Unlucky for the UK coffee shop that wouldn’t take my USD this morning I guess? Not quite sure what you’re trying to say, if a country doesn’t want to accept usd…they don’t have to
His point is that fiat currencies are issued by, and backed by, the state and the that trust is, ultimately, based on its enforcement capacity - the police/courts/US army rather than convertibility with gold or other hard asserts.
Except a $100 bill is likely accepted. I’ve been to developing countries that will accept local currency, dollars, and euros. I doubt they would accept any pounds, tethers, or other fake electronic currency.
You won't get anywhere with a $100 bill in many developed countries, outside of some very tourist-y areas maybe. At least not in regular shops, of course you can exchange it at a bank. But if you try to order a coffee with US dollars, you won't get one.
Nah. The "term" USD is common, but that's very different from presenting physical US currency to people and trying to get them to accept it.
At least in Australia, I'd be surprised if more than a single digit percentage of the population would be able to tell if the (US) currency someone presents is real vs pretend/monopoly money.
They'd most likely think the person is trying to scam them.
Handling a foreign currency is a lot of overhead, you will only find this accepted in locations where it is quite common for people to not have the local currency. If you're in the middle of Europe you'll have a hard time finding a place that will just accept US dollars outside of some very tourist focused destinations. And even there I'm not sure if it'll work.
The places where I've seen this mostly work was near borders, and it makes sense that you'd accept the neighbour currency there even if it is some overhead. If you can quickly hop over the border you're much less likely to exchange currency before than if you plan a full trip in a different country.
Pounds have reasonable acceptance in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia -- many of those countries either used to be part of the British Empire or a neighbour, so there's trade, emigration, etc. Probably the Caribbean too, though I haven't been there.
In most cases e.g. a French tourist would be fine taking euros, but a British tourist can take pounds and not pay to convert to dollars or euros first.
Really? Pls back this up with a citation or example. Name one country in those places or outside of Britain for that matter where british pounds are accepted as currency - today and not 1950
I wrote "reasonable acceptance". You can pay for a taxi, a good quality/touristy restaurant or a safari. You can easily exchange sterling for local currency at banks or currency exchange offices.
Entirely depends on country and business in the country.
I've seen Americans try to pay for taxi's in Thailand with USD, the drivers aren't interested, it's a hassle more than anything. In cambodia on the other hand, yes, they'll take it.
Depends entirely on how stable the local currency is, if it's reasonably stable and well managed then probably they won't be interested.
I am under the impression that pretty much anywhere in the developing world USD will spend. Maybe not in the west, but places that have a weak currency like africa, the middle east, and south america.
Nope I said developing world like Central and South America. Lots of tourists places will accept Euros and dollars as long as the bills are not damaged.
Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, and Colombia are places where I’ve done this personally and lots of Europeans were doing the same.
Friends and family in Costa Rica even advised that local currency wasn’t necessary and suggested bringing crisp bills from my bank.
At least in big cities in Argentina, you can pay with dollars in many places. Some shops like big supermarkets even have a sign that shows their exchange rate. (Note that the official exchange rate is AR$200, but the unofficial one is AR$400. You may get a bad exchange rate in some shops.) For buying clothes it may be more difficult because you must negotiate the exchange rate, and they may only accept only US$100 bills, and only if they look nice and is the new model that has a big face. It may be more difficult to pay the electricity bill in dollars.
(In small towns it may be more difficult, but not impossible, specially if you are nice.)
As a tourist maybe. But try to do it at any place mostly frequented locals in Europe and you will get nowhere. But funny thing. Same does not only apply to USD, but Euros as well. And EU doesn't even have army. And still on my last trip the taxis took the money.
I think the main disconnect is between developing countries (that may have currency stability issues and where folks are more likely to use dollars or euros) and the developed world, where there is no benefit in using USD for regular transactions. Plus a whiff of "F those Americans who act like they own the whole world".
And your specific comment that started this didn't read like you are only argued about developing world. My 2c.