With cash not available in any form and checks suddenly suspect, middle class Argentines fortunate enough to have credit or debit cards had been relying on them to make purchases.
But by Wednesday, a growing number of stores, especially those that are not part of large chains, were refusing to accept any form of payment other than cash, and in many cases, only exact change.
"I'm getting a different set of instructions every half hour," complained Ana Murillo, a supermarket manager. "First they tell me I can accept debit and credit cards, then they tell me I can't, then they tell me again that I can, then they say credit cards only and no debit cards. It's driving me crazy."
Shopkeepers unite
The national shopkeepers federation, Fedecameras, acknowledged that it had issued a communique urging its members not to accept debit cards. The group blamed the banks that operate the main cards, saying that they had doubled the time in which they compensate merchants, from 10 working days to 20.
"This is one of the few businesses in this neighborhood still accepting credit cards, but only those of longtime, regular customers," explained Gerardo Esquivel, a pharmacist. "If it's someone I don't recognize, then I'm sorry, it's cash only."
The government decree establishing the moratorium on bank and foreign exchange operations was designed with a loophole that allows depositors to withdraw US$65 from automatic tellers every week. All but a handful of banks, though, have chosen not to replenish their cash machines when those run out of money.
As a result, running around the city trying to get hold of cash has become a full-time occupation for some people. Wednesday morning, Aurora Melgar showed up at a branch of Banco Frances after hearing through the rumor mill that the automatic tellers there were dispensing money. But she was quickly turned away because the bank had decided to limit withdrawals to its own accountholders.
"I've gone to more than 20 teller machines, and not one of them has a single cent," said Melgar, a 46-year-old photo shop assistant. "What kind of country is this that there is no money anywhere?"
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