Different taxi rates?

[Mike]

Oh poop....When I was in COZ, I tipped the taxi driver like $1.5 each time.....oh well..... next trip I'll know better.

Um... I don't think you committed a crime. Don't beat yourself up too bad a hard working local on Cozumel got overpaid 50 cents.

Okay - so just to clarify -

If hypothetically myself and a local both hail different cabs from the same local neighborhood east of the waterfront we would both pay the same fare to and back from the super market?

 

[ReefHound]

If you're go back every month I don't understand why you would need to change the pesos back to dollars, or why the pesos would be useless. Just keep a running peso fund.

 

[requindiver]

If you're go back every month I don't understand why you would need to change the pesos back to dollars, or why the pesos would be useless. Just keep a running peso fund.

Dollars will always be worth more than pesos, keeping pesos is not financially wise.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

I have to make this short, it's local's night at La Hatch, but. . .

Rates are based on a published rate sheet by zone (if i can find my copy I'll post it). Yes, taxi drivers may embellish the price from time-to-time. It's always cheaper to take a taxi away from hotels and Melgar. My place isn't even a hotel, but it's right next one and it's on Melgar. So, if I want a taxi to 45th or 65th and I take one right out in front of my place, I pay 110 pesos. If I walk across the street to Chedraui and grab one along the side of the store, it's 60 pesos. They don't usually charge me anymore for dropping me off in front of my place as long as they didn't pick me up in a tourist or hotel zone. All-in-all, most of the taxis you take are going to be fair with the fare, so don't sweat it. Besides, at most you'd probably get taken for a dollar or two.

It's not customary to tip taxi drivers in Mexico. However, I sometimes do put in an extra dollar.

It's customary to tip taxi drivers pretty much everywhere in the world, including Mexico.

 

[Diver Kat]

Oh poop....When I was in COZ, I tipped the taxi driver like $1.5 each time.....oh well..... next trip I'll know better.

They must have LOVED you!!

In comparison to the States, the fares are so cheap it's hard to not feel like you should tip. We've never had any problem with the taxis, but like Deborah said, we always ask the fare before getting in and usually have pesos with us.

And any pesos we have left come home with us, and go in with the passports for the next trip. It's not like the rate is going to fluctuate so much that sitting on $30-$40 bucks worth of pesos is going to break us. Although you do have to know that you'll be going back to Mexico - which is not a problem for us at all!!

 

[DiverLS]

Last summer I asked the hotel porters how much to my location. They told me $5. So I got into the cab and told the cabbie where I wanted to go. Then I told him $5 and he tried to argue. So I told him I already asked the hotel staff and he shut up.

He was the same driver who took me back. He was so upset when he saw me because I was on crutches and had a half cast on my left ankle/leg held on with ace bandages. He forgot to charge me. I gave him the $5 anyway. My location was the Clinica.

So, ask the hotel staff how much you should pay. It worked for me

 

[blue steal]

The hotel staff told me how much I should expect to pay and how much would be an appropiate tip, and even where to stand to hail a taxi. I learned very quickly to have the correct amount of pesos for the fare. I think this threw them off a bit.
Sounds like it might be a bit cheaper to get the cab from Chedrui back to the hotel, than from the plaza..........
I usually just keep my pesos as I know I'll return next year and the peso seems to be stable at 12-13:1, unlike the Philippines where the peso can move from 42-50:1.

 

[ggunn]

Um... I don't think you committed a crime. Don't beat yourself up too bad a hard working local on Cozumel got overpaid 50 cents.

Okay - so just to clarify -

If hypothetically myself and a local both hail different cabs from the same local neighborhood east of the waterfront we would both pay the same fare to and back from the super market?

Why do you ask? If cab drivers give the locals a break, what's the difference to us?

 

[DandyDon]

Dollars will always be worth more than pesos...

You wish & hope. I've seen the exchange rate fluctuate 150% in the last year and a half. The USD is not as strong as it once was worldwide.

Yeah, if I was there every month, I'd keep pesos between trips. The one time I did tho, they dropped 30%!

 

[BrewingDiver]

Dollars will always be worth more than pesos, keeping pesos is not financially wise.

I was there last April when it was about 14:1. Now it's less than 13:1. If I had kept them, I could have exchanged them here for more USD than last year and actually made money by keeping them until now. At least theory...might be hard to find a buyer here unless you accept a lower rate.

The reality is I don't. If I have any left I give them to the housekeeping staff instead of USD on the last day, or to others as tips before leaving (sometimes I tip the DMs at the end depending on circumstances, and have given mixed currency). I hit the ATMs more than once per trip because I try not to end up with pesos, which of course then costs me more ATM fees, but not really a significant part of the whole vacation.

Taxis...I try to pay pesos mostly until late in the week if I run out. Same for meals.