Years ago all prices where in J's and if you didn't exchange for J's you where getting beat up on exchange rate.Originally Posted by Kahuna3
Now they beat the J's up, I find Now it might be best to take lots 5's and 10's (u.s. dolars) . Some places now give you U.S. change back its when they say no us change and exchange it back to J's.
Man, both of you, please let me know where you "get beat up" on the Jamaican exchange rate when they have the prices in US$. Normally the prices are reduced when paying in JA$, say 82 to 1 when the actual rate is 85 to 1. This means anyone paying Jamaican$$$ will pay less than the US$ price. If you know of any place charging 86 or higher to 1us$ when paying in JA$, please tell me now! I will take all the US$$$ I can find and deal with them! Anyone can make money on that exchange!
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If my coffee was 1.50 u.s. and the rate I found some places where at was 80 to 1. That would mean it should cost 120J's ?
They say no its 140 J's its only 75 when convert it back then they show me on the calculator but can't explain it to me it happened more then once on my last trip. No names but the sea was windy monday.
Rob if you realy want me to give a list of where they beat the J up I can do that ?
lmao!
The next time you encounter that situation, ask them for the exchange rate that they use. If you have your cellphone - use the calculator feature on it or ask them to use their calculator if you dont have a cell phone. Then apply the exchange rate that they offer - and pay accordingly. If It does sound like if they "cant explain it" - then they may indeed be applying the calculation wrong. In otherwords - it may be a simple mistake.
I have received incorrect bills every now and then, and if I feel like it is anything to be worried about, then I do the calculations myself. If the bill is wrong, I simply show them the results and always end up paying the correct amount. But to be honest - in the situaiton described above with the coffee - I wouldnt think twice about paying either $120j or $140j cause I would probably give them $150j and say keep the change... at most we are talking about an error of twenty cents in us$....
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This isn't about what you would pay or I would pay we had 2 cups coffee and left them 500J's. The point is they beat the J's up its no mistake . Lets say old days red stripe 1 U.S. dollar or 50 J's with street rate of 60 to 1 they never pull out calculator, you say paying in J's they say give me 50 you say U.S. they say 1 dollar. you make out paying in J's be it 10 or 20 cents its adds up over days. Now days street rate 80 to 1 , buy something priced at 10 U.S. dollars it should cost me 800 J's but they say no 950 if paying in J's. Now tell me that's not beating up your own dollars? So when you pay them in J's the rate is 95 to 1 but they tell you no. Like I said this happened more then once and at more then 1 place. You can walk to most beach places order 2 beers and they need get the calculator to figure out how much in J's . That never use to be like that even when prices where in J's. I see it as A calculator beaten not a mistake.
Here's what I meant by getting 'beaten up':
I always carry Jamaican with me, so I convert my CAN$ to JMD$ when I arrive. I get the `cambio`rate when I convert from C$ to J$, so I take a hit on that – not a big deal - I accept it because you always pay when converting currency, the rate is in favor of the service provider.
BUT, when beer in Negril is priced in US (and only US, not double listed in JMD and US) and I only have J$, the bartender gets his little calculator out and does a conversion from US to J$ – at his favourable rate (and rounding up) so I get hit again on the transaction. It`s a double tap on every US$ transaction because of the CDN-JMD-US conversion.
OK - maybe it's not anything to cry about, but it's the principle of it. I guess it's a pet peeve of mine to see prices in Negril listed in US$. I find it jarring, so I don't frequent those establishments.
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Well said, this is the same beating I'm talking about , But with U.S. dollars. When you travel to another country and exchange money you expect a little beating thats how they pay the bills to keep the place open. But when the country beats up its own dollars dosen't seem right.
"My problem with the Palms (and other places, for example Push Cart) is that they charge U.S.$ for the drinks at the bar."
That's the case in most places on the beach and more and more places on the cliffs. I don't ever remember seeing that 10-15 years ago. As a matter of fact I remember some years back the US/JMD exchange rate changed so rapidly in a period of three months (went from something like 65-1 to 80-1 between November and February!) that they were busy changing prices on everything at HiLo. That's when it dawned on me - so many people out there DO NOT change their money to local currency and then suggest other do not either like its a big deal.
The result - higher prices, US priced menus....I too try to avoid places like that. Of the five or six beach places where I looked at menus for drinks and food only one (Wild Parrot) posted their prices in JMD.
On the cliffs you are more apt to see prices posted in JMD but there are places such as PushCart, Rockhouse, Ivans and LTU that price in US. At LTU where I'm known I always get my bill in JMD. At Ivans, after doing some quick math in my head, I found their exchange was fair. Haven't eaten/drank at Rockhouse in years - and was only at Pushcart once for their Grand Opening.
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