Any Benefit to Getting Pesos for Use in Cabo?

[Luvtoride]

Well Jimmy, I'm not after the best deal so the $30 doesn't seem like a bad deal to me considering the convenience. Add in the low cost of pesos this year and it seems like a real bargain, lol. My wife does our banking so she can head down to the bank to swap dollars to pesos before we head to Mexico. Easy peasy !!!

Bill[

We're here in Cancun now. Definitely convenient to have Pesos for cabs, tips and small shop souvenir items. No need to over do it with large amounts of pesos. Use a credit card with no foreign transaction fees for everything else!
I got pesos from an ATM machine at the hotel and got a very good exchange rate (about 20.4/ $1) but there were some ATM fees which my bank will probably credit back to me.



When a cab driver offers payment as $10 US or 130 pesos it's a no brainer how to pay. They seem disappointed when you pull out pesos to pay.

Also as an FYI, do tip liberally here. The people are all hard working, friendly and make very little in wages! They are very appreciative of tips and the kind words for them and their bosses about their service! The amount of tips won't make a big difference on your vacation spend but it means the world to these kind, friendly people! Wish we could take them home to help teach many US service workers about hard work and great customer service.

Brian




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[Phydeaux]

That's 20.20 per USD. Oanda says that 10,000 pesos would be $466.53 (21.43 each) at the official bank rate. Send me the extra $30 if that's good enough for you.

Are you suggesting Oanda will provide 10,000 for $466.53? In other words, I can buy my pesos from Oanda at that rate, today? Or, are they simply publishing the current exchange rate?

 

[Passepartout]

Or, are they simply publishing the current exchange rate?

This^^^^^^

 

[Phydeaux]

This^^^^^^

I knew it sounded too good to be true.

As already pointed out by dioxide on page 1, you'll never purchase pesos at the going market rate, as those rates are published for very large transactions.

 

[dioxide45]

Bank of America's exchange for today is $10,000 pesos for $495 usd. Seems good enough for me.

Bill

That's 20.20 per USD. Oanda says that 10,000 pesos would be $466.53 (21.43 each) at the official bank rate. Send me the extra $30 if that's good enough for you.

I just stopped at the bank and ordered $5,000 Pesos. I probably paid a similar premium. Sure it probably isn't as good as you can pull it out of the bank machine in Mexcio, but it isn't far off when you add together the ATM fees and the 1-3% foreign transaction fees that many banks will levy on ATM withdrawals. On $500 US$, that fed could be $15. Add the additional ATM fees and you are close to $20. That isn't very far off of the $30 that Bill is going to pay. $10 for the convenience of having Peso on arrival is worth it to me.

Also, if the rates get worse, Bill is further ahead. Of course, if they get better, then perhaps not. I look at it as hedging against the rate. Will probably get another $5000 Peso if rates get better. If not, I will just get it at the ATM.

 

[dioxide45]

I think you meant the peso getting weaker

Does this chart help at all? Does the date January 20, 2017 ring a bell?

View attachment 3121

I think the market has already priced a Trump administration in to the price of the Peso. We saw a big hit to the Peso the day after the election. Same thing looks to have happened after the Ford announcement. Not sure if the 20th will really make a difference. I think the market will wait to see how things play out. Though I don't think it will get any worse than 1:20 unless there is some big turnaround in the tone of the incoming administration.

 

[Phydeaux]

I'll be buying $1K USD or so worth of pesos from my local bank soon, but am still watching the rates change. I'm not a gambler, but my instincts tell me I can do better if I wait just a tad longer.... We'll see. No guarantees.

 

[buceo]

Been there many times and never needed pesos. However, the USD/Peso conversion rate is now 1/21.5. Holy smokes. Every time I have been there is has been somewhere between 11 - 14. So it has me wondering whether this time it might save some money to use pesos while there. Anyone have a thought on this?
Thanks.

Any year you'll save money getting pesos in advance at an exchange rate better than that gotten at the point of purchase. That said with the exchange rate these days you are getting a lot for your US dollar, just a bit more or less depending on the exchange rate you find.

 

[Phydeaux]

Does this help?

 

[dioxide45]

Does this help?

View attachment 3131

I have seen this chart many times when looking up the daily quotes of UDS to Peso.

 

[pittle]

I always use pesos or a credit card with no international charges, but I have a question...
When the peso goes from 10+ to 20+ to the dollar, does that affect the Mexican people as far as their daily staples are concerned?
I would guess the price of oil affects their daily prices, but as the price of a barrel of oil has been going up, have the prices of daily goods followed?

We always use Pesos when in Mexico. When we were in PV in November, we noticed that the Mega and local restaurant prices were the same as they usually are. So it was a great deal for us. We have several local places that we like to go to for lunch or dinner, and felt we were getting a bargain!

We get Pesos at a bank ATM and get the best rate. We have a CapOne bank account that charges no foreign exchange fees. We got to Mexico in twice a year and always come home with money to buy dinner, groceries, beverages, and taxi fare for the first day or so.

 

[pedro47]

Using Pesos makes it easier counting your money and saving you from over paying in US dollars.

 

[bjones9942]

I never understand why people would not want to use the currency of the country they are in. I travel to mexico several times a year and now have a Mexican bank account, so it's fairly easy to exchange USD for MXN. I paid a little premium on my last visit over the published rate, but it was the best rate I saw anyone getting at the time. One concern for me is that people in some of the Puerto Vallarta Facebook forums are reporting having an increasingly hard time exchanging at banks when they don't have an account - even when trying to use their US/CAN debit cards in ATM's. I would prefer to use my no fee credit cards, but many of the places I buy from don't take credit cards.

 

[easyrider]

Well thanks to this thread I have learned a new trick. Bank of America gave us 10,000 pesos and the cost was $495 or $20.20 peso to $1 USD. Too easy, imo.

Bill