Carrying money.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by pickpaul

Not super relevant currently but for the long term cruising kitty, a bitcoin isn't a bad idea. International digital cash will become a hit with cruisers down the road IMHO and they'll be much more expensive then than now.

WAY down the road in less developed venues. Most small business in Central America only accept local currency in small bills in good condition. Credit/Debit cards are typically only accepted by larger businesses, often with a surcharge added. Aside from those, cash is still king in CA. Cash only, no receipt, usually = a "no sales tax" discount too. Paying with a card usually = sales tax + surcharge.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Have not been on all summer - did that cruising thing in the Med - and this was a funny way to start this forum. This is very very funny. We have visited over 40 countries and never carry more than a couple of hundred USD equivalent with us. There are AMTs everywhere.
Only downside is a bank fee on transactions.

But then again Mexico is way way off the beaten path. So you never know.

mexico is not off the beaten path of folks cruising west coast of this hemisphere. it might be a little far from med, but east coast mexico is a huge tourist attractionever hear of cancun????, as also is the southwest coast of mexico , aka costalegre , or costa dorado. have you ever heard of zihuatenejo or acapulco?? how about mazatlan???
many cruisers leave from mexico to sail to the south pacific, and when you consider the nation is over 2500 miles in length, and it runs from usa to central america, it is kinda difficult to consider mexico to be off the beaten path.

[hellosailor]

Mark-
The funny thing (not) is that the US has required merchants to eat the loss now if they don't use the new credit cards with the SIM chip. Which is the same type chip that is used in cell phones.
The problem is that the merchants haven't all been able to obtain the new machines. And the new cards haven't been issued to everyone, far from it.


And the card terminals are still infested with sophomoric software. One major national chain, you insert your card, and then after a 5 second delay the screen refreshes (which you'd figure means you could take your card out, how long does it take to read anyway?) but no, it rephrases the message to WAIT and leave your card in...and refreshes FOUR TIMES each time with a different message telling you not to remove your card...and after maybe 40 seconds a fifth message (that doesn't really LOOK any different, no different styles or colors) say to remove your card.


Yeah, its gonna be fun.


I fondly remember American Express travelers' cheques, which never were a problem. And personal US checking account checks, which often got you a DISCOUNT because they could be converted to US dollars directly.


Now? Take a little bit of everything, in limited accounts so they can't all be linked and cleaned out, and stashed in different places. This is progress?

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

This is the funniest thread in the world as just on Friday the USA has introduced the use of.credit cards with computer chips not the obsolete magnetic stripe.

Now the USA can use an ATM like the rest of the world has for the last decade!

When you get out of the US you will see how much easier it all is.

Yes, even the systems used in 3rd world countries are assesable.

United States users still have problems with the new EMV chip cards because Visa and MasterCard in their collective wisdom have decided to have the cards in the USA work differently to those in the rest of the world. Here in the USA the new chip cards are what is called chip and signature while the rest of the world are chip and pin. Thereby making the US cards not interoperable with many readers abroad. If your overseas retail point of sale has a dual mag stripe along with chip reader than you will be able to use the mage strip part of your USA chip card. But the big but is that more and more overseas readers are now becoming chip only readers san a mag strip reading ability. This will leave you stranded with your new US chip card.

Also when carrying cash one must take into account the cash limits of import / exporting of currency. The US along with many other countries have a limit of $10,000 before you have to file a report to the authorities concerning what you are bringing into the country. If you hide say $12,000 in a cubby hole on board and it is found you could be looking at criminal charges for illegal money importation. If you into running that kind of risk I could suggest more lucrative things to smuggle than a few green backs. But in either case I wouldn't recommend it. Isn't part of sailing getting away from stress etc. Why add to your stress level at all.

Like the other poster said most ATM's in marinas around the world will work for your mag strip card. Just don't try and use it on the French subway system.

[TeddyDiver]

The only reason and why I have used to take cash with me is the lack of small chance in less developed areas. In this I find US $1 bills most convenient. Have 1/2 inch / week for bakshee, tips and such.
One time run out of them in Cairo at the airport thou it was much fun to follow how a two bagcarriers were running around the Departures hall like Stan and Ollie in the dilemma how to split one $20 note

[avb3]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

This is the funniest thread in the world as just on Friday the USA has introduced the use of.credit cards with computer chips not the obsolete magnetic stripe.

Now the USA can use an ATM like the rest of the world has for the last decade!

When you get out of the US you will see how much easier it all is.

Yes, even the systems used in 3rd world countries are assesable.

You know what is funny about this?

I was in the airport lounge in Atlanta back in 1999/2000. Met a fellow who I seemed to bump into various airports across NA, and he was showing me the new security feature for credit cards he was marketing to banks... you guessed it, chips. He predicted one would see them on every card in three years at that point.

Boy, was he wrong. Right product, wrong timing. Mind you in Canada, I have had a chip card for almost a decade, where as my US credit card was just 'upgraded' this past year.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by avb3

Boy, was he wrong. Right product, wrong timing.

Wrong country, the timing was right. Chip cards been around here over two decades (I had my first in -92 as a security card at work). In credit and debit cards they came 2001.

[Gerrycooper56]

From memory if you enter into French Polynesia say at Nuku Hiva then you have to leave a bond for each non EU citizen of an amount equivalent to the airfare back to the place of domicile. A credit card was accepted. We had $9,999 in $250 lots vacuum packed and spread around the boat. Cash is king.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[zboss]

and mexico and the rest of the world, including the US is way behind on mobile banking. When we were in Africa just about all the locals handled transactions by sending money by phone.

[hellosailor]

SOME of the US cards are in fact "chip and pin" as well. Last week I got a new card that just said call to activate...and after all sorts of nonsense, it said I had to think of a PIN for the card as well.


I hung up, I may just cancel the card. I tired or memorizing new PIN numbers for each merchant, and this one wouldn't accept the PIN that I wanted to use, because they had their own different set of rules.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by pickpaul

Not super relevant currently but for the long term cruising kitty, a bitcoin isn't a bad idea. International digital cash will become a hit with cruisers down the road IMHO and they'll be much more expensive then than now.

Don't bank on it

Bitcoin flounders in Australia as regulatory worries bite | Reuters

[pickpaul]

There have already been over 150 obituaries written for bitcoin and yet here it is. They are listed on a website somewhere. You and I are on the Internet of information. The Bitcoin blockchain is the Internet of value. Money, cars, land, houses. Money is just the first app, like email was for the Internet of information.

[ryon]

Originally Posted by StuM

Don't bank on it

Bad timing, Stu. The Winklevoss Twins just received full regulatory approval. https://blog.gemini.com/and-were-live/ Now, can we talk about traveling with cash?

[Pelagic]

I think the question still remains..

... What do you do in a 3rd world emergency, when you need immediate cash assistance and you may be incapacitated or stuck in a remote location, where assistance requires a large amount of cash?

This is where I find using a large multinational bank like HSBC on a Premier level will give me immediate access to emergency funds (USD 2k) and/or transfer of larger amounts, with just a direct phone call or email to my personal banker. 24/7

[rassabossa]

I would be careful about using ATMs in Mexico (and everywhere else for that matter).