I remember reading up on how in the immediate period of postwar Germany the Reichsmark was obviously inflated to nothing. People horded physical goods, any goods they could get their hands on. The result was shortages of everything. If you needed to buy anything, you'd exchange your goods for American cigarettes or bottles of booze that you'd then exchange for what you're actually looking for.
You see similar "economies" in prisons.
In the case of countries with active hyperinflation, if you use the currency at all it would be for a daily transaction. You'd hope to not hold any of it by the end. I do recall a story of how in Zimbabwe (before the hyperinflation got absolutely ridiculous), people still used they inflating currency, but the de-fact spread on the buy/sell was so large that traders could make a profit even if they ended up with worthless currency at the end. So markets find a way, but it's hugely inefficient.
(1)Holding too much foreign currency can present it's own issues. Storing it is difficult/risky and putting it in a dollar-account in a bank can be just as problematic. During the Argentinian default of the early 2000s, if you had money in a US-dollar account, the governnment confiscated it, converted your account Argentine pesos which was then promptly devalued.
Any essential consumable without expiration date can be stable store of values. Buy all the beans that you can and store that instead!
> Until recently, using foreign money was a crime the government enthusiastically threatened to prosecute. After the ruling socialists established currency controls back in 2003, they began patrolling for transactions that ran afoul of their Kafkaesque rules about money. Plain-clothed inspectors ran stings and raided businesses.
> ...
> According to the calculations of one top bank executive, about 30% of all transactions are made in dollars these days. I’d be shocked if that percentage didn’t keep growing. Which seems to be making moot one of the big theoretical debates in opposition circles: whether to adopt the dollar as Venezuela’s currency if they finally manage to take power from the socialists. The people already have.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/once-forb...
This legal change happened very recently. August 2018, according to Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-02/venezuela...
Shops often try to set prices daily in their local currency, for the limited items they stock, and typically also have separate dollar prices. Many items can't be kept in supply with hyperinflation, so stores tend to dramatically narrow what they carry. They also have adjusted to selling far smaller portions of goods (less risk and consumers can't afford as much). All of that is usually still not enough once inflation gets bad enough, it becomes an impossible juggling act, most get wiped out. The demand collapse that has gone along with the hyperinflation has killed a large number of businesses, shops, manufacturers.
From the Wall Street Journal [3]:
> Giuseppe Cordivani’s factory on the outskirts of the capital used to make nearly 300 pairs of women’s shoes a day, from pumps to high-heeled dancing shoes that sold nationwide. With hyperinflation biting, he’s making just 20 today.
> “No one beats hyperinflation—no one,” said Mr. Cordivani, whose father founded the company 55 years ago. “We work just to try to cover our expenses.”
> A 2 million percent inflation rate is ravaging savings and salaries, devastating a once-vibrant manufacturing sector by suppressing demand.
> A handful of food plants are still producing but at minimal capacity. Food prices nearly quadrupled in January alone, according to Caracas-based Ecoanalitica. With shoppers buying only the most basic products, demand for canned tuna, milk, cereals for children and other products has fallen more than 80% since 2012, according to household polling by the Caracas pollster, Datanalisis. Consumption of meat fell nearly 60%, the polling shows, while demand for chicken dropped 74%.
> a family of four that bought food and covered other basic on the equivalent of $105 in December 2017 would now need more than $700, said Asdrubal Oliveros, an economist and director of Ecoanalitica.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/02/venezuela-inflation-at-10-mi...
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/29/economy/venezuela-inflation-i...
[3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/hyperinflation-shatters-venezue...