Taxi Mafia

[cvchief]

I don' think he was ripped off at all. Taxi drivers are not banks. Like all businesses in Cozumel. They can set their own exchange rates for US dollars and in this case it was 10:1 which is a very common rate. Any exchange rate issue can be easily solved by paying in pesos. I think you just like to whine!

I don't think that is fair. At one point the peso was 14 to the dollar. At 10 to 1 that is a considerable difference. Sure I agree that pesos are the way to go always but they can collect dollars at 10 to 1 and spend them at Mega for over 12 to 1. Speaking of Mega, they post a nice big reasonable exchange rate out front. I also tend to check the exchange rate at restaurants when they post in dollars and pesos. I can't say any of my favorite places or any I remember tried to pull a 10 to 1 rate. In fact sometime their rates actually made it cheaper in dollars. 10 to 1 is, in my opinion, shaving the tourists. To say they can pick their own exchange rate is to say they can charge what they want. By that they could say 8 to1 or 5 to 1. I leave it to your judgement whether that is on the beam or not.

Again though, I load up on pesos at the BOA cuz I like to do like the Romans you know. Maybe that was your point? Get Pesos? I agree with that. Oh and I hardly ever take a cab. And when I do, 3/4 of the time the fare is ok and I tip.

 

[judydivescoz]

I don't think that is fair. At one point the peso was 14 to the dollar. At 10 to 1 that is a considerable difference. Sure I agree that pesos are the way to go always but they can collect dollars at 10 to 1 and spend them at Mega for over 12 to 1. Speaking of Mega, they post a nice big reasonable exchange rate out front. I also tend to check the exchange rate at restaurants when they post in dollars and pesos. I can't say any of my favorite places or any I remember tried to pull a 10 to 1 rate. In fact sometime their rates actually made it cheaper in dollars. 10 to 1 is, in my opinion, shaving the tourists. To say they can pick their own exchange rate is to say they can charge what they want. By that they could say 8 to1 or 5 to 1. I leave it to your judgement whether that is on the beam or not.

Again though, I load up on pesos at the BOA cuz I like to do like the Romans you know. Maybe that was your point? Get Pesos? I agree with that. Oh and I hardly ever take a cab. And when I do, 3/4 of the time the fare is ok and I tip.

I agree it may not be an attractive exchange rate but the taxi drivers and small business are not banks or even Mega. Taxi drivers take dollars and exchange them at a rate that does not fluctuate .... its been 10:1 for many years and is easy to calculate. The solution to just about any beef one might have with a taxi driver is so simple......ask how much, pay in pesos everyone is on the same page. Much better than an angry exchange with the driver that may eventually lead to angry threads like this on Scubaboard.

 

[John Larsen]

Again though, I load up on pesos at the BOA cuz I like to do like the Romans you know. Maybe that was your point? Get Pesos? I agree with that. Oh and I hardly ever take a cab. And when I do, 3/4 of the time the fare is ok and I tip.

Agreed 3/4 of the time the fare is ok...here is a little more insight (I hope that is the correct word to use) on the taxi in question....all week long and daily we (4 of us) had been taking a taxi from Coral princess (In the northern hotel zone) to the square and had been quoted 60 pesos for that. The day we were ripped off we had taken a taxi from CP to la perlita and paid 60 pesos for that ride....after dinner we walked from La perlite to the Sedena supermarket on Melgar and the airport road that is where we hailed the taxi in question I did not ask for a fare because I figured we had been paying 60 pesos to go from the CP to the square all week...and a fare from the Sedena to CP (half the distance to the square) would be even less then 60 pesos...when told it would be 100 Pesos that's when I questioned him. had he said 60 pesos instead of 100 I would have paid that without question but would have still felt like I got scammed a little but when he asked for 100 pesos that was to much rip off for one day!

 

[Skittl1321]

How were you not ripped off?

If the fare for example was 100 pesos and you paid him $10 US, you were ripped off by over-paying 30% and screwed identically the same as a taxi driver who rips people off by charging someone 90 pesos for a 60 peso fare.

You were ripped off.

Because I chose to pay in dollars. I wasn't ripped off.

The fare said 80 pesos, I gave him $8 (well, $9). I could have just as easily given him 80 pesos, but I didn't have any, because I was a lazy cruiser who didn't exchange money.

He didn't ASK for $8, he put his hand out for the fare (which he never told me- I looked it up on the sign myself). Since I knew it was easy to use USD in Mexico, and the general on the street rate is 10:1, I didn't even look up what the exchange rate for pesos were before my vacation, most cruisers don't.

ETA: Now that I think about it, the sign may have actually SAID $8 USD, not pesos at all. In which case I was completely not ripped off, that was the fare. I'm going to have to look for a picture.

Picture: http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/ss266/mitziz/Carnival Legend/Cozumel/IMG_4665.jpg So the rate WAS listed in dollars, but everyone else we didn't pay with a credit card did give us 10:1.
But my point was just that, there is a lot of assumption taxi drivers rip off cruisers, and I don't think they do. The rates are VERY easy for cruisers to find out. (Not sure what they'd do if you want to pay in pesos...) Perhaps they DO rip of land based tourists, since rates are so hard to find.

 

[Mike]

Brainwashed is all I can conclude. People are so used to being ripped off in Mexico many of you have brainwashed yourselves that it's okay.

10:1

What a racket. A loan shark can't get that kind of return.

Love to watch the hysterics of anyone here defending being ripped off by 30%in Mexico for nothing, go into a store in the states and be told we charge an extra 30% if you pay with twenty dollar bills. Why? Just because we do. You'd raise holy hell, you'd go on line and post nasty reviews, start a blog, tell everybody you know, yet you not only accept it in Mexico, you defend it! This must be the Mexican Stockholm Syndrome.

 

[Skittl1321]

Love to watch the hysterics of anyone here defending being ripped off by 30%in Mexico for nothing, go into a store in the states and be told we charge an extra 30% if you pay with twenty dollar bills. Why? Just because we do. You'd raise holy hell, you'd go on line and post nasty reviews, start a blog, tell everybody you know, yet you not only accept it in Mexico, you defend it! This must be the Mexican Stockholm Syndrome.

What do you think would happen if you walked into a store in the states and wanted to pay with pesos? You'd walk out empty handed.
Taxi drivers aren't banks. They shouldn't be expected to work in a different currency, and should get a premium when they do.

 

[crux0724]

Taxi drivers that work in a tourist destination who deal with primarily US tourist are expected to deal with US dollars. Having a calculator to do a 12:1 exchange isn't too difficult of a task. Comparing a destination that relies on US tourism to a typical US city is unreasonable.

That being said, my complaint was getting quoted 4 different prices for the same trip and being told a price when I got into a cab and another when I got out at the airport while the driver had my luggage hostage in his trunk

 

[Sideways]

This issue is legitimate in my book, and not just in Mex. I just returned from Bali and it was pretty much the same there. I don't always ask prior to getting in the cab, but if I didn't, I ask right away when we get moving. In Bali, I'd get in and ask how much it would cost (knowing what the rate should be). On numerous occasions, I would be qouted a way out of line rate. I'd then tell them it was too high and too pull over. Some would, but others would try to haggle. While haggling I would just keep telling them "thank you but pull over and let us out". On one occasion the guy basicly haggled and by his actions refused to pull over. When we got to our hotel I gave him what the rate should be and we walked away. The whole time the guy was yelling at us that we ripped him off. Really?? After he just pretty much kidnapped us??? Bottom line is he tried to rip us off, then held us captive in his cab, not acknowledging our wishes to be let out. It's not a question of a few dollars, hell I'm a pretty loose spender and a good tipper. It's all about the integrity factor to me. Earlier in the thread someone talked about being threatened by a cabbie. If that happened to me I think I would have got all his info and went straight to the tourist police.

It IS NOT a cultural thing to barter! The ONLY REASON they barter is because they have been TAUGHT that from the tourists who are always trying to get a discount on something! The locals don't go around trying to barter prices on things - they pay the price asked. It's almost as if some tourists believe that local hard working hotels, dive ops, restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, etc. should subsidize their vacation by giving them discounts. Do you go in to local businesses back home and barter? No, you pay the price they are asking - why should it be any different here?

The thing many tourists fail to realize is that while this may be their vacation and FUN, the people that work and own/operate businesses here are trying to make a living just like those that are here on vacation. These businesses are our livlihoods, they are not hobbies, they are businesses. the cost of doing business here is not cheap! So while you want to barter over a dollar or two - it's only a dollar or two to you - and really nothing in the grans scheme when you've already spent hundreds or in some cases thousands on airfare, hotel and all the pre-travel goodies you buy. Most of the people who work and live here don't get to travel and go on big vacations - so please keep that in perspective.

I am not condoning some of the taxi's trying to squeak out another dollar or two or three, which is why I spent the time to get the official taxi rate, translate them, and post them. But really, in the big picture - if they are doing that - just think that they probably need it more than you do!

Sorry - rant off - just trying to give some perspective

So, it's my fault as a tourist that merchants in some countries/areas barter???? Whether bartering is practiced or not is solely dictated by the merchant, not the tourists. Like you mention, at home if I go to my local store they'd laugh at me if I told them I wanted to barter. It's THEIR choice! Now, if one merchant undercuts another by utilizing that practice, again, that's the merchants/local economies choice. That's the way they choose to do business. If you as a dive op operator decide to give someone an extra 5% off for something, it's YOUR choice, It's your business, you choose what works for it or not right?. I realize my vacation is supposed to be "FUN", as you put it. Does that mean if I try to stretch my vacation dollar out as much as possible I should feel guilty or questions my integrity?? That I'm insensitive to the Locals??? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but your statement above reads to me like... "If I try to find deals on hotels/dive ops/restaurants/etc... I'm depriving and stealing from the locals, who by the way can't afford vacations themselves" Keep that in perspective??? It comes across like your saying we're ripping you off?? I see it as, and maybe I'm wrong, that you chose to open a business, you run it the way you want, but don't blame me or tourists in general about yours or the area's business practices.

Now, speaking about practices being out of line, when I lived in Southern Baja they had prices for locals, and prices for tourists. One example was the ferry to the mainland. Where they actually had signs quoting prices for locals, and prices for tourists. In the states if you tried to do that??...well...it wouldn't be pretty. Again...it's THEIR choice, the merchants and local economy as to practices they deem acceptable. I'm just a visitor, and whether I choose to do business or travel there, while knowing their practices/culture, is MY choice. Like the thread topic, I choose to utilize the Taxi's, but while I do I also try to know the local practices and rates and abide by them. Also, knowing helps protect myself from dishonest practices.

What do you think would happen if you walked into a store in the states and wanted to pay with pesos? You'd walk out empty handed.
Taxi drivers aren't banks. They shouldn't be expected to work in a different currency, and should get a premium when they do.

See, I've always thought by me paying merchants in Mex in dollars I was actually doing them a favor. That they could work the fluctuating exchange rate and actually make MORE pesos that way

 

[Christi]

Thank you to those (dmoore and lionfish eater) who actually got the point I was trying to make. I don't have time to give specific examples of every circumstance or situation - but those who got my point were spot on.

I am not villainizing tourists or any specific person here nor am I placing blame to ALL of a specific group. I was making a very broad general statement basically about how/why haggling became and remains so prevalent here and only in certain places with certain things - BUT - that SOME tourists think it's ok/acceptable/reasonable to haggle everywhere they go here. That was it- don't read more into it than there was or that was intended.

I also said, and I will repeat (and you'll know my stance on these issues if you've read other threads on the topic) "I am not condoning some of the taxi's trying to squeak out an extra dollar or two or three, which is why I spent the time to get the official taxi rates, translate them and post them..

Judy said it perfectly - the taxi drivers are not banks, nor is Mega or anywhere other than a bank. If exchange rates are not favorable to you if paying in dollars, then go to the bank and exchange your money, or take it out of an ATM and pay with the official currency, which is the peso! If you are paying in dollars, it's on the vendors terms, not the person paying with a foreign currency. If you're reading this thread or one of the many others on the discussion of currency exchange, taxi rates, etc. - you've been warned and should know what to expect. So if you feel you are getting ripped off by paying in dollars - that really is your choice - you made and informed decision and choice to pay in dollars vs. pesos. DISCLAIMER: "YOU" in my post(s) is the collective you - a general term - not directed at any specific person!

 

[Sideways]

Sorry Christi, I didn't get your point, and still don't the way you stated it, but...it could be me and or my perception of what you wrote.. Now myself, I HATE haggling, and leave it to my wife, who loves the practice. How are we to know, where it is acceptable and where it's not? In Cozumel, it seems widely acceptable with the smaller merchants, and not with major stores. If I go to a small hole in the wall trinket shop, where everything is marked up because they think you will haggle, we have no choice but to haggle if we want a fair price. Also, you mentioned that it is Not cultural, I'm assuming you are referring too only Mexico? It is cultural in some countries. In both Indo and Thailand I was told many times by locals that if you didn't haggle, you're basicly an idiot, and that it IS part of their business culture.