Quote:
Originally Posted by iicycold
In ani money chger,always check at least few nearby shps for quotes IF U WANT to get the better rate. i'm not implyin tat u shld go hunt 4 the best rate all ovr btm,but more of if u stayed in formosa,just go opp there ask a few shps,cos it won't cause any1 to drop 1 stray of hair. Money chger shp usually only jus a few steps away frm each other. Max time taken is jus few secs thg.
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I wrote many times, but my posts did not receive any comment either of approval or disagreement, that after an extensive search among shops in the surroundings of Formosa and Nagoya, looking for best rates for exchanging USD to IDR, I found that:
- rates can vary on the order of even more than 5% (
it's a lot!!);
- invariably, the worst rates are in Nagoya Hill and Harbour Bay on arrival (not surprising... right?
)
- the best rates are usually offered by the shops along Jalan Bonjol (the big street in front of Nagoya Hill), walking 100-200m to right facing Nagoya Hill.
As iicycold suggests, if one has to change more than few hundreds dollars, he should always take 30 mins to walk around and ask for the best rate.
5% of 500 USD is something like 300k IDR!
The competition among shops on Jalan Bonjol is fierce, as they are side by side. I remember some time I could get offers like 12.700, 12.750, 12.770. I changed 600 USD and the last +20 difference meant just +12,000 IDR, but since there are 5 shops over a line of 100 meters, it did not cost me more than 10 minutes to ask all of them.
All this applies to the rates to sell USD. I don't know it that would apply also to MYR or SGD, but I don't see why a shop offering better rates for USD would not also offer best rates for SGD.