Travel Tip # 58:

Making Change

It seems no one likes giant, multi-national corporations these days, what with their exploitation of employees, their tendency to use bullying tactics to put local, independent businesses out of work and their corrupt influence on developing countries through the use of sweatshops and unsafe labour practices.

But people seem to forget that they’re a really great place to make change.

Here’s the thing… around the world, most small, independent businesses can’t carry a big cash float – money is very hand to mouth – so breaking a large bill can be next to impossible.

And ATMs seem to only give out big bills… for instance, in Thailand most of the ATMs only give out $1000 THB bills.

Now considering a good dinner for two in Bangkok will only cost around a $100 THB, the size of the money you have to carry around is way out of proportion to what you can actually use.

But big corporations always have change.

And even better, their employees don’t give a sh*t about dishing it out.

We’ve done it many times… we’ve walked into a 7-11, bought a pack of gum, given the cashier a $1000 bill and received $998 in change with a smile on.

After all, it ain’t their money.

It belongs to some faceless big-wig at head office who doesn’t care if his dividend cheques are paid in 10’s or 1000’s… as long as it’s all there and it keeps his mistress quiet and his solid-gold bidet filled with champagne.

We then take our smaller bills to the little “mom & pop shop” next door and finish our shopping.

But if you try and pull this same trick at a small store, you’ll get dirty looks, a long wait as the employee runs around to other businesses trying to break your bill for you and in some cases, part of your change will inevitably be paid out in merchandise like little candies and small bags of chips. Seriously.

So next time you need to break a bill, might I suggest McDonalds, 7-11, KFC, Burger King, Wal-Mart, etc?

The smiles are free and the convenience is priceless.