- Thread starter mikedata
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dollar conversion to Dominican pesos
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NEVER at the airport. once you get to DR you need to pay for tourist card (in dollars). taxi from the airport to the hotel is in dollars (set prices, there is a big board right outside the airport with prices). once in POP use any casa de cambio (exchange). one dollar should be around 34-35 pesos. please check dr1 for current rates. your dollar will be accepted in bars, taxis and some shops.
Never pay anything with dollars, other than the taxi! All the bars and the shops will give you 30RD, if you are lucky 32, and in casa de cambio you will get the real price, if you first check here and find out what the real exchange rate is and how much to ask for. Today 35.75.
The rate you will get at the airport in NY is a total ripoff. Contrary to what others have posted, my experience has been that the cambios at the DR airports pay a reasonably competitive rate. Possibly not the best in town, but not that far off. I usually get some pesos there to get me started and then find out which cambio has the best rates for the remainder of my stay.
The cambio at the POP airport sells pesos at 30 or 31 to 1 ......I would not call this competitive, I would call this downright highway robbery. This is the large counter at the luggage belt when you arrive and also at the departure lounge when you leave.
The BanReservas office (a bank) has pretty decent rates, if you can find it and if its open when you need it.
Now there might be cambios at other airports with realistic rates, but I dont' know.
I received a rate of a little over 31 at POP, my first time in the DR in October. I didn't know any better at the time and didn't bother to check the exchange rates before I came. I realized they "robbed" me when I exchanged more money in Sosua and received a rate that was little over 35.
If that is the rate they are paying now, then it is obviously not competitive, although still much better than you would get in New York. It has been a while since I flew into POP, but in my own past experience there and more recently at SDQ I have gotten a rate within a peso or so per dollar of what the cambios paid in town. I don't think its a good idea to exchange huge quantities at a time anyway, so if I don't get the absolute best rate on a couple of hundred dollars, I haven't lost that much. Sometimes the convenience is worth it.
GLOBAL Cambio in the airport(s) are the biggest crooks, period...they always pay RD5 pesos below the prevailing rate. That's an aprox. 15% discount.
Change your money anywhere else.
tambo'
Change your money anywhere else.
tambo'
The ATM is usually a fair tasa, but be aware of what your home bank is charging you for a foreign transaction, ATM fees can add up @ $5 a shot.
t'
A 15% profit margin is not easy to come by these days in any business.
My point was you lose 15% on the tasa by changing your dough @ Global Cambio in POP. Yes, they are crooks if they pay you RD31/USD while the bank pays RD35.75/USD.
I am sure they pay their rent on time!
One isn't losing 15% changing their money, but rather PAYING 15% for a convenience and a commodity. We all do it every day no matter what we're purchasing, or where; but with money, the margin is more obvious. We know the 'wholesale' cost of this peso item, but any other item bought is usually marked up a whole lot more than 15%.
Next time you're around, I'll be happy to buy you a 70 peso beer, even though the bar owner probably bought it for about 35. That's 100% mark up, but for you it's free.
Next time you're around, I'll be happy to buy you a 70 peso beer, even though the bar owner probably bought it for about 35. That's 100% mark up, but for you it's free.
Changing money is hardly analogous to the bar business, your point is well taken, and it would be my privilege to knock down a few frias with you in the near future!
tambo'
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