Room Steward Tipping Currency

[clo]

4 hours ago, ldubs said:

Nice to have enough for immediate taxi or whatever needs.

When we were regularly traveling to Rio we deliberately kept enough reals on hand to get a taxi ride 'home.'

[SRF]

12 hours ago, ldubs said:

BTW, a few years back we tried to use a leftover $2 Canadian bill at a gift shop.  We didn't know that denomination had been discontinued.  We still have it.  Lol

 

I did the same thing, but it was at the time it was still accepted.  The person was amazed, as they had not seen one for years. 🙂

 

Personally, I think the US should follow Canada, Euro, and others.  Get rid of $1 bills.  Switch to $1 and $2 coins.  And maybe, like Finland, get rid of pennies.  In Finland, if you pay in cash, the round to the nearest 5 Euro cents.  Credit cards are still charged to the penny.

 

It costs the US more to make a penny, than it is worth.

 

IMO, the mistake the US keeps making it trying to change to $1 coin is, they keep printing $1 bills.  Issue coins, then each year, print less and less bills.  They will naturally go out of use.

[SRF]

12 hours ago, LHT28 said:

They should have accepted it ..it is legal tender  (at least for another yr)

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/upcoming-changes-to-legal-tender-status-for-older-bank-notes/

 

WOW, I used a $2 Canada bill in the 90s, and the person stated they had not seen one for years.  Now 20 years later, they are finally about to stop accepting them.

 

I did run into a problem in UK.  I have a 5 pound note, which is older.  And it seems no longer accepted.  I can take it to a Bank of England and they will exchange it, but that is the only place.

[SRF]

10 hours ago, ed01106 said:

Doesn’t really matter if your room steward is from Indonesia he is going to convert what ever you give him into Indonesia currency when he gets back home.  So tip in what ever currency is most convenient for you.  Converting NZ$ to US$ (or what ever) just to tip in the “correct” currency just wastes on set of currency exchange fees.

 

Or maybe not.

 

I know several people that maintain separate bank accounts based on currency.  One person has 3.  Local currency, US dollars, and Euro.  This person is in Eastern Europe.  And travels to Euro countries and the US fairly often.  This avoids exchange fees.

 

 

[wishIweretravelling]

13 hours ago, Carole2313 said:

So I think I have it straight now.  Even though we will be in New Zealand and Australian waters, the ship is on USD so the tips should be in USD, right?  We also pay the auto grats, this is in addition for great service.  Please post if I’m wrong.  I don’t want to offend anyone.  Down Under they don’t like tipping, but the ship’s employees aren’t Aussie or Kiwi.

 

 

If your ship is in the area of the currency, by all means tip in that currency if you have it. The crew member will be able to use it in port.  The issue is just if you're shifting the burden of converting to the crew, or giving the crew money that can't be converted (i.e., coins) and is not used where the ship is going to be during their contract.

[navybankerteacher]

14 hours ago, ed01106 said:

Doesn’t really matter if your room steward is from Indonesia he is going to convert what ever you give him into Indonesia currency when he gets back home.  So tip in what ever currency is most convenient for you.  Converting NZ$ to US$ (or what ever) just to tip in the “correct” currency just wastes on set of currency exchange fees.

“...what ever currency is most convenient for you.” Wow!

 

 Some people think an extra gratuity should be of value to the recipient - rather than just a convenient way of getting rid of foreign currency while convincing yourself that you are being generous.

[iancal]

Your steward will pay zero percent attention to the currency and 100 percent attention to the amount.  No matter what currency.  That is what matters.

[ed01106]

45 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

“...what ever currency is most convenient for you.” Wow!

 

 Some people think an extra gratuity should be of value to the recipient - rather than just a convenient way of getting rid of foreign currency while convincing yourself that you are being generous.

Lets say I have $50 in Australian dollars  if I take that to the purser and exchange it for US dollars and leave that as a tip and then the steward converts those US dollars to Philippine pesos he will wind up with a significantly less money than if he was to convert the Australian dollars directly to pesos.  

 

Even worse case scenario he converts he tip back into Australian dollars because his next assignment is in Australia and he needs some currency because he is spending a week in Australia beforehand.

 

So by leaving the tip in the form most convenient for me I maximize the value for the recipient.

 

[LHT28]

4 hours ago, SRF said:

 

WOW, I used a $2 Canada bill in the 90s, and the person stated they had not seen one for years.  Now 20 years later, they are finally about to stop accepting them.

 

I did run into a problem in UK.  I have a 5 pound note, which is older.  And it seems no longer accepted.  I can take it to a Bank of England and they will exchange it, but that is the only place.

If you have  any paper 20 pound notes I would get rid of them soon 

I had some 5 pound notes  that I could not use  but this year  we used the CC for most of the time in the UK

They did not bring in the Toonie until  1996 

We no longer have pennies  either

 

[navybankerteacher]

18 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

Lets say I have $50 in Australian dollars  if I take that to the purser and exchange it for US dollars and leave that as a tip and then the steward converts those US dollars to Philippine pesos he will wind up with a significantly less money than if he was to convert the Australian dollars directly to pesos.  

 

Even worse case scenario he converts he tip back into Australian dollars because his next assignment is in Australia and he needs some currency because he is spending a week in Australia beforehand.

 

So by leaving the tip in the form most convenient for me I maximize the value for the recipient.

 

Good job rationalizing - but why not ask him which he would prefer?

[SRF]

5 hours ago, ed01106 said:

Lets say I have $50 in Australian dollars  if I take that to the purser and exchange it for US dollars and leave that as a tip and then the steward converts those US dollars to Philippine pesos he will wind up with a significantly less money than if he was to convert the Australian dollars directly to pesos.  

 

Even worse case scenario he converts he tip back into Australian dollars because his next assignment is in Australia and he needs some currency because he is spending a week in Australia beforehand.

 

So by leaving the tip in the form most convenient for me I maximize the value for the recipient.

 

 

ONLY if very certain circumstances occur.

 

Say the ship is on dollars, and he would rather have dollars, even in his home country? Then you are doing them NO favor.

[ed01106]

54 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

ONLY if very certain circumstances occur.

 

Say the ship is on dollars, and he would rather have dollars, even in his home country? Then you are doing them NO favor.

But I am not putting him at any disadvantage.  He can convert it to dollars at the exact same rate as me.  So in no situation is he better off with me doing the conversation and often he is better off if I don't.

[clo]

15 hours ago, SRF said:

Get rid of $1 bills.

They tried.

Brazil rounds up or down to the nearest real.

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, ed01106 said:

But I am not putting him at any disadvantage.  He can convert it to dollars at the exact same rate as me.  So in no situation is he better off with me doing the conversation and often he is better off if I don't.

But you are the one trying to get rid of foreign currency (while wanting to feel good about yourself for being generous) - the point of giving a gratuity really is to make him just a bit better off. If he has signed on to a ship where US  $ is the currency, that is what he would be better off getting. You just want to unload the hassle/cost of doing the exchange —- but keep kidding yourself if it makes you feel good.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

But you are the one trying to get rid of foreign currency (while wanting to feel good about yourself for being generous) - the point of giving a gratuity really is to make him just a bit better off. If he has signed on to a ship where US  $ is the currency, that is what he would be better off getting. You just want to unload the hassle/cost of doing the exchange —- but keep kidding yourself if it makes you feel good.

And I doubt that they can walk into just any bank and exchange currency.  NBT, as usual, I agree with you re "makes you feel good."

[SRF]

About the only time I tip in a non-local currency is the checking into a hotel after arriving.  I may not have any local currency, or I may not have any small enough denominations.

 

Then I tip in US dollars or Euro, or a nearby currency (Thai in Laos), where people are going back and forth all the time.

 

But there are times, when I have to use another currency, but always a good one, like Hong Kong dollars or Yen in Asia.  Rand in southern Africa.