My wife sometimes travels to Japan, and since the price of the yen is historically low right now…read morecompared to the U.S. dollar, she wanted to purchase a modest amount of Japanese yen.
My first thought was to go to our regular bank, but after briefly thinking about it, I recalled how complicated things can become just to try to use their notary services. Upon checking, I confirmed that even for existing customers, buying a foreign currency may take several business days. Customers must visit a branch and "reserve" yen in advance, with the rate being determined on the day of reservation, and this service may not be available at all branches.
I searched for a foreign currency exchange service and Currency Exchange International (CXI) stood out by being conveniently located in the International Market Place in Waikiki.
We arrived at the Market Place just before 11 am, and having read a recent review placing them between Macy's and Pieology, I figured that Macy's would be easier to locate than the currency exchange. That's what threw off our search. There didn't appear to be an entrance to Macy's from where we were, so we had to go out to Kalakaua Ave. to reach Macy's, and the exchange was nowhere in sight. I did try to call the number but no one answered, understandable if the only person there was assisting customers.
We went back into the Market Place and finally found it near the "Customer Service" sign and next to the escalator, and realized we had passed it before in our search for Macy's.
When we reached the window, the gentleman was assisting a couple. I gathered they were purchasing currency by card, and that they were being asked to produce ID. After they received their currency and left, we were next, and I noticed someone else waiting behind us.
At the window, I announced that I wanted to purchase Japanese yen and gave him the amount. He asked how I was going to pay, and I said "cash," and it seemed to be a straightforward process from there. He quoted the exchange rate he would be using, how much he would charge me for the currency, and the $5.00 exchange fee. I handed him the cash, and he passed back the Japanese yen and the receipt. Everything was smoothly executed.
Later I had time to analyze precisely how the exchange worked. We were openly quoted an exchange rate, and by accepting, we agreed to it. The receipt had this disclaimer: "The exchange rate used for this transaction may vary from other exchange rates in existence globally." Using a rate which is slightly advantageous to the exchange and adding the exchange fee is how the business makes a profit. After comparing against other published rates, my feeling is that this was all worth it, given that we didn't need to make an appointment at a bank, for instance, and wait for them to obtain the currency. What might have taken days and involved an inconvenient location elsewhere was accomplished in a few minutes by going to CXI and paying cash.
