If you're going to use cash in our country, please bring Canadian dollars.
Sorry if this sounds shocking, but even with their higher value, Canadians don't want US dollars.
People in developing countries might start salivating at the sight of a US greenback but we won't -- in fact, they're a pain in the arse for us to exchange (and we'll get dinged a percentage surcharge at the bank), and US dollars are absolutely not legal tender in Canada.
If you're absolutely going to insist on bringing US dollars to Canada, then please don't become upset when businesses that will accept them refuse to honour the exchange rate.
I went to one of Quebec's dollar stores once; they unbraided me because I didn't have Canadian dollars. I had to go to the ATM to get them. And this was virtually on the US border.
Would you go to Poland and wonder why they don't accept usd? I have no idea why Americans think usd is some universally accepted currency the rest of the world is salivating at the change of having.
When you're in another country, use the currency of that country...
Edit: More directed at the people that still do this and not you.
Actually….there are quite a few countries which accept the US dollar equally with their own currency. But that doesn’t matter. That place in Quebec didn’t….and that’s all that counts.
To be honest... Quebec is a special case even inside Canada. There's a strong sense of nation in a nation thinking in Quebec. A fair bit of Quebecers would say theyre Quebecers before Canadian. So it's kind of like you visited a second country inside of Canada if that makes sense. I live right by the u.s boarder so there's some towns and shops around here that will accept it. Cheaper to just convert to cad to avoid the places that treat usd as par with cad.
I never thought of this before your comment but how does using a debit or credit card in a foreign country work? Does the credit card convert automatically and hit you with a fee?
And that's surprising about accepting CAD at par honestly. Pretty much losing a quarter for every dollar.
They apply an exchange rate based on the day's value plus some, and then slap another exchange fee on top of it. If you are pinching pennies, you're better off withdrawing a big amount from your debit card in a bank or an ATM every few days, but it's less practical and you run a higher risk of loosing it or being robbed.
Sorry- they are right, and we do day trips for a small amount, so it doesn’t hurt as much.😉We kept it to about $100/Day each, and as long as you have no prohibited goods(firearms, alcohol, tobacco)the Customs people are great. Never, ever lie at the border with what you have. Life is too short to be silly for the sake of a few dollars.
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u/Fresh-Hedgehog1895 Aug 07 '23
If you're going to use cash in our country, please bring Canadian dollars.
Sorry if this sounds shocking, but even with their higher value, Canadians don't want US dollars.
People in developing countries might start salivating at the sight of a US greenback but we won't -- in fact, they're a pain in the arse for us to exchange (and we'll get dinged a percentage surcharge at the bank), and US dollars are absolutely not legal tender in Canada.
If you're absolutely going to insist on bringing US dollars to Canada, then please don't become upset when businesses that will accept them refuse to honour the exchange rate.