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So they don't charge any explicit foreign exchange fees, but "Currency conversions are based on currency exchange rates applicable on the date of the Transacti

So they don't charge any explicit foreign exchange fees, but "Currency conversions are based on currency exchange rates applicable on the date of the Transaction." Well can't they just use a super advantageous measure there? There's no pinning to any external rate in the language.

notatoad 7y ago
yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. They aren't trying to run a forex business, they're trying to sell coffee so they charge a fair rate. it's not going to be the best rate possible, but it's probably a better rate than anybody else at the airport will give you.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. [citation needed] > They aren't trying to run a forex business Right. Particularly, they aren't trying to sell services to people price shopping for forex, is an incidental convenience provided to a customer base that literally isn't even checking prices. Why you'd assume that the rates will be especially favorable is unclear.
  - notatoad 7y ago
    i'm not assuming anything. when i use my canadian starbucks card in the US i have always been given a fair exchange rate.
  - kortilla 7y ago
    Has it occurred to you that some people actually check?
- joncrane 7y ago
  They have a captive audience. They literally only have to provide a rate that's roughly equivalent to the usurious "last chance currency exchange" counters at the airports. Heck, since probably no one is paying attention that closely to their statements, they could provide even less favorable rates, and simply issue refunds to anyone that actually notices and complains, and still make more money that way.
- mgkimsal 7y ago
  ~30 years ago I was shift manager at a Burger King, outside Detroit. Being close to Windsor, we'd get... probably 2-3 transactions per month where people wanted to use Canadian money. Not a huge deal really - at least at that time, Detroit folks were at least accustomed to seeing it, if not accepting it. The exchange rate was generally ~80c USD to 1 CAD - it fluctuated - sometimes as much as 90c, sometimes below 80. Our store policy was we'd honor $1 CAD at 75c USD. Most people didn't complain, but now and then someone would complain - "I can get 85c at the bank!". I'd reply something like... "you're free to do that, but it's 9:30 on a Saturday night - we're about your only option - most other places aren't even open, and the ones that are might not take your CAD at all". Oh, and many of the banks wouldn't exchange $ for you unless you were a customer. All that over a $10 meal for 3 people. The difference of an entire potential dollar. It was my job to bank the money, and we'd end up getting odd reconciliations days or weeks later indicating that that $1163.45 we'd deposited on April 16 was really $1164.32 because of the exchange rate we got when the bank processed the deposit. We probably 'made' $100 in arbitrage for the whole year, but people would complain about it sometimes, that we were 'ripping them off'.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    Had the opposite experience: grew up in Canada about 1hr from USA. The local McDonalds’ exchange rate was (published!) about 10% off to my advantage. I went to the bank for a couple weeks getting US$50 bills and getting free meals with the $CAD change until they caught on :)
dragonwriter 7y ago
Lots of places that do currency exchange don't charge explicit exchange fees, either, they just have different exchange rates for each direction, the “exchange fee” is just (roughly) half the difference.

notatoad 7y ago

yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. They aren't trying to run a forex business, they're trying to sell coffee so they charge a fair rate. it's not going to be the best rate possible, but it's probably a better rate than anybody else at the airport will give you.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. [citation needed] > They aren't trying to run a forex business Right. Particularly, they aren't trying to sell services to people price shopping for forex, is an incidental convenience provided to a customer base that literally isn't even checking prices. Why you'd assume that the rates will be especially favorable is unclear.
- notatoad 7y ago
  i'm not assuming anything. when i use my canadian starbucks card in the US i have always been given a fair exchange rate.
- kortilla 7y ago
  Has it occurred to you that some people actually check?
joncrane 7y ago
They have a captive audience. They literally only have to provide a rate that's roughly equivalent to the usurious "last chance currency exchange" counters at the airports. Heck, since probably no one is paying attention that closely to their statements, they could provide even less favorable rates, and simply issue refunds to anyone that actually notices and complains, and still make more money that way.
mgkimsal 7y ago
~30 years ago I was shift manager at a Burger King, outside Detroit. Being close to Windsor, we'd get... probably 2-3 transactions per month where people wanted to use Canadian money. Not a huge deal really - at least at that time, Detroit folks were at least accustomed to seeing it, if not accepting it. The exchange rate was generally ~80c USD to 1 CAD - it fluctuated - sometimes as much as 90c, sometimes below 80. Our store policy was we'd honor $1 CAD at 75c USD. Most people didn't complain, but now and then someone would complain - "I can get 85c at the bank!". I'd reply something like... "you're free to do that, but it's 9:30 on a Saturday night - we're about your only option - most other places aren't even open, and the ones that are might not take your CAD at all". Oh, and many of the banks wouldn't exchange $ for you unless you were a customer. All that over a $10 meal for 3 people. The difference of an entire potential dollar. It was my job to bank the money, and we'd end up getting odd reconciliations days or weeks later indicating that that $1163.45 we'd deposited on April 16 was really $1164.32 because of the exchange rate we got when the bank processed the deposit. We probably 'made' $100 in arbitrage for the whole year, but people would complain about it sometimes, that we were 'ripping them off'.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Had the opposite experience: grew up in Canada about 1hr from USA. The local McDonalds’ exchange rate was (published!) about 10% off to my advantage. I went to the bank for a couple weeks getting US$50 bills and getting free meals with the $CAD change until they caught on :)

dragonwriter 7y ago

Lots of places that do currency exchange don't charge explicit exchange fees, either, they just have different exchange rates for each direction, the “exchange fee” is just (roughly) half the difference.