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[QUOTE=Dickhead;426657]if you think you are going to waltz around Mendoza spending dollars, or that merchants will change your dollars at the blue rate, you can think again.[/QUOTE]My suggestion was to find 1 business that wants to convert your dollars at the near blue rate in volume. Not do it one transaction at a time. Thats makes no sense at all. Hope this clears up any confusion or at least Dickheads confusion. LOL. Happy Mongering All. Toymann
FYI, I had read Dickhead's posts about changing money in Mendoza, and that is what prompted this thread. Because the particular casa de cambio he mentioned: at Galleria Tonsa at 1173 General San Martin, happens to be the ONLY cash pickup location for Xoom transactions in Mendoza, and this is also quite near the Sheraton where I will be staying. I would much rather get close to 5.7 pesos to a dollar (The Xoom rate is 5.97 less transaction fee. Which comes out to 5.7) than something like 5.2, or even worse - the official 4.6 and I did anticipate having to spend pesos for many transactions in Mendoza. The reason I posted my question HERE, is that this thread is very active, and has Xoom-related comments on it, while just about nobody other than myself has made a post in the Mendoza thread since Dickhead's posts that were made at the end of May. In any case, thank you Dickhead for wading in with a sanity check from actual reasonably recent Mendoza experience.
[QUOTE=Dickhead;426657]I was in Mendoza in May or maybe June and posted the location of a cueva [B]in the appropriate section[/B] on Mendoza. But Toymann hasn't been to Mendoza in a while and is full of shit in general so let me just say that if you think you are going to waltz around Mendoza spending dollars, or that merchants will change your dollars at the blue rate, you can think again. Most stores and hotels will only give you Cristina's rate. Cristina hires Chilean tourists to go under cover and try to buy stuff with dollars and then AFIP springs into action. They were very paranoid up there. So concentrate on getting a good rate for pesos, not on using dollars. Mendoza ain't Corrientes.[/QUOTE]
If so I'll sign-up with your link, that way we both can earn $25 in cash.
I had to change some Yankee dollars today and looked all through Galaria del Sol for my old Russian guy and can report that he is gone. Walked up Florida just asking all, prevailing rate was 6. 10 though one idiot offered 6. One guy was offering 6. 25 but was doing the exchange right there on the street. Ever since I bought a bag or parsly thinking it was weed when I was 17 I no longer do illegal business in a place that requires me to hide what I'm doing and not be able to inspect my product. For all you kids out there I would suggest running not walking from a situation like this unless you know where the guys mom lives.
At Galaria de la Flor on Florida between Viamonte and Tucuman I was offered 6. 15. I walked with the tout to the back and went into a small clothing store. When I handed over my 500 the guy actually appologized for checking my bills (that was a first, he was very polite, must be from Paraguay) and when I started checking his bills he offered me his lamp. All bills were good and the exchange was quick. I would repeat if they stay a few points above the norm.
Hi. Did you give him five 100-dollar bills? Is it a problem if the bills are not crisp / new? I don't know why, but some people like to to write and put stamps on USD bills.
[QUOTE=Daddy Rulz; 426843]I had to change some Yankee dollars today and looked all through Galaria del Sol for my old Russian guy and can report that he is gone. Walked up Florida just asking all, prevailing rate was 6. 10 though one idiot offered 6. One guy was offering 6. 25 but was doing the exchange right there on the street. Ever since I bought a bag or parsly thinking it was weed when I was 17 I no longer do illegal business in a place that requires me to hide what I'm doing and not be able to inspect my product. For all you kids out there I would suggest running not walking from a situation like this unless you know where the guys mom lives.
At Galaria de la Flor on Florida between Viamonte and Tucuman I was offered 6. 15. I walked with the tout to the back and went into a small clothing store. When I handed over my 500 the guy actually appologized for checking my bills (that was a first, he was very polite, must be from Paraguay) and when I started checking his bills he offered me his lamp. All bills were good and the exchange was quick. I would repeat if they stay a few points above the norm.[/QUOTE]
Do you know if hotels etc are legally obligated to accept payment in pesos at the official rate?
For instance, the Hyatt charges 500 USD per night. At the time of check-out, could you insist on paying the bill in cash at 2250 (500 * 4. 50) pesos per night?
Ciao
[QUOTE=Chicago Guy; 426858]Do you know if hotels etc are legally obligated to accept payment in pesos at the official rate?
For instance, the Hyatt charges 500 USD per night. At the time of check-out, could you insist on paying the bill in cash at 2250 (500 * 4. 50) pesos per night?
Ciao[/QUOTE]Yes, hotels and every other business in Argentina (airlines, travel companies, hint hint) are required to accept pesos at or near the official rate (within 1-2%). Buying / selling / accepting USD or any other foreign currency at anything other than the official rate (or within the range I mentioned) is illegal.
[QUOTE=Chicago Guy; 426858]Do you know if hotels etc are legally obligated to accept payment in pesos at the official rate?
For instance, the Hyatt charges 500 USD per night. At the time of check-out, could you insist on paying the bill in cash at 2250 (500 * 4. 50) pesos per night?
Ciao[/QUOTE]If you pay by credit card, don't they actually HAVE to charge you that rate in Pesos converted at the official rate? The reason that they charge the exhorbitant $500 rate is that they realize that, once it's converted to pesos as via the credit card, they are only actually getting the REAL dollar equivalent of around $375 in pesos. The problem is, your CC company will do the exchange at the official rate as well, and you will end up paying $500 USD, the Hyatt will get peso equivalent of $375 at the blue rate, and your CC company either gets a large arbitrage opportunity if they illegally trade on the real currency market, or they effectively burn that significant value if they act fully legally.
So in fact, the best thing is for you to pay in cash, in Pesos, that you got at the blue rate. It makes no difference to the Hyatt, but your CC company loses a huge arbitrage opportunity.
[QUOTE=Chicago Guy;426854]Hi. Did you give him five 100-dollar bills? Is it a problem if the bills are not crisp / new? I don't know why, but some people like to to write and put stamps on USD bills.[/QUOTE]None of them were crisp. One of them was old style which I expected to be a problem but wasn't. Your question is a good one though because I have run into that issue in the past. I've had people not accept anything except 100's, or reject them for being old. When I got my visa for Paraguay they (Paraguayan consulate in Posadas) would only accept certain series of 100's. I forget which ones but it was about half.
Got 6. 1 to 1 at the cervino cueva an hour ago. 10x$50=$500 USD
[QUOTE=SunSeeker;426888]Got 6. 1 to 1 at the cervino cueva an hour ago. 10x$50=$500 USD[/QUOTE]Thanks WhiteCat. Got a great tip from blanco gatita. I am staying on junin kitty corner to the cemetery in recoleta. As you head down junin after vincente Lopez and before las heras there is a coin store across from the newly renovated recoleta mall. Walked in and asked for cambio. Nice young fella walking me into the back room that is setup like a bank tellers window. No hassles and very professional. Was offered 6:1 for 1000 countered with 6. 2 for 2000 used. Agreed after a short discussion with the boss. Good bills, checked them all out, looked just fine. Very convenient as this store is 10 meters away from my apartment. Highly recommended. Thanks Kitty. Mongering on all. Toymann
All my prior posts outlines each specific hassle / verification step imposed by either Xoom or by More Casa the pickup vendor.
This time it was More Casa (again). No matter being cleared by Xoom for higher send limits and being under cap just fine right now, More Casa told me today couldn't pickup my 1k send txn because I now have to prove that I own the sending bank account.
They told me this triggers when anyone hits 50k pesos total sent through More Casa. Didn't say time period mattered, just overall total.
So the demand now is I bring actual paper print out. Said would not accept email or PDF or digital copy- of my bank statement showing official bank statement form and at least one month worth of transactions showing the Xoom debits going from my account.
Have the prints now after hassle finding locutorio to make prints and waiting till mon when More Casa opens again. Knowing Argie logic they will say my bank txn amt doesn't match the More txn amount (because my bank will show $1030 deducted inc Xoom fee while More shows only $1000.
Will see how it goes mon but heads up if you will, be using Xoom mid to long term, new hassle trigger for this step hits at 50k pesos total via More Casa
Looks like the xoom rate is lower than the local cuevas. Even before their fees.
[QUOTE=SunSeeker;426940]Looks like the xoom rate is lower than the local cuevas. Even before their fees.[/QUOTE]From what I hear, Xoom rates are better than a person can get in Mendoza, but lower than what one can get on Florida street. After fees, the Xoom rate right now is an effective 5.795 pesos per dollar, based upon a rate of 5.983 and a fee structure of just over 3% on top of that. I used them for a transfer to myself for when I arrive in Mendoza in a couple of days via Santiago Chile, but I have no intention of using them in Buenos Aires, where something around 6.1 seems to be the prevailing rate.
[QUOTE=Member #2041;426941]From what I hear, Xoom rates are better than a person can get in Mendoza, but lower than what one can get on Florida street. After fees, the Xoom rate right now is an effective 5.795 pesos per dollar, based upon a rate of 5.983 and a fee structure of just over 3% on top of that. I used them for a transfer to myself for when I arrive in Mendoza in a couple of days via Santiago Chile, but I have no intention of using them in Buenos Aires, where something around 6.1 seems to be the prevailing rate.[/QUOTE]FYI, my Xoom pickup in Mendoza went without a hitch. But the very same place that I picked up my cash was also making available exchange of dollars at a Blue rate of 6. 0 Pesos to the dollar. For a single $100 USA bill, with no negotiation involved. So, net-net, I should not have bothered with Xoom and their effective 5. 8 rate, when I could have had a rate of 6 or better from the exact same Cambio. I will post more details about this in the Mendoza thread.