Dollars tough to sell on streets of Amsterdam

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Yahoo/Reuters

The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands.

"Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."

That's because the smaller currency exchanges -- despite buy/sell spreads that make it easier for them to make money by exchanging small amounts of currency -- don't want to be caught holding dollars that could be worth less by the time they can sell them.

The dollar hovered near record lows on Monday, with one euro worth around $1.58 versus $1.47 a month ago.



Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080317/dollar.html?.v=2

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And we used to laugh at the worthless peso!

[Hawkeye-X]

1. I hope the dollar will bounce back..

Or I'll have to start buying Mexican pesos and trading them up here for cash..

[NeoConsSuck]

2. No wonder

it's not worth much more than Monopoly money. Especially after the Fed meets tomorrow.

[Diclotican]

3. RamboLiberal

RamboLiberal

Autch... Dollar are really in bad water in this days... In Norway the US dollar are at Nkr 5.277 tonight... When this first started to interst me, the US dollar was at allmoust nkr 7.00. And that is almoust 3 year ago..


Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

[nycmuse]

4. We are in for a very rough ride N/T

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. The boys and I started a foriegn coin collection a few years ago...

We have 871 pesos, 35 centavos, 2 shillings, 52 pence, a few franks, a handful of canadian and assorteds from the bahamas, holland, russia, china? Barbados and Checkoslovakia.

I wonder how long it will be before we stop calling it a hobby and start calling it "the emergency fund." :(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Note to travelers: Those currency exchange places are a ripoff anyway

Most U.S. ATM cards can be used overseas, but you should inform your card issuer, because many cards have a "hold" placed on them for foreign use to avoid fraud. However, if you inform your bank that it's really going to be you using that card in Amsterdam and Paris for two weeks, they'll lift the hold.

You may want to carry some cash or travelers' checks for emergencies, but for ordinary purposes, just head for the nearest ATM. That is in fact your best exchange rate, although some issuers may charge you a "foreign transaction fee." Again, ask your bank.

[pitohui]

7. dupe

we already discussed this exact same item to death in general discussion some time ago

short version is -- it was ALWAYS rude to try to use dollars in europe, get euros from an ATM and don't be an ugly american who thinks they can buy anything with dollars anywhere they go, that's just icky

BTW while i've never had to advise my debit card issuer that i was traveling in a foreign country to avoid the hold, and i don't just mean netherlands and france but kenya and japan, if it's a really poor country or a country that has some reputation for crime i have informed them (south africa because of the high crime rate for example)

but if you have some debit cards, such as bank of america, you practically have to tell them every step of the way every country you're going to, they just put a "fraud alert" on people for no reason at all, and boa seems to be the worst!