Online Reporter
Your Money, Your Call
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba
IT is a routine many Zimbabweans know by heart.
You walk into one of the country’s most popular fast-food chains — the ones known for the pies, fried chicken and soft serves we grew up on.
You hand over a US$5 note for a US$4,50 combo and just like clockwork, the cashier says: “We do not have US50 cents change.”
Instead, you are pressured to buy items you did not want — a bottle of water, a slice of cheese, an egg or some sauce — or have the balance sent to a mobile wallet you never agreed to use.
At first glance, it might seem like a small inconvenience, but for countless customers, this has become a recurring frustration — one that quietly erodes their agency and dignity.
Unlike other mobile wallets where the balance remains until you transact, this specific one deducts monthly maintenance fees.
That US50 cents you did not spend slowly disappears.
If you suggest balancing the equation by mixing the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) — our local currency — the reply is firm: “We do not mix currencies.”
Yet the businesses’ own pricing tells a different story.
Ordinary meals are routinely priced at US$2,50; US$3,50; and $4,50 — amounts that guarantee fractional change.
If the business does not carry US50 cent coins or allow mixed-currency change, why not round off the prices?
Why not offer dual pricing in ZiG and United States dollars, as many other businesses now do? Customers are forced into buying unnecessary items — often at inflated prices. A US50 cent bottle of water at the counter might cost only US12 cents elsewhere. Multiply that across hundreds of thousands of transactions and the business is quietly pocketing a fortune, one coin at a time.
Some might argue it is a logistical issue: Coins are scarce and currency policies are complex. But scarcity should never be an excuse for short-changing the very people who keep your doors open.
If anything, it should be a call to innovate and find solutions that honour both value and customer choice.
Others might dismiss this, saying: “It is just US50 cents.”
But that is precisely the point. It is your US50 cents. When a business dictates how you must spend it — whether on overpriced water or an unrequested wallet — it stops being a transaction.
It becomes a quiet erosion of trust.
What is missing here is not just change; it is accountability.
It is the willingness to say: “We see you. We value your money, no matter how small.”
It is the courage to design systems that respect the customer’s right to choose, not just the company’s bottom line.
This is not about naming and shaming.
It is about demanding better treatment.
It is about asking businesses to lead with integrity, especially considering every US cent counts.
It is about pricing with intention, offering fair alternatives and ensuring no customer walks away feeling cornered or short-changed.
In the end, it is not just about coins. It is about respect. And respect, once lost, costs far more than US50 cents.
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing, sales and customer service consultant. For suggestions and training, contact her on: [email protected] or +263712979461/0719978335/077297833.
