. This way we know exactly what our money is worth if we were to withdraw it at that moment during the day. Since Brett and I have arrived in Switzerland, the exchange rate from 1USD to CHF was .72. It was painful. Today the exchange rate from 1USD to CHF is almost at .93. We are hoping it continues to get closer to 1.

As for the actual Swiss Franc, they are beautiful bills compared to the US Dollar. They also have so many different security features. They are truly complex, and so for those of you who haven't seen Swiss Francs before, I took some pictures.

To start, the smallest bill is the 10 Franc bill. They don't have single bills or 5 Franc bills like they in the US.
For these amounts they have coins. I will have pictures of those below.

The 100 Franc bill is the largest that we have, however there is a 200 Franc bill and a 1,000 Franc bill. In my opinion, I think a 1,000 Franc bill is crazy! Although, things are more expensive out here in Switzerland, I would hate to see where paying with a 1,000 Franc bill seemed normal. Usually, I would think when this amount of money has to be used, it would be better to use some type of debit card.

This is my favorite feature about the Swiss Franc... the bills are different sizes! The larger the amount, the larger the bill, as you can tell by the picture. This way, you can have the smallest bill on the outside, but be able to still tell what you have. Pretty nifty, huh?

Okay, so is the part of the Swiss Franc that I don't really enjoy much of... the coins. So many coins! Since the smallest bill is 10 Francs, the largest coin is 5 Francs. And they are big too! So, if you don't have a lot of bills, your pockets and/or purse can get pretty heavy rather quickly.

I took a picture next to the US quarter as it would be easier to see the size difference. The 5 Franc coin is also twice as thick as the quarter. The can come in handy, but sometimes they can be a hassle.

For the rest of the coins, there are 1 Franc coins, 1/2 Franc coins, 20 cent coins, 10 cent coins, and 5 cent coins. I've taken pictures of each of them, also with a familiar coin to compare them to. To have coins that actually have usable value is something we are not used to. Yes, the quarter can be used, but usually only if you have several of them together. However, with the 10 Franc bill being the largest bill, coins do accumulate fast and they can get annoying.

Here are the pictures of the rest of the coins...

It's strange at first not to have a penny, or a 1 cent coin, because pennies are useful when buying something and the change is only a few cents instead of a whole 5 cents. The difference between Switzerland and the US, when it comes to the price of things, is that everything that is bought here already has the tax added to it. If you buy something for 1.00 Swiss Franc at the register, it doesn't turn into 1.05 Francs, it stays at 1.00. All products are sold with 5 cent increments.

 Well, that's all we got for today. I will update more hopefully tomorrow!