Tesco / post office: old notes?

sneezo

Hi everybody

An odd request.

I have been told (on the forum of a well-known travel publisher) that in parts of South East Asia it's advisable to have new US dollar bills to exchange money for the local currency. I mean brand-new, crease-free, wrinkle-free dollar bills (probably $50 or $100 bills). Yes, I know it's crazy.

Does anybody know if Tesco or the Post Office ever give out old notes? I don't want to order money then find I have to change it back into pounds then back into dollars again because they're the "wrong kind of notes" - obviously that'd cost me. In the past I know the cheapest exchange places in central London (as listed on MSE at the time) gave me old notes.

Others high up in the MSE cheap travel money rankings would also be of interest, though I suspect Tesco will be best for convenience since I may not be in central London and I don't want to leave it until departure - there are already too many things to go wrong on that day for my liking - so Travelex isn't an option for me.

Thanks

dzug1

I doubt if most of the time you will get brand new notes from either - certainly I wouldn't expect it.

sneezo

dzug1 wrote: »

I doubt if most of the time you will get brand new notes from either - certainly I wouldn't expect it.

That's interesting. Any suggestions for somewhere not too expensive where I can request new notes and reliably get them?

Even if an employee says they can do it on the phone, I'd like to avoid paying, then showing up and getting somebody who denies all knowledge. But if I pay only when I get there, some places don't give the good rates. And I already tried a couple of places in London who said they couldn't give all new notes.

Going into an exchange shop and asking for new notes made me feel guilty, as if I were a money launderer - but I suppose they only want metaphorically clean money, not literally clean?

jammin_2

What are your destinations?

dzug1

You will only reliably get them if you go in in person and buy on the spot - and that's only if they have them which a lot of the time is unlikely.

Personally I'd take the original advice with a slight pinch of salt and not worry too much. A lot of nonsense is posted on travel sites.

And if it's a US site it won't have considered the possibility of taking ££ (new ones a lot easier to get) and changing them for local currency. Even if the exchange rate is not as 'good' as for $$, you won't have had the cost of getting those $$ in the first place.

jammin_2

True also.

I do wonder where the OP is going in SE Asia. In Cambodia and Vietnam, US$ notes are useful (certainly don't have to be new notes), but not essential. Money changers are plentiful and will change Sterling into local currency at good rates.

hxm

what I know from personal experience in Kenya is that most places will only accept current dollar bills, not the older ones which were easier to counterfeit. That's not to say that they have to be brand new notes. I don't know whether that is the same advice given for travellers in SE Asia, but it would seem likely.

sneezo

As it turned out, my bank has a cash advance fee for currency exchange - cheeky - so it works out cheaper to use the walk-in rates at a Tesco branch. My local post office has new notes, and I guess their rates are about the same as Tesco (didn't ask when I was there since I didn't know about the cash advance fee).

Of course just walking in has the advantage that if they don't have new notes, you just walk out again.

So I'll probably go with Tesco or Post Office branch service.