A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fat fanny · Jun 3, 2009

For the first time in my 43 yrs, as a born and bread american citizen I went to the US post office and they would not accept a Canadian quarter (when buying stamps). What in the world is with that? I never in my life have ever had any issue using Canadian currency in the US the female behind the desk just looked @ the 2.75 I gave her like it was radioactive and said "I cannot accept this" I just looked @her in amazement. Mind you I go to this particular office @ least 3 to 4 times a month and know the usual attendants by name (not her) the other attendant that I know just kinda shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes but to my suprize an older lady said hear son I''ll trade you that for this one (American). With the condition our country is in and our government employees are turning down buisness and or currency WOW!!! am I missing something here? Any input would be great and thanx for hearing me rant. And one more thing if that happens to me again I'll go postal in my own way when I return I think I'll purchase thre books of stamps w/ pennies.

roscoe · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fat fanny said:
WOW!!! am I missing something here? .

Yes you are. We don't have "the Amerika's " currency ... yet.

Any business in the USA needs only to accept US currency.
I believe the USPS is required by law to ONLY accept US currency.

I can't believe you have never experienced this before.
Since your Canadian quarter is currently only worth 23 cents, why should they accept it as 25 ?

Your Canadian quarter won't work in vending machines either.

kenmyfam · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many places do not accept Canadian currency and those that do will usually only accept bills not coins and then at a rate of exchange that is slightly in the business's favor.
I travel to and through the US a lot for business and most of the vending machines will not take Canadian coins.

tashasdaddy · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you are in the United States, we deal in the American dollar. you should also watch your change, and not accept other currency when you get change.

Bob_VT · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well...... living so close to Canada .... the currancy confusion is quite common and more so closer th the boarder.

I can't blame the USPS for not taking the quarter..... the grocery stores have the fastest change turn-over and that's were the change is exchanged

They only accept a random coin but not a handfull..... and no paper currancy.

v1_0 · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fat fanny said:
For the first time in my 43 yrs, as a born and bread American citizen I went to the US post office and they would not accept a Canadian quarter (when buying stamps). What in the world is with that?

Simply, the Canadian dollar is not a USA dollar. Canada is a sovereign country and maintains its own currency. It just happens to be named "dollar".

There are other countries that use the name "dollar", for example: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Liberia, New Zealand, Singapore...

There are also some countries that use the US dollar as their only official currency: British Indian Ocean Territory, East Timor, Ecuador, Marshall Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands....

Some countries have two official currencies, with the US dollar as one of them.

For a list of these things you could go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circulating_currencies

Now, since Canada is so close in both distance and dollar value to the US (right at this moment a Canadian dollar = 0.911079 US dollars) most businesses just shrug off the casual use of a coin now and again. However, they are doing so at a 9% loss.

And, in the US - Canadian money is not "legal tender" (the reverse is also true) so businesses are not obligated to accept it.

ehenry · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would you even try to use Canadian currency in the US or US currency in the Canada? Doesnt make sense.

OldePharte · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ehenry said:
Why would you even try to use Canadian currency in the US or US currency in the Canada? Doesnt make sense.

The last time that we were in Toronto, most businesses would in fact take US currency. Although the exchange rate was a bit less than had we went to a currency exchange.

I still carry $15 in Canadian bills, just in case.

Bigprairie1 · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OldePharte said:
The last time that we were in Toronto, most businesses would in fact take US currency. Although the exchange rate was a bit less than had we went to a currency exchange.

I still carry $15 in Canadian bills, just in case.

This is a good idea OldePharte and I highly recommend it. Living in Victoria, close to the U.S Border and having a very strong tourist draw we are inundated with Americans coming up here to vacation, fish, recreate etc all the time. Similar to Canadians down shopping the Bellingham to Seattle line.
Anyhow, local businesses accept U.S cash all the time but at quite a penalty to the U.S visitor so having a bit of 'Canadian Coinage' bought at a more reasonable rate before coming saves you about 5-8% on any purchase...which counts at the end of the day.

I always keep some U.S bucks on hand...just in case I'm across the line for a day or two.

All Good

BP

skargo · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I vote this dumbest thread of the day, congrats.

gonefishie · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

skargo said:
I vote this dumbest thread of the day, congrats.

Geez

don't be so subtle there skargo.

QC · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought there was going to be a punch line, but then . . . uh . . . nope!

skargo · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gonefishie said:
Geez don't be so subtle there skargo.

Well I actually submitted a thread that's also in the running, so I may have an expert opinion on the subject of silly threads.:redface:

QC · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Link please ^^^^^

getinmerry · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A lot of years ago, a new casino opened in Niagara Falls Ont. I went there with my wife shortly after it opened. There was no exchange center on premesis, so I asked, how do us Americans play. The attendant replied that the machines accepted american money. So we played with the American green (no exchange offered at the machines) and won about $100 before cashing out. Once we cashed out, we counted our winnings- $100 in Tooneys (Canadian $2 coins). At that time the exchange rate was about 25%. We should have gotten $125 instead. But no, instead we had to exchange the Tooneys on the way back across the border and took a hit of 30% for a total of $70.00. Never went back to Canada again since then- about 15 years now. That was a total scam.

skargo · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QC said:
Link please ^^^^^

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=319687

Fly Rod · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a US dollar is a US dollar. While in Hollywood FL. went to two banks to change a ten dollar bill for 10 singles.

Would you believe that neither bank would change the ten dollar bill because I did not have an account at their bank. "This is cash, people."

oops! · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in canada we allways accept us currency....(we can make money on it) but the change is somthing else.......we save it for our trips to the us

when i was 12 years old i won a trip to disneyland for selling newspapers. i got to the airport and used a pay phone to call and surprise my aunt who lives in hawthorne calif.

i put my coins in the phone, with my aunt on the end of the line....the operator came on the phone and said that the phone will not accept canadian quarters!!!!!!

i didnt have any us coins ...so i didnt get to talk to her right then.....she heard the word canadian and started calling around.....she found me !

but i was shocked that even the phone wouldnt take canadian.....especially at that time the canadian dollar was worth more than the us buck.

OldePharte · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bigprairie1 said:
This is a good idea OldePharte and I highly recommend it. Living in Victoria, close to the U.S Border and having a very strong tourist draw we are inundated with Americans coming up here to vacation, fish, recreate etc all the time. Similar to Canadians down shopping the Bellingham to Seattle line.
Anyhow, local businesses accept U.S cash all the time but at quite a penalty to the U.S visitor so having a bit of 'Canadian Coinage' bought at a more reasonable rate before coming saves you about 5-8% on any purchase...which counts at the end of the day.
I always keep some U.S bucks on hand...just in case I'm across the line for a day or two.
All Good
BP

Thanks. Oh, by the way - I live in Kansas.

Navy Jr. · Jun 4, 2009

Re: A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get a kick out of the do-it-yourself car wash near where I live. It doesn't take Can quarters, so if you feed one into the machine it just falls back out. But when you used their change machine to convert $US1s and $US5s into USquarters, it would invariably include a Can quarter in the bunch of USquarters returned! I finally got tired of the practice and called the owner on it. Hasn't been a problem since.

And, yes definitely, as TD said earlier, watch the change you are given. I was at first a little embarrassed whenever I stopped a clerk from giving me Can change, but not any more. Everyone is stopping clerks nowadays.

What would be really funny is if the clerk at the Post Office tried to give you Can change...!

A quarters a quarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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