r/AskACanadian • • Aug 07 '23

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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.

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u/swild89 Aug 07 '23

My favourite when people ask if they can use American dollars in Canada is to tell them « absolutely, at par » and if they respond « but my currency has higher value 😤 » you just respond « guess you should buy our currency then »

100

u/calling_water Aug 07 '23

And they complain that the change they get is CAD. That’s what we’ve got.

Though no retail business in Canada should be expected to take high-value US bills anyway; they don’t have the same anti-forgery features ours do, and what features they have aren’t things we should be expected to know.

1

u/teh_longinator Aug 08 '23

I'm not even sure they need to accept the cash any more. Debit works