Comment on The clueless people are out there among us
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Coming soon:
What do you mean my US dollars aren’t accepted at any big intl. tourist locations anymore… I have to actually exchange them?
At the risk of being that idiot ……
I’m still annoyed at crossing a border over an international bridge and having to exchange currency to pay the toll. There’s a good argument that situation should support both currencies at that border.
And of course the currency exchange at that toll did not allow exchanging the amount of the toll. Scammy ripoff of people trying to cross forcing them to exchange larger amounts than they need
Oh no I don’t find that idiotic, that is very annoying, literally anywhere, between any two countries.
I guess the workaround is to plan ahead and do your currency exchanges before hand, but at least in the US, if you do that in cash, well now you’re a drug smuggler or something if you’re brown and/or not in the best mood.
I mean, everybody just has the ability to open up bank account debit/credit cards in multiple currencies, right?
Your bank doesn’t do currency exchange?
Not my problem, pleb, stay in your geographically confined area with a particular force of monopolized violence.
Bank currency exchange is not available if you don’t know to plan ahead, and may not be convenient ever
There’s usually a $5 or more minimum, so less than that might as well be trash. Not convenient for tolls
The only option at the border was an ATM, where you can withdraw currency, converted from your bank, but in $20 increments.
Toll booths did not take credit cards or bank cards for an exact payment. This was before electronic tolling but that still might not be a thing at borders
The only places I’ve found that take USD are really poor places that really want USD, and maybe Mexico. Even some of those places will really take advantage of the exchange and you get way less than what the USD is worth if you just pay with USD.
I travel all the time and tourist locations, barring the ones I mentioned, don’t want anything to do with handling USD when tapping a card or phone to pay is vastly preferred.
umbraroze@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
And in the big touristy cities in Europe, there’s so many scam currency exchanges, while if you just take the time to go to official government exchanges, you get reasonable exchange rates. The problem isn’t the locals, the problem is that you didn’t do the research and you did a dum-dum. (Also fuck the people who are scamming tourists, that’s just low.)
derpgon@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Always check currency in the country you are traveling to, always check approx exchange rate. These are literally just two searches and you are never gonna get exchange scammed (if you use an exchange and not change on the street from random people and get fake or valueless cash).
Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I realised this when I took money out of a cash machine in Tenerife.
It shows you an exchange rate and a prompt to accept. If you press yes, you get scammed with a crap rate. It’s not really clear that if you press no you still get money but at your bank exchange rate which is almost certainly better than a scummy airport ATM.
I guess it’s nice that you get scammed right out of the gate, because at least it puts you on guard for the rest of your holiday. Fuck that whole island tbh.