WHEN the Australia dollar shoots past the greenback, it enables people to buy goods that they previously avoided due to the cost.<\/p>\n
On the internet, for the most part, the outlets keep to this rate, or at least stay close to it.<\/p>\n
But on the ground, this does not always work out. In other words, exchange houses will not give you what you are supposed to get.
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\nRecently I bought 500 American dollars at a Travelex outlet. That day the Australian dollar was buying $1.02 American dollars. Yet I had to pay $509 Australian to get those 500 US dollars. <\/p>\n
Cheats?<\/p>\n
Wait till you hear the next bit. While in the US in September, I went to a bank and asked them to change $500 Australian into US dollars. They directed me to the airport, saying that banks in that town, Columbus, Ohio, would not exchange currency.<\/p>\n
At the Columbus airport, once again I encountered a Travelex outlet. There was no other exchange house. They gave me $440 US dollars for my $500 Australian. This was on a day when the Australian dollar was buying nearly $US1.03 according to the international exchange rates. Travelex also gave me an official receipt for the sale, which works out to 88 American cents for every Australian dollar. <\/p>\n
Cheats again? Or this is part of the American make-up?<\/p>\n
I travelled from Florida airport to the Caribe Royale hotel and paid $US55 for a cab. My return, from that hotel to the airport, cost $75. <\/p>\n
Cheats all over again?<\/p>\n
At Dallas Fort Worth airport I bought a SIM from an outlet. The salesman, an African-American named Joshua Jones, told me that it would be up and running within 15 minutes. I went off to catch my flight.<\/p>\n
Nothing happened for the next 45 minutes – I couldn’t get a connection. As my flight was being delayed, I went back to Jones and asked him what had transpired. He gave me another SIM.<\/p>\n
Both these SIMS were broken out of their cards. I should have been suspicious. My fault.<\/p>\n
The second SIM worked. But it was supposed to provide me 100 free minutes. I had hardly used 30 when the SIm cut out and I could not use it any more without loading on more money.<\/p>\n
Cheat?
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