Column: An unexpected trip

Grocery shopping in Russia is no trip to Albertsons

November 1991 Moscow, Russia

When my son Ken came to Russia last January (1991), the official exchange rate for rubles was six to a dollar. By now, the currency has devalued to 47 per dollar. This makes things very inexpensive for Americans.

The currency of preference here is the U.S. dollar. American goods of any kind seem to be in high demand. I even saw a can of “American” brand beer — labeled especially for the Soviets, I expect.

Some merchants are now demanding dollars and refuse to accept rubles in payment for their goods and services. We usually avoid these transactions. Some taxi drivers have asked for $5 instead of the going rate of 25 rubles. You can see the difference. The effect of the devaluation has been to raise the price on many items, making it harder than ever for the Soviet citizen to make ends meet. Ken and I went to the central market last Sunday. Peddlers were selling lettuce, grapes, mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, spices, oranges, pickles, sauerkraut, cabbage, turnips, peppers, onions, cucumbers, carrots, beets, cauliflower and cranberries, as well as beef, pork, veal, chickens, geese and homemade cheese, butter and sour cream. We spent about 800 rubles buying a week’s supply of perishable food. Consider that the average Soviet family earns 350 rubles a month, and you can see the problem.

Compounding the poor exchange rate for rubles is a system stacked against the lessfortunate.

There are long lines at the food stores. We went into a food store on Saturday. It sold potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, farina, salt, a Soviet breakfast cereal and gallon jars of apple juice. Meat and dairy products wouldn’t normally be sold in this store. Visualize in your mind the rows at Albertsons and compare it to the above list. At every food store, there are long lines of people waiting to buy whatever is available.

The people at the central market were entrepreneurs, selling merchandise they raised or made or reselling merchandise purchased from other entrepreneurs in far-off places. They are aggressive salespeople. Most of the fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year come from Central Asia. The food stores sell from the communal farms at prices set by the govern-

ment, which are very low. Entrepreneurs stand in line, buy up a quantity of an item, say carrots, then go out on the sidewalk in front of the store and sell them for a much higher price — which many customers pay to avoid the long lines. It is done every day. The bottom line is, most items are available if you have enough rubles, while too many Soviets simply don’t have enough T R AV E L O G U E to subsist. Jeanne Keatts

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Of all the problems that beset this society, the one I would fix first if it were my choice would be the communications systems. Production, sales, transportation commerce of every kind rely on a dependable communications system.

The telephone system here is a mess. People who would expect a malfunctioning phone line to be repaired within the hour in the U.S. go for days without reporting the problem here, because the system is so bogged down that requesting repairs is futile.

As Americans, we cannot fathom working in a world without rapid, if not instant, communication devices — witness the rapid growth in the use of fax machines.

Also, Soviet buildings aren’t built to a standard like ours. Buildings constructed in the 1960s in the U.S. are still sound and considered modern, if not new. Here, buildings from just 30 years ago are old and dilapidated.

In many areas, the buildings are right next to the sidewalks and remind me of that New York City feeling where the streets are lined with tall buildings. Here, structures often are shallow or hollow in the center with a courtyard designed behind them. Nearly every building has a courtyard, big or small. Some are like parks; others are junk piles better off out of sight.

I am sending this to my office and requesting that they mail it on to you. I can send out only a few letters each week by rapid mail. The regular way takes months. Hope to see you all soon. — Jeanne

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Mountain View Funeral Home & Crematory M e r c h a n t F u n e r a l H o m e R i c h a r d s o n - B r o w n F u n e r a l H o m e L e w i s C l a r k M e m o r i a l G a r d e n s www.merchantmemorialgroup.com Keatts is a retired Clarkston businesswoman who ran an accounting offi ce for many years. She loves to travel and has agreed to share excerpts from notes sent to loved ones detailing her adventures with Golden Times readers. Previous tales, starting in May 2022, can be found online at lmtribune.com under the “Special Pubs” tab.

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