London: Has Anyone Used the Post Office for Currency Exchange?
 

My DIL, who is a British citizen, told me that she always uses the post office in London to exchange currency without any commission charge.

Actually, she exchanged currency in post offices in Rome during our trip this past June. Simple process and no fees.

Has anyone had an experience (good or bad)with exchanging currency in London at a post office?

Oh geez, I probably should have added that I am talking about U.S. dollars!

Yes indeed. Post Office has become much more profit-oriented with foreign exchange, insurance, etc.

You can look up the details in the website (www.postoffice.co.uk). Like any major currency exchange operators, they claim 0% commission, but will charge less favourable rates than the inter-bank rates quoted on the newspaper. (Most banks I know charge 1-2% commission when you go into a branch to sell/buy currencies).

When I checked their website, Post Office exchange rate is 1GBP=2.0376USD. Travelex's UK website's equivalent rate is 2.0525. Though I have no idea how they fare vs what you can get from your bank or via your bank cash card.

Don't be fooled by any entity that claims they charge no commission. If they don't charge a flat fee, they will hide the charge in the form of a hefty mark-up, and that's exactly what the post office is doing.

Today's market exchange is 1.9042 according to oanda.com, so the post office adds roughly a 7% mark-up. With all due respect to w9London, I've never seen a bank that only charges 1-2% commission unless there's also a hefty flat fee.

This is why nobody with any travel savvy exchanges currency anymore. The smart travelers of today's world all use the ATM to get cash. Look up any of the 10 trillion threads on this board and you will see what I mean, exchanging currency is out for any seasoned traveler.

By using the ATM card from my credit union, I only pay a 1% mark-up and a $1 fee for the withdrawl. If I use my other bank's ATM card, I will pay the 1% mark-up and no withdrawl fee. In other words, the post office is charging 7 times more commission than my ATM card.

P_M spelled out the situation well. If one <u>must</u> exchange currency or travelers' checks for some reason, then a GPO is a good place to do it. But ATMs are still the best way to get cash.

i_am_kane, in re-reading my post, I fear that my comments sound like they are directed at your DIL. They are not, I was speaking in general terms only.

I ask you very kindly to do some research and do the math, and you will find that exchanging currency instead of using your ATM card is not a good deal. Perhaps an exchange facility has no commission per se, but that only means they have marked it up even further.

I have no problem using an ATM machine. I have done it for years traveling in Europe.

This was just a simple question about the London post office currency exchange system, and had nothing to do with ATMs.

Many times when a question is asked on this board about currency exchange, the replies always are the same: ATM, but that wasn't my question.

The exchange rate at BOA last week was horrible. It cost me 220 USD for 110 Pounds. We just wanted to have some pounds on us when we land in London next week.

Only about one in seven post offices do foreign exchange. These tend to be the bigger ones, so a large proportion of them will be the government-operated post offices that are mismanaged to ensure frequent long queues.

Their pricing on forex isn't specifically designed to be the cheapest, though they aren't rip offs either. Marks &amp; Spencer have a similar strategy, and there's no Wal-Mart equivalent in forex.

But wherever there's a large post office, there'll be loads of banks, building societies and forex kiosks that'll also cash your dollars. All display exchange rates and commission: simply decide which to use on the basis of yield you'll get (how many &pound;, net, for my $)and how long you want to stand in a queue.

W9's advice should be recited hourly by people who think &quot;no commission&quot; means anything.

I have used the post office for convenience, the cost isn't prohibitive at all.
However I find Marks and Spencer to be pretty competitive, they usually have facilities in their larger stores.

You can check their rates on line.
And get a list of stores that have facilities.
http://www6.marksandspencer.com/page...amp;Product=TM


Muck

M&amp;S offered the best rate on Kenyan Shillings from Sterling a while ago, but there were better rates for converting pounds into dollars.

It changes daily so it &quot;can&quot; pay to shop around a bit.

I never use an ATM due to an experience I had with a card being eaten &amp; the nonresponsive nature of the idiotic bank here at home. All situations don't fit every traveler. I've never had more of a headache on a trip.

Anyway, Marks &amp; Spencer does have a decent exchange rate but it matches a guy I use in a news agent on Brompton Road &amp; he's much more convenient.

Hi Kane,

&gt;We just wanted to have some pounds on us when we land in London next week.&lt;

I buy about $100 worth of foreign currency at the departure airport. It costs about $3 more than getting cash upon arrival.

$100 is enough to get you to your hotel.

Both my LW and I bring 2 ATM cards, on separate banks, just in case one is eaten.

((I))

Re the queues in the post office. If you onl;y want to use the bureau d’exchange, you just go up to the dedicated window. It’s not very British to queue jump, at least not this blatantly but you're not actually queue jumping, there is a separate queue for money exchanging.

A note about using ATM cards. We didn't have any trouble with ours in England and Ireland but tried a couple of different banks in Northern Ireland before we found one that would take our card. We couldn't even go inside and use it. We will take traveler's checks and also a check to get cash from the relatives (the reason for the visit) if necessary. We will have our MC and VI along too.

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
This is why nobody with any travel savvy exchanges currency anymore.
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

really?

how do &quot;savvy&quot; travellers sell back currency?

anyway, the PO is a decent place to exchange currency, whether you want to sell back or if you want to take some money with you. i use it about 10x per year (small percentage of trips).

also, your credit union may offer great rates but not everyone can bank at your credit union. here in the UK, an average foreign cash machine withdrawal (equivalent of &pound;200) will cost you about &pound;7-10 (FT rate compared to what you actually get). I bank at two of the major high street banks and the cost is about the same at both. i'm not saying that the PO or any other exchange is a better deal than the ATM, just that you are making a lot of country specific assumptions.

i guess i'm not a savvy traveller.

I was referring to Americans who need to get cash in Europe, and the best way to do that is to use the ATM, and not exchanging at a post office. I do not know about the fee structure for Europeans using ATMs. Sorry if that was unclear and thank you for bringing that to my attention. I'll make a point of being more specific in the future.