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The lady Im renting from runs a small internet business in SM and gets a fair amount of business paid in US dollars from cruise ship passengers. 1US an hour is better than 1000cop, but the only problem is the casas de cambio only give her 1500 to 1 for the 1 dollar bills. Higher denominations get the regular rate. Shes convinced that the banks are the same. Any ideas on how/where she could change her ones for the correct rate?
By p0gue on Mar 26, 2010, 15:50 in Friendly Talkzone.
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viajero123 says on Mar 26, 2010, 16:45:
Easier to adjust her prices to that reality, since she will continue having these problems unless she or someone can travel to the US and deposit the money in a US bank account. Then she can get the TRM when she withdraws it.
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yummyj says on Mar 26, 2010, 21:21:
Why not exchange the ones for tens or twenties with foreigners? If she always has foreigners coming in, why not just ask the next guy to exchange them for her?
Just because you have been to Colombia, that does NOT mean that you are anywhere near an expert on the place. Sorry. Truth hurts.
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p0gue says on Mar 26, 2010, 22:11:
Well, I assume she does do that, but she still ends up with a stack of 1s. Anyway, she still comes out ahead on the dollar transactions, its just a shame to lose so much to the money changers.
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griffbos says on Mar 27, 2010, 00:52:
sounds like the money changers are ripping her off she should ask at her bank
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teeo9111 says on Mar 27, 2010, 06:09:
Viajero has the best advise. Make the customer paying in dollars pay the price for her services at the conversion she is getting from the money changers and/or hold on to the small bills until she or someone she really trusts goes to the U.S.. Someone coming off a cruise ship doesn't know or care if they get charged 30% more for using internet for 20 minutes when the bill comes to pocket change,but at the end of the month 30% for the owner of the internet café it is huge.
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briarblue says on Mar 27, 2010, 11:12:
Um, I think since she's charging them $1 USD an hour and not the normal 1,000 COP an hour...the cruise ship tourist is already paying a premium and she's already adjusted her price for the lousy conversion rate.
Assuming a 1900 TRM per $1 USD, then her normal price is approximately $0.53 per hour in USD. She's charging $1 USD, so she's getting an 88% markup in dollars. When she converts the $1 USD back to 1500 COP for the hour, she's made 500 COP more than her standard price of 1,000 COP, which equates to a 50% markup realization.
The end result is that she is making a nice premium off the tourist and then sharing some of her mark-up profit with the casa de cambio....and as the world turns, everyone should be happy.
My advice: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.....better to be a pig...don't get greedy and be happy with the 50% mark-up realization of getting 1,500 COP per hour on those small bills (and look at it that you've shared a little of your tourist premium with a fellow local businessman at the casa de cambio).
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p0gue says on Mar 27, 2010, 13:44:
Briarblue....all true. I think she is very happy with the extra income. And the cruise ship passengers pay far less than they do on the ship. But a 20% premium on one dollar bills, on top of the profit the casas de cambio already make, is enough to motivate one to look into less expensive options. I don't think thats any more greedy than anyone else. Its the kind of stuff we talk about on PBH all the time. Which is, in fact, why I posted.
LA Love, the lady is Colombian. I dont know that Colombians are able to deposit cash USD in a Colombian bank account. Can they?
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viajero123 says on Mar 27, 2010, 14:05:
No pogue, they can't. There is no way around it then I guess, mostly because Colombia is full of cash dollars trying to be turned into pesos. That's why buying cash dollars here is cheaper than doing a wire transfer or buying them at the official TRM rate.
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LA_Love says on Mar 28, 2010, 07:34:
by paypal, by moneybookers
you can take money from your credit card from paypal with no fee, and send it to a US bank acount for free. Only if is yours and both financial services are at your name
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viajero123 says on Mar 28, 2010, 07:46:
LA_Love, are you sure you can take money from a Colombian credit card with absolutely no fee using Paypal?
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LA_Love says on Mar 28, 2010, 11:49:
if you upload to your own paypal acount, not to another's account
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See also:
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Cambio (2004)
cambio/moneychangers (2007)
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