Cash only?

[Rred]

Most transactions in the US are by credit card, among other tings because you can start a dispute and charge back. Some merchants don't like that. Some don't like the 3% typical fee they pay and some charge that as extra. Maybe some are tired of the differences in PINS and bank procedures and currency conversions.

But the bottom line is that if they want your business, and they know how to do business, in this day and age they take credit cards. I don't need to carry two grand in cash in my pocket. Not to mention...something like 10-40% of the "cash" outside the US, is said to be counterfeit cash. The dive shop gets paid in that...and when it hits the banks, that income is taken away and not reimbursed.

Cash? No, homey don't think so. Ask them WTF they are thinking.

 

[ronscuba]

Curious about those who prefer to carry a lot of US cash. Why not use a bank ATM in town like Satander or Mega ?

 

[Dave Dillehay]

True the Mexican banks rip us off for credit card charges compared to the US, thus the Aldora Dive Shop does accept Visa and MasterCard but offers a 10% discount for US$ cash. I don't know that we have ever been hit by counterfiet dollars.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS Carrying lots of cash in Cozumel is not a worry. As an example, several months ago Memo was gone and I had to go to the bank in the town square to pick up the cash in Pesos for payroll. Hell I don't remember exactly how much but I walked out with a double handful of Mexican 500 Peso notes. I walk all the way back to the parking lot on ave 10 and got in my jeep without even thinking about security. Would I do that back in Texas, probably not.

 

[DFDubb]

i def use pesos for everything, just us cash for the dive op.

 

[gopbroek]

I will often ask if there is a cash discount and have no problem with cash if there is. The primary reason for cash is tax avoidance. Good government requires taxes, poor government requires even more taxes.

 

[ggunn]

I have dive reservations with Dive Paradise for my family March 24 - 30. I have heard that a lot of places only accept cash, but I wasn't expecting the dive shop to not even accept traveler's checks...

Can you even get traveler's checks any more? They have been plagued by so much fraud that I don't know of any place on Cozumel that will take them.

 

[uncfnp]

Curious about those who prefer to carry a lot of US cash. Why not use a bank ATM in town like Satander or Mega ?

It would mean several trips to the ATM and I don't see much difference between carrying it from the airport to the shop vs from the bank to the shop.

 

[Rred]

Funny, before there were ATMs and your choice was greenbacks or travelers' cheques (preferably American Express cheques) it was common to get a substantial discount if you paid with a US personal check in Israel. Probably related to a black market currency exchange, but posted in almost all the shops.

Using an ATM can make you a target for a mugging, in any city of the world. Using a credit card? No one is interested in rolling you. And you don't pay what may be a significant ATM fee. (Some credit cards charge no foreign exchange fee, so you just pay the exchange rate, settled either that day or less frequently, that's also something to check.)

But one of the "save this old hotel" shows on cable had a problem with an old family hotel that only took cash or personal checks. The host ran out and flagged down a tourist tram and asked "Who here ever uses checks to pay for things?" and less than 1/4 said they even carried a check or had a checking account. 75% said they only paid by credit card, with cash for petty expenses, like ice cream.

But know we know which resort to rob, at the end of the day or week before they make their cash deposit to the bank! I wonder if they'll take credit cards after that...and if they leave the cash in the register overnight.

Maybe they just enjoy reporting only half the rooms ever get filled up, and the rest slips under the table. Whatever makes them happy, right?

 

[mstevens]

Traveler's Checks are very strongly associated with fraud, so practically nobody anywhere wants to take them.

 

[k4kafka]

Rightly or wrongly, I do not feel "unsafe" walking around with cash in my wallet anywhere on Cozumel. When I went to Cuba (via Cancun) in 1998, you needed to carry wads of U$ greenbacks, because no US credit cards were accepted,which made perfect sense,considering the decades-long embargo.However even walking the darkest streets in old Habana, I felt completely safe...just like on Cozumel.