US $ to JA$ conversion

[Craig123]

We always convert to American to before we go as we get a better rate using American than Canadian....even though last year the CAD$ was worth more than the American when we were down there.

I could be wrong but it seems to me there's a cost every time currency is converted. With that in mind I tend to withdraw J's from the ATM. That way its a straight one time conversion form Canadian to Jamaican dollars which I assume is at the best rate possible. I've never really sat down to figure out if it actually is the best method though. I do it mainly for convenience. It's a bonus if it's also the best rate.

Has anyone crunched the numbers?

[bbcamp2]

I used an online currency converter to convert 1 $CA to $US to $JA then compared to 1$CA to $JA. You gain .02$Jam going the long way. I'm sure the difference is round-up error since the source of the conversion rates was the same and I don't think markup was included. You may get luckier by doing the conversion is 2 steps in 2 different banks on 2 different days.