• Time zones
• Important telephone numbers
• Holidays in the US
• US Currency
• Shopping hours
• Person of Indian origin card (PIO)

Time Zones [Top]

**Hawaii, Arizona (except Navaho reservation), and most of Indiana do not use DST.
Indiana will observe Daylight Saving time starting April 02, 2006.

Important telephone numbers [Top]

Toll free: In US most companies and services will give you toll free numbers for contact. When calling to these numbers there will be not be a charge of any kind for using or calling to this number. Toll free numbers start with 800 or 888 or 877.

Directory assistance for Local telephone numbers: 411

Toll Free number enquiry: 1-800-555-1212 .  Most of the 1-800 numbers are toll free. You will not be charged  for  the calls you make to such numbers

Collect Call: Collect-call is the facility where the receiver of the call will be charged anywhere in the U.S. This can be a useful service if you are broke and want to make a call to some one who is ready to pay for the call.

There are specific service providers who provide this service , like 1-800-COLLECT(press those numbers which forms the word COLLECT) and AT @T collect call service , 1-800-CALLATT and follow the instructions on the phone.
 

Holidays in the US [Top]

US Currency [Top]

Person of Indian Origin [Top]

The various benefits available to a PIO cardholders are:

• No visa required for visiting India during the period of validity of PIO Card.
• Exemption from the requirement of registration if stay in India does not exceed 6 months. Should the continuous stay exceed six months, registration will be required within 30 days of the expiry of six months with the concerned Foreigners Registration Officer. (Click Here For Registration Checklist)
• Parity with non-resident Indians in respect of facilities available to the latter in economic, financial and educational fields.
• All facilities in the matter of acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of immovable properties in India except in matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural/plantation properties.
• Facilities available to children of NRIs for getting admission to educational institutions in India including medical colleges, engineering colleges, Institutes of Technology, Institutes of Management etc. under the general categories.
• Facilities available under the various housing schemes of LIC, State Governments and other Government agencies.

Shopping  [Top]

Departmental stores are opened 24 hours a day. Shopping Malls generally open at 10:00am and close down at 9:00pm. On weekends and on holidays, these timings may change. Generally, on weekends malls close down at 6:00pm.

If your stay in a particular city is very short, then it is better to consider buying 2nd hand furniture etc. Places where you can find them are:

• Thrift Stores, Flee Market, Garage Sale, Goodwill Stores and Other Yard Sale.
  You might get a booklet for local classifieds in your mailbox on one of the weekdays, it has lots of adds about the items people are selling. Some will be Moving out sale, Garage Sale (these will be put in the persons garage, or yard mostly on the weekends). You will find almost everything in each edition of this booklet from kitchen items to cars, to computer stuff etc.
  Other than this, you will find the sales information on internet classified like Yahoo classified, Excite Classified and also on the display board of the Temples and Indian markets.

• You can buy small things like hangers, dairies, tools for daily use etc. from One Dollar Shop.

• Eventually, try to find out the comparative prices of all daily groceries and household items. With time you will notice the price differences even at the reputed markets basically due to some kind of sale going on. There can't be a standard declaration as to which is the place where everything is cheaper.

• Few stores have a membership card which is free of charge. If you are frequent purchaser from that store, then it is better to get the membership card, as they provide some bonus buy program for their members (i.e. members get some advantage and rewards).

• Few shops don't accept debit/credit cards for payments less then 5$ or 10$. Or in some cases they don't accept cards at all. Hence you may find the display board saying "Cash Only".

• You will be getting some discount coupons of some items of certain stores, in your mail box. Don't hesitate to show them at the respective counters to get discounts on those items.

• On all American holidays there are sale going on in eventually every store. In order to shop smartly, always buy expensive items during these times. Beside these holidays, you might find sale going on around the year in certain store. Keep an open eye for these sales.

• You have right to give back or change any item within some period of time if you are not happy with that, unless it is a eatables or any open perishable item.