Thread: foreign currency

Do this. Buy cigarettes at duty free. Way cheaper overseas and probably cheaper in Australia than the USA. Then sell the cigarettes to recuperate your money. A carton of Marlboro in the U.S. runs about 50 bucks. I could buy cigarettes in Philippines for around 5 bucks per carton. You could pay your taxes and still come out recouping your money. Duty free cigarettes are cheaper and come from Switzerland, and smell much fresher too. Those may go for a little higher. Still. Way cheaper than 50 bucks per carton. Someone would be more than happy to give you 30-40 bucks for a carton of duty free cigarettes and you still come out on top. If you buy more than two cartons, you'll get hit with a tax, but it's not bad at all. I did this once and I still made out. Just charge the person buying the smokes from you the taxes you got hit for. It still comes out way cheaper for them. I'm not telling you this to turn a profit, just so that you can at least get your value instead of selling your currency for a loss.

And yes, they have a currency exchanger here at IAH. You will take a big hit for the exchange. I have different country currencies, from countries visited but never exchange them here. I use them for future travel. I've dug into the currency bag to pay for cab fares in Mexico for instance. Never a whole lot from each country but I'd rather save the currency and use them later than take a hit on the exchange here. Enter currency exchange KIOSK. I suppose they count on you not wanting to get stuck with anything, therefore willing to part with a cut for them so as not to have a total loss of currency.