MICHELSTADT, Germany — Flower shop owner Petra Mueller admits she couldn't tell a real euro note from Monopoly money. And that's why she's in a hurry to get ready for Europe's greatest money swap — the New Year's Day changeover when 300 million people in 12 countries start paying with crisp new euro bills and shiny new euro coins.

        With just less than six months before the switch begins, shop owners from Finland to Portugal are heading into a tricky transition — especially during the first several months of 2002, when customers will still be able to pay in old national currencies, but stores will have to give change in euros. That means cashiers will have to calculate the exchange rate on every transaction.

        Topping Mueller's check list:

        • Memorize the fixed exchange rate between euro and German mark.

        • Get new cash register drawers that fit euro bills and coins.

        • Post euro prices alongside mark prices.

        • Most important, learn what the new money looks like.

        “I have an appointment next week at the bank to talk about that stuff,” Ms. Mueller says, pulling out a mark-euro conversion table. “If someone came in here and told me they were handing me euros, it could be nearly anything and I'd believe them.”

        The euro is a crowning event in the Europe Union's steady but momentous march toward binding the continent together and ensuring the two cataclysmic wars that engulfed it last century cannot be repeated.

        But for the average European, the challenges are more mundane — lopping zeros off Italian lire and Spanish pesetas, figuring the exchange rate on a pound of plums, making sure the subway ticket machines spit out the right change in euros.

        Even tiny towns like Michelstadt, wedged between the mountain folds of Germany's vast Odenwald forest, are gearing up for E-Day, Jan. 1.

        Elke Backoefer, who runs a souvenir shop near the medieval town square, shows off her new euro coin tray, talks about the new accounting software for her computer and studies her poster identifying the seven new euro-denominated bills.

        “I'm not expecting any chaos. Every day I think of new things to do to get prepared,” Ms. Backoefer says.
       

Time to adjust

               The switch is the final step in creating a continental counterweight to the U.S. dollar. It makes the euro tangible, something people can tuck in a wallet or feed into a vending machine.

        Although the euro has been the region's official currency since 1999, underpinning the value of drachmas, francs or marks, it has been kept out of the public's hands while the old national currencies continue to circulate, giving people time to adjust.

        On New Year's Day, 14.25 billion euro bank notes representing 642 billion euros, or about $550 billion, will hit the streets. The 50 billion new coins contain enough metal to build 24 Eiffel Towers.

        Beyond the logistical hurdles of getting all that money to banks and vending machines, another concern is emerging as the countdown continues: Getting the price right.

        Many price tags throughout Europe already show prices in national currencies and in euros. But once the local prices drop away, consumers could lose their frame of reference.
       

Shops may exploit

               How shop owners handle the pricing could make a big difference. Some could exploit the confusion to jack up a price, while others could give customers a little discount by rounding down.

        Doulat Noori, manager of an electronics and sundries shop opposite Frankfurt's main train station, typifies the confusion some small-time merchants are experiencing.

        He hasn't even bothered to post euro prices in his store because “nobody's paying in euros yet,” and admits he doesn't know at what exchange to convert prices from marks to euros.

        “So many shops, for example like myself, don't understand the euro. It's going to be pretty hard to do the pricing,” Mr. Noori said.

        That troubles consumer groups.

        Right now, for example, a 6-mark ($2.64) package of German bratwurst is typically also labeled 3.07 euros. But what's to stop a storekeeper from hiking the price to 3.10 euros or more, either out of greed or simply to round things out?

        Another complication: Most European countries don't have easy-to-eyeball exchange rates like Germany's almost 1-to-2 ratio. In Spain, for instance, 1 euro equals 166.386 pesetas.

        “We have seen a few problems of conversion, especially in small shops, and that can have serious effects on consumers,” said Jean-Philippe Ducrat of the Belgian consumer protection group Test Achats. “Sometimes it can mean cheaper prices, but mainly it means higher.”

        A study conducted by Test Achats in February found that about 28 percent of 885 Belgian shops surveyed used inaccurate conversion rates in their dual pricing. Subsequent studies have indicated some stores are starting to nudge up their Belgian franc prices so they can be converted into nicely rounded euro figures.

        A stroll through Frankfurt's Zeil shopping district suggests most dual pricing follows the correct exchange rate. But not always.

        A pound of plums in the grocery section of Hertie department store, one of Germany's biggest and most popular, was about 5 percent more expensive in euros, while onions were 30 percent cheaper. When the discrepancies were pointed out, store clerks rushed to correct the situation.

        To discourage businesses from raising prices, the German government is setting an example by giving consumers a special break. For certain tax purposes, it will use a 2-1 exchange rate instead of the official 1.95583 marks to one euro. It doesn't sound like much, but it will cost the German government 360 million marks, or about $160 million.

        “The message is that prices will be rounded to citizens' advantage in the changeover,” Finance Minister Hans Eichel said.
       

Who's affected

               These countries are making the switch: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

        Three EU member-states have opted out: Britain, Denmark and Sweden.

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