Last Chance to Swap Those Drachmas!
Greeks have just a few days left to exchange their old notes for euros
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The imminent bailout of Greece, which is meant to keep the country in the euro zone, coincides with another historic date in the saga of Greek currency. On March 1 the Bank of Greece will stop exchanging drachma notes for euros.
The Bank of Greece, which has been responsible for collecting drachma notes and coins over the past 10 years—coins had to be exchanged back in 2004— hasn’t been storing them for a just-in-case scenario. Rather, the central bank’s Printing Works Dept. cuts them into small pieces and has them compressed into recyclable blocks. It’s at least conceivable that some of the posters held up by angry Greeks protesting their government’s austerity plans started out as pieces of drachmas.