With cash and credit harder to come by, those Port Authority cops who forced a tourist to pay her cab fare with her iPod may be on to something.
“The taxi driver won’t be able to buy lunch or pay tax with a used iPod, but in a credit crisis such things are bound to happen more often than usual,” historian Niall Ferguson told The Post yesterday.
How willing are New York merchants willing to adapt pre-dollar methods of commerce?
After taking a $149 red iPod Nano like the one Natalie Lenhart had to fork over on a shopping spree, the paper did find one merchant willing to accept the device in lieu of cash: hot dog vendor Omar Reda.
“How many hot dogs can I get for this?” the reporter asked Reda at his cart on Fifth Avenue and 47th Street, where an iPod is worth 100 hot dogs.
When a reporter tried to get a $178 blouse with an iPod, New York Look cashier Jamie Sgaramella did a double take.
At Garrett Popcorn shops, The Post attempted to buy three two-gallon tins for $54 apiece.
“You can’t pay with an iPod – that’s just for taxis,” cashier Karen Lopez said.
The Post then headed to the Diamond District, a known hotbed for bartering.
“Gold and diamonds are already considered currency,” said Joseph Avianne, co-owner of Avianne & Co. “An iPod isn’t currency, it’s technology. Plus I already have iPods.”