money in negril

[rompcherry]

I just use my debit card at the Scotiabank. If you have a Scotia account in Canada, they do not charge a direct fee? It might be included in the exchange rate, not sure, although I'm sure the rate would be a little better at the cambio if you exchange cash.
I don't carry a lot of cash and use my credit card for larger amounts, having them charge it in JA$ if possible, as I find the exchange from JA to Canadian on the card is less than in US $$.
BTW you can use Canadian $ at some places now that do not accept Credit Cards. With the dollar nearly at par, at least this summer, this cash was king too. At least for $2,000 JA the $20 Canadian was at par, as long as I left a decent tip.
When I ran out of $$ if I was at my local bar, I just put down a Canadian bill as a deposit, then when I got the JA $$ took it back and paid them and they returned my Canadian $$ or I drank it out over time. Well not always alcohol -- love the cranberry wata.
I even saw someone paying in Euro. If they can get a sale and you don't move on to another place because you don't have the currency, they will take it. Holds true for the artisans too.
CASH will always be king in JA.
If you're at a local bar, make sure you buy a drink for locals, or let them go buy their own bottle (cheaper) and then they buy the mix from the bar. I always buy my drink from the bar .. this way the bar is still making some > profit from me and off the mix from the locals because they wouldn't be able to buy anything otherwise anyway.
I don't drink much anyway lol at least at one time, so the owner of the bar sees the advantage of the way I do this, as I patronage by eating there too sometimes.
By buying a bottle of rum for the locals at $1200, they find there way around with each other. As long as they don't buy Red Bull as a mix lol, I'm ok.
I've even run a tab at a bar that uses credit cards, bought drinks for my local friends and they get a cheaper rate than me arggg, but the establishments knows I give a good tip and for $50 out for the evening with 5 or 6 people having some drinks, at they managed to waive the cover charge after for me too, I'm happy with that and have lots of security to boot.
If I do use my credit card, I always leave the tip in JA $.
Geez you have to do your own hustling in JA too :-)

[rompcherry]

I should have put a "caveat" on this .. This happens in the "off season." I'm not sure about the busy times at a bar, when they don't have time for all this negotiation and wheeling and dealing -- they are just too busy and maybe don't want others to catch on.
Any other tips for working around the money matter in Negril?