30 or 40 years ago, the Albanian government re-issued the currency and revalued it, adjusting it by 10%.  So the old 1000 Leke note is equal to the new 100 Leke note and the new Leke is about equal to a penny.  So this is not unusual or difficult, unless…..

Unless you are shopping in Albania.  As newbies to the the country, we really had no idea what things cost in Leke and at the grocery store everything is priced in Leke/kilo.  Before heading out to the grocery store, we had been told that the vegetables for salads were very expensive.  But we had not had a salad in 2 weeks, so it was time to spend some money for fruit and salad. We go to the grocery store and see peaches are 1000 Leke per kilo.  Not knowing how many peaches are in a kilo, we don’t know if this is a whole lot of peaches or just very expensive peaches.  So we buy 3 peaches.  We get a few strange looks, but they are weighted and marked.  A head of lettuce, tomatoes, bell pepper and onions and the rest of the ingredients for a single salad were acquired.  Completely clueless as to what this was going to cost, except we knew it would be expensive. 

At the cash register, 1500 Leke.  Ouch!  That is about 15 dollars for a salad and a couple of pieces of fruit.  To embarrassed to put it all back, I pull out the reserve money (we only get about 600 Leke a day) and give it to the cashier.  No, no, no….way too much.  This is old leke, not $15.00  but $1.50. 

We were very relieved, but very confused.  We can buy enough vegetables and fruits for 2 days for 2 people for 150 Leke.  But, veggies are supposed to be expensive and that doesn’t really seem expensive.  But that is a value judgment and we don’t have any experience to compare to.  But this old Leke thing.  Our confusion was obvious to the storeowner, so he takes us through the store, pulling an item from the shelf and covers the last zero to show us the real price.  But only on some things, some items are marked in new Leke and you just need to know which are which. (We looked – the labels are the same.)

Well that was 5 months ago and we are still confused by this.  Why would you mark an item with a price that was revalued 30 or 40 years ago?  Why mix your pricing system with old and new without any kind of indicator?  At least now, we have gotten comfortable enough with the system that when we go to the coffee bar and buy a bottle of water, they ask for $5.00 and we only give them $0.50. And everyone is happy and thinks this is normal.