U.S. Dollars in Egypt
 

I read that it is a good idea to take a large number of US $1.00 bills to Egypt to use for tipping and small purchases. Then I read NOT to give US dollars as tips because most service people have no way to use or exchange them for Egyptian currency. Can anyone offer advise?

Bring your ATM card (or USD) and get pounds from the machine of bureau de change. Random dollars are not all that useful (plus a dollar is a heck of a large amount for routine baksheesh).

You will find that it is almost impossible to keep small denominations of Egyptian currency to use for tips. The ATM machines have minimum denominations just as they do in the United States. While you may be able to obtain some currency as change when buying water or internation newspapers etc., it becomes a strain. We simply had to use dollars in some instances. I tried to do that when tipping in the hotels where bank or currency desks are located. The cruise ships collect tips for the entire crew at the end and dollars or euros were acceptable. The whole system of baksheesh becomes tiresome very quickly.

Pat

There are a couple of problems using USD.

1 - First $1 is about 5LE (Egyptian pounds) and for some things - that is WAY too much to tip someone. So - you have immediately targeted yourself as an "over-tipper" and you will be hounded by everyone.

2. It can be difficult to exchange the money, altho not impossible. NEVER tip with US coins. They are useless.

While getting small denominations can be difficult, it is possible. Take every opportunity you can - banks, exchange desks in hotels, making small purchases and insisting on change. In short....stash away every small bill you get!!!

at the airport where you get your visa you can get a large number of the 1 pound Egyptian coins- easier to get and to use than the filthy 1 pound notes = it is US coins that are useless to the recipient...however I disagree that $1 (US) is too much to give in some situations - it means so much to the recipient and we were NOT hounded when we gave them out

fthomasbond - if you were not hounded, then you were lucky.

Tipping needs to be done according to local standards, not US standards. If people continually over-tip (for convenience or guilt), it eventually hurts future travelers who are then expected to tip accordingly.