Small denomination bills

Lucian

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Jan 25, 2008
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One of the daily frustrations of vacationing in the DR is the the constant unavailability of change from taxi drivers, stores, etc. Any suggestions on how one can find and stock up on small bills such as RD$50s? I will be on the north coast and Santo domingo.
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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One of the daily frustrations of vacationing in the DR is the the constant unavailability of change from taxi drivers, stores, etc. Any suggestions on how one can find and stock up on small bills such as RD$50s? I will be on the north coast and Santo domingo.

Try a cambio or a bank, better yet try The First CityWide Change Bank!!!

YouTube - Change Bank
 

dulce

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Jan 1, 2002
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When you change your money ask for small bills. If the cambio does not have small change go to a bank to get some.
Trust me the businesses have no small bills for a reason. They are counting on you not having any either. Strange irritating game that they have played for years. You have to beat them at the game.
 

puryear270

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Aug 26, 2009
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When I'm in need of change, I find a fairly busy restaurant or grocery store, and buy a soft drink or bottle of water, then apologize profusely that I don't have any change, and give them a large bill.

Another trick I learned: when walking down a street, I look in the door of every bank. If there is no line, I enter and ask for change. If they ask if I have an account (which rarely happens), I respond: "billes mas chicos, por favor". I think it's the sound of the Spanish language being so horribly butchered that makes them cave in.

If you are asking the price before you get in the taxi (as is generally recommended), then also ask the driver if he has change.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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When you change your money ask for small bills. If the cambio does not have small change go to a bank to get some.
Trust me the businesses have no small bills for a reason. They are counting on you not having any either. Strange irritating game that they have played for years. You have to beat them at the game.

What a crock. The banks don't always have the small bills period. We go through 30 to 50 K's in 100's every day. There has been days when the Banco de Progresso, "Our tenant so we get treated good" have no 100's. Last week, 20's and 10's were non existant. The week before 100's were hard to come buy. Small businesses don't have the $$ to stock up when maller bills become available.
 
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Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Because you were a bad bad boy?? I don;t know.

I do know that there are no RD$10 bills, and I am starting to think of the metallic money as "change"...RD$1.00, RD$5.00, RD$10.00, RD$25.00....

Blessings and peace,

HB
 

dulce

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Jan 1, 2002
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What a crock. The banks don't always have the small bills period. We go through 30 to 50 K's in 100's every day. There has been days when the Banco de Progresso, "Our tenant so we get treated good" have no 100's. Last week, 20's and 10's were non existant. The week before 100's were hard to come buy. Small businesses don't have the $$ to stock up when maller bills become available.

What you write is also true. I have run into the issue of the banks not having small bills at times.
In the tourist towns it was "my" experience that it was a game for gift shops so my reality is that what I wrote is not a crock for me.;)
 
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bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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I Jarabacoa I've noticed the same as Eddy says. Yris's school collects and goes through alot of small bills daily but often the banks will not have small bills. I always make sure I have a few 50's, and 20's available in my pocket.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Because you were a bad bad boy?? I don;t know.

I do know that there are no RD$10 bills, and I am starting to think of the metallic money as "change"...RD$1.00, RD$5.00, RD$10.00, RD$25.00....

Blessings and peace,

HB
Come on guys/gals you know what I meant.

2 weeks ago : 1 peso COINS were hard to find "I mean a bag of 1000"
Last week, Progresso had no 10's. Using my usual charm, I was able to get 7000K's worth at Banco Popular (BTW) it lasted 3 days.
Last week, no 20$'s anywhere. Every week there's something missing. Where does it all end up ??

Not as bad as 3 years ago when I had to buy change "coins" at 100 pesos for 90 pesos worth. Now that's Mafia. :)

Dulce, I was't going after you of anyone else with my post, it's just that some people think shops do it for gain. Maybe some do but for most, there is a legit reason. They don't have the 50G's + to stock up. Everyone get's on Playero's case when they give "Mentas or Chiklets" They have the same problem as everyone. I usually see their guy at Banco Popular every week getting tons of change. Cuando no hay - no hay.
 

bachata

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Aug 18, 2007
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Come on guys/gals you know what I meant.

2 weeks ago : 1 peso COINS were hard to find "I mean a bag of 1000"
Last week, Progresso had no 10's. Using my usual charm, I was able to get 7000K's worth at Banco Popular (BTW) it lasted 3 days.
Last week, no 20$'s anywhere. Every week there's something missing. Where does it all end up ??

Not as bad as 3 years ago when I had to buy change "coins" at 100 pesos for 90 pesos worth. Now that's Mafia. :)

Dulce, I was't going after you of anyone else with my post, it's just that some people think shops do it for gain. Maybe some do but for most, there is a legit reason. They don't have the 50G's + to stock up. Everyone get's on Playero's case when they give "Mentas or Chiklets" They have the same problem as everyone. I usually see their guy at Banco Popular every week getting tons of change. Cuando no hay - no hay.

Eddy, if you need a lot of small denomination bills on a daily try to find a LPG station near you as this is the place where all carros publicos driver deposit 40% of their incomes.

This always worked for me in the past.

JJ
 
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Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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When you change your money ask for small bills. If the cambio does not have small change go to a bank to get some.
Trust me the businesses have no small bills for a reason. They are counting on you not having any either. Strange irritating game that they have played for years. You have to beat them at the game.

For some shops I think it IS a game, for others lack of planning, for other shops who plan well they are done in by banks' failure to plan.

If I have dollars I request "billetes nada mas grande que quinientos" before I hand the dollars over.

I live here so I plan ahead and change 500 peso notes in my daily activity.

I buy gas for my car in small amounts with 500 pesos.

There's a good comedor near me. They are very good at always having change. 500 peso mote for a 125 peso lunch.

Supermarket pay cashier with 500 peso notes.

Supermarket customer service counters will sometimes change 500 peso notes but not always.

Colmados. If I'm stuck I buy a few 100 peso phone cards with a 500 peso note.

For a tourist it's tougher. It's not what you expect when you go on vacation.

Living here it's a wrinkle overcome with planning sometimes easily, sometimes not. Un pais de maravilla :laugh:

Eddy, if you need a lot of small denomination bills on a daily try to find a LPG station near you as this is the place where all carros publicos driver deposit 40% of their incomes.

This always worked for me in the past.

JJ

Pure genius!

My life hust got a whole lot easier.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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This is a problem with bills and coins of all denominations. I change money at Vimenca/Western Union in Sosua. This is a big operation, not a mom and pop store. Normally I write checks of US$500 and get pesos in return. Sometimes I get a good mix of denominations, but other times about all I get are bills of RD$2000 or mostly bills of RD$500. It all depends on what they have been able to get from the bank.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i'm with eddy on this: sometimes the banks do not have enough change. sometimes they do but it takes ages to get it. we send the messenger to the bank and it takes him an hour, sometimes more, to come back with the change. do we give change in mentas? we do, but when applicable i fiddle with a discount in order to get round amounts of money. do we refuse to accept a payment for a 5 pesos pill with a 2000 pesos bill? every day.
we have "deals" with local sellers and colmados but it is not enough. every day we go through thousands of pesos in change...
 

smilely_lm

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Oct 19, 2009
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One of the daily frustrations of vacationing in the DR is the the constant unavailability of change from taxi drivers, stores, etc. Any suggestions on how one can find and stock up on small bills such as RD$50s? I will be on the north coast and Santo domingo.


As was asked by the OP, he is talking about vacationing, not living there. For the vacationers, bring small US dollars with you, and use them instead. Also, in Canada, at the TD bank, you can buy DP's before you even leave home. The exchange rate is pretty good, and you can get the bills that you want.;)
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Also, in Canada, at the TD bank, you can buy DP's before you even leave home. The exchange rate is pretty good, and you can get the bills that you want.;)
I for one and I'm sure many Canadians didn't know that. Thanks for the info.