I am getting ready for a brief trip back to the US. I wanted to buy some US Dollars in preparation for the trip. When I moved to Japan I remember how I felt like I was getting a bad rate buying Yen in the US. The Seattle Travelex office that I visited offered me a rate of 70 Yen to the dollar. At the time the exchange rate was actually around 77.5 Yen to the dollar. This meant the fee I was charged was around 10.71% for the privilege of buying Yen at the Seattle branch of Travelex.
With this initial experience of buying foreign currency I was worried that it would be expensive to buy US dollars in Japan. I was amazed at the rate I was offered by the Travelex office in Sapporo. I was offered a rate of 80.905875 Yen to buy a dollar. At the moment the exchange rate is around 79.2707095. This means the Sapporo branch of Travelex only charged about 2.02%!
Seattle November 2011 Sapporo June 2012
Exchange rate $1= 77.5 79.2707095=$1
Actual Rate at Travelex $1= 70.0 80.905875=$1
Difference 7.5 per $1 or about 10.71% 1.65 per $1 or about 2.02%
Based on my limited info I can say it was a much better deal to buy currency in Sapporo than Seattle.
Disclaimers
I am not an expert in international currency exchange. This blog is intended for entertainment only and not as actual advice. I don't have the receipt from the purchase in Seattle, so I am relying on memory for the information about the rate the Travelex store offered me in Seattle. I don't have enough data to say if it is more favorable for travelers making currency purchases to make those purchases in Japan or the US.
I used Wikipedia and Google Search to fine the exchange rates of Yen/Dollar.
That's all for now.
-Kyle (and Bre)
No comments:
Post a Comment