Question about restaurant Pesos to Dollars Conversion

M

markhillis

Guest
Ok, so I've been frequenting P.P. for years and usually pay with cash at local restaurants, sometimes with plastic. We ate lunch at Playa Bonita Saturday and when I got back to the states I was filing my receipts and decided to check the pesos to dollars conversion on the bill they gave me. It stated the total was 867 pesos, and USD = 72.25 I've never thought to check before, but unless ALL online converters or wrong, it should have only been roughly 66 dollars. Then I noticed on the bottom of the bill it said exchange rate = 12 X 1, which is not the current exchange rate. Well, I thought I was savvy about all things Penasco, but apparently not. So is it common for most restaurants there to pad the exchange a little? If not and I am misunderstanding something please let me know. If so, then the only way to get the best prices is to use pesos, right? Just wondering. I don't care about a little discrepancy but that's off by about $8. I'd rather save on the meal and give the waiter a good tip.
 
Roberto

Roberto

Guest
Every business sets their own unique exchange rate. And being a business they like to profit from everything, so yeah they will tell you they are not a bank and offer to accept your dollars as a service to you and want to be paid for that service. The National currency is the Peso and there's probably some law on the books here that prices must be quoted in Pesos and/or the transaction consumated in Pesos. Some will quote prices in dollars, some in pesos and some in both. Furthermore, you will not generally get the exchange rates quoted on the internet, even from government sites so essentially that information gives you a bracket but not an actual rate you can expect. On any given day exchange rates will vary sometimes quite widely between Pemex, Oxxo, each bank and whomever else will exchange dollars. I've seen rates vary from place to place .5 to even .7 . It's a roll of the dice. With the daily fluxuation of exchange rates you can see it could be a large PITA for a small local business. I only use pesos here withdrawing from a US bank at the bank machines here. I try to withdraw money when the exchage has fluxuated in my favor. Consequently I no longer think in terms of dollars. It makes it difficult to determine value of a purchase for most US folk if the price is quoted in Pesos as they think in dollars.
 
GV Jack

GV Jack

Snorin God
I try to pay in Pesos if at all possible. One night at Pan y Vino, Ross and I had had a little too much Vino and not enough Pan
and were splitting our bill. He was going to give me dollars and I was going to pay in Pesos. Well the calculations got quite
garbled and Kay was going nuts. The servers had to go back in the kitchen because they were laughing so hard at us. We
finally got it straightened out, but there was quite a bit a giggling and carrying on. Needless to say, we didn't need to stop for
a prebedtime Sol Beer.o_O I agree it's always best to pay in whatever coinage the bill is presented. I also use my Capital One
card when possible, because they don't have a service charge and usually give a very good exchange rate. Cheers!!
 
GV Jack

GV Jack

Snorin God
Roberto said:
Did you pay your fine at the court in Pesos or dollars and did you giggle a lot there ??
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Same as you Dude...I paid in whatever they asked me to. He said "$55.00" and that's what I paid. He did giggle a little when he told me he
lived on Miracle Mile here in Tucson and I asked if he was a pimp then. True story. He was really a good guy.
 
brokenwave

brokenwave

Guest
At many restaurants I go to, they will give you their exchange rate (in their favor, some a little, some 5-8% more) I just load up on peso's from a bank ATM when
the rate is in my favor (13-14 peso per dollar). Retail stores like the Bodega and Muebles Coloniales charge the transaction as a normal peso transaction
and when the charge hits your USA it gets converted to $$ at the prevailing exchange rate (always better than the going RP rate).
I always pay for gas, propane and things from small stores in Pesos. 10 years ago I finally got tired of paying more for things because I used dollars.
First stop is usually the ATM then Pacifico store and Pollo Lucas or Taco's Brisa.
Today $$ vs peso is 13.16, and the official rate is 12.5ish. 6% difference. @ 12 to one its more like 11%.
 
asprinkles

asprinkles

Guest
As Jack said . Use Capital one and no transaction fee and you get the best rate when it goes through. Use it in lot of different countries and works awesome. Leigh
 
M

markhillis

Guest
Thanks for all the great replies. This helps. From now on I'll either use Cap.One card or exchange for Pesos and do business like a real Rocky Pointer! :)
 
P

Panamahat

Guest
I find I get a much better rate converting dollars into pesos, at the money exchange places on the main street, then you would get at the bank. The first time I tried converting pesos into dollars at a Mexican bank, even the teller told me to go to the money exchange places, as the bank would really give me a poor exchange rate.
 
mexicoruss

mexicoruss

Lovin it in RP!
Made this mistake yesterday....I passed by a n exchange house on my way to the ban to pay an invoice in Hermosillo. Exchange rate at Casa de cambio 12.65, the bank only gave me 12.10. I won't do that again. I did it at the bank anyway so I didn't have to wait in line again.
 
P

Panamahat

Guest
mexicoruss said:
Made this mistake yesterday....I passed by a n exchange house on my way to the ban to pay an invoice in Hermosillo. Exchange rate at Casa de cambio 12.65, the bank only gave me 12.10. I won't do that again. I did it at the bank anyway so I didn't have to wait in line again.
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On this topic I am a Canadian, and usually get US Dollars at the Bank of Arizona ATM in Ajo, if I am in the states. Man that is a huge ripoff! They really ding you on the exchange rate from Canadian to US dollars. From now on I will take pesos out of the ATM here, and exchange them for Dollars at the cambio before the trip. 12.65 is a really good rate.
 
mexicoruss

mexicoruss

Lovin it in RP!
Landshark said:
So if the bank exchange is 12.10 and Playa Bonita gave 12.00 they were being quite fair.
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It is what it is, right now anyting above 12 is acceptable, I was just put off by the fact that the bank which can afford to be more fair is decidedly not fair. That small private enterprises like casa de cambio can do better is interesting to me.
 
M

mis2810

Guest
mexicoruss said:
It is what it is, right now anyting above 12 is acceptable, I was just put off by the fact that the bank which can afford to be more fair is decidedly not fair. That small private enterprises like casa de cambio can do better is interesting to me.
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Just think how many scenarios those words can be applied to!
 
M

markhillis

Guest
playaperro said:
How was the food?
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I've always like the restaurant there, but a while back their prices really went up and to give an example....I love fried shrimp and especially the shrimp basket at the Point...
The shrimp plate at Playa Bonita was probably half or third the amount of Shrimp and cost about $6 more. I'll stick with having coffee at sunset at Playa Bonita and going
back to other places for my big meal. (I say that now but will probably break down and do the same thing again...I'm an old fan of Playa Bonita's patio area.)
 
brokenwave

brokenwave

Guest
Many times it pays to shop around, I have driven by the Cambio place on B. Juarez and they were 12.4, Banorte was at 12.7 and after I did the ATM transaction
I checked my US bank and found that I actually got 13.2. Russ, I have also seen the Cambio giving a better rate than the bank.
Every time I did the ATM, I found that I got the better rate by .2-.5 pesos drawing from my US account even with the transaction fee.
On a $1000 US, the fee is about $7 so if I get .5 peso better that equals $33 more buying power for me after the fee is taken into account.

I am also a big fan of the PB patio, after a couple of beers I don't mind being over charged
a bit the view and atmosphere is worth it. But I still pay in pesos.
 
G

gup

Guest
markhillis said:
Ok, so I've been frequenting P.P. for years and usually pay with cash at local restaurants, sometimes with plastic. We ate lunch at Playa Bonita Saturday and when I got back to the states I was filing my receipts and decided to check the pesos to dollars conversion on the bill they gave me. It stated the total was 867 pesos, and USD = 72.25 I've never thought to check before, but unless ALL online converters or wrong, it should have only been roughly 66 dollars. Then I noticed on the bottom of the bill it said exchange rate = 12 X 1, which is not the current exchange rate. Well, I thought I was savvy about all things Penasco, but apparently not. So is it common for most restaurants there to pad the exchange a little? If not and I am misunderstanding something please let me know. If so, then the only way to get the best prices is to use pesos, right? Just wondering. I don't care about a little discrepancy but that's off by about $8. I'd rather save on the meal and give the waiter a good tip.
Click to expand...
accomadate
 
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