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Dunnes...no sterling, thanks

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  • 02-03-2013 2:54pm
    #1
    madalig12
    Registered Users Posts: 2,553 ✭✭✭


    Dunnes in Letterkenny won't accept sterling. Got stopped in the street today by a couple looking for a bureau de change they said they were at the till in Dunnes with €77 worth of goods and they wouldn't exchange their sterling. I went in and asked do they take sterling and the lady said no. What's going on in this country? Next thing will be the post office won't accept Visa cards....oh wait...they don't!


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    #2
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    madalig12 wrote: »
    Dunnes in Letterkenny won't accept sterling. Got stopped in the street today by a couple looking for a bureau de change they said they were at the till in Dunnes with €77 worth of goods and they wouldn't exchange their sterling. I went in and asked do they take sterling and the lady said no. What's going on in this country? Next thing will be the post office won't accept Visa cards....oh wait...they don't!

    Sterling is not our national currency. Shops have no obligation to accept it, some do/did as a courtesy.


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    #3
    Skinnykenyan
    Registered Users Posts: 306 ✭✭Skinnykenyan


    Shouldn't be accepting sterling to begin with if ya wanna use UK currency shop in the UK


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    #4
    ozmo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,866 ✭✭✭ozmo


    madalig12 wrote: »
    Dunnes in Letterkenny won't accept sterling. Got stopped in the street today by a couple looking for a bureau de change they said they were at the till in Dunnes with €77 worth of goods and they wouldn't exchange their sterling. I went in and asked do they take sterling and the lady said no. What's going on in this country? Next thing will be the post office won't accept Visa cards....oh wait...they don't!

    Heard sterling has been tipped to reach 1:1 with euros soon- maybe they don't want be stuck with it while its devaluing?

    “Roll it back”



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    #5
    im invisible
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,372 ✭✭✭im invisible


    shur NI sterling can only be used in Northern Ireland anyway


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    #6
    madalig12
    Registered Users Posts: 2,553 ✭✭✭madalig12


    I know it's from another country, but my point is they are in a border town and are turning away business whilst the country is in a recession.


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    #7
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    madalig12 wrote: »
    I know it's from another country, but my point is they are in a border town and are turning away business whilst the country is in a recession.

    Should make no odds, tills may not be caloborated to accept duel currency, thats one cost.

    If not caloborated, staff then need to be trained/adviced how to convert to Euros, then give appropriate change. Another cost, or time resources.

    Finally as value fluctuates day to day, then the cost of exchanging it for them, thats further costs.


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    #8
    homer simpson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,852 ✭✭✭homer simpson


    madalig12 wrote: »
    I know it's from another country, but my point is they are in a border town and are turning away business whilst the country is in a recession.

    I've noticed the same thing happening on the other side of the border too, more and more shops are not accepting Euro, I was in 3 different shops in Derry 2 weeks ago that didn't take it.


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    #9
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    im invisible wrote: »
    shur NI sterling can only be used in Northern Ireland anyway

    Very hard to spend in parts of GB, espically the further you get from Wales and Scotland. I even had a cashier question it in a London bank, when I was trying to change it to Bank of England Sterling.


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    #10
    madalig12
    Registered Users Posts: 2,553 ✭✭✭madalig12


    The thing about the staff, yeah maybe but they used to take it but now don't...wonder is it a corporate decision but they should put up signs.


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    #11
    muffler
    Registered Users Posts: 46,100 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    As stated above businesses here are not obliged to accept any currency other than Euro but its pretty bad form though if they dont.


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    #12
    Technique
    Registered Users Posts: 1,385 ✭✭✭Technique


    Any business in Donegal that turns away Sterling sales doesn't deserve to stay in business.


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    #13
    GoldenGreen
    Registered Users Posts: 213 ✭✭GoldenGreen


    madalig12 wrote: »
    The thing about the staff, yeah maybe but they used to take it but now don't...wonder is it a corporate decision but they should put up signs.

    I know I have seen signs up there for a good while now saying they dont take STG, have seen them for sure in the Clothing Pay Desks. Though it seems strange they dont take STG as we are a border town, but I guess that HQ in Dublin making a decision.


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    #14
    Onthe3rdDay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭Onthe3rdDay


    They used to take sterling, I spent some there last summer. I tend to have sterling on me rather than euro. So next time I'm traveling from Derry to Letterkenny, I'd better make sure I get my groceries before I cross the border.

    I understand if they were worried about fake bank notes, but any other reason is foolish.


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    #15
    ozmo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,866 ✭✭✭ozmo


    Onthe3rdDay wrote: »
    So next time I'm traveling from Derry to Letterkenny, I'd better make sure I get my groceries before I cross the border.

    Or you could, like, get the currency of the country you are in...

    “Roll it back”



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    #16
    Mycroft H
    Registered Users Posts: 9,313 ✭✭✭Mycroft H


    It's the weakening sterling, I wouldn't blame them to be honest.


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    #17
    ootbitb
    Closed Accounts Posts: 631 ✭✭✭ootbitb


    ozmo wrote: »
    Or you could, like, get the currency of the country you are in...

    problem with that is the commission at the ATM. Not sure if it's cheaper to queue
    at the PO or bank but not very convenient and some POs don't have sterling.

    I find it's cheaper to use your card at point of sale, but I usually use my card:D


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    #18
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    madalig12 wrote: »
    I know it's from another country, but my point is they are in a border town and are turning away business whilst the country is in a recession.

    Letterkenny is not a border town. Lifford, Muff, Bridgend, ballyshannon and castlefinn to an extent are border towns.
    Technique wrote: »
    Any business in Donegal that turns away Sterling sales doesn't deserve to stay in business.

    Why should they accept it? The banks then charge them to exchange and lodge it.

    In NI once you go further away from the border they wont take euros in the shops. If people want to come out here to shop then they should have the local currency with them.


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    #19
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,621 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I can understand where they were coming from. Sterling was dropping by the day a week or so ago.

    so if they had given you 20% on it one day, they might only get 18% by the time they lodged it.

    Their only alternative was to have a safety net built-in and offer only say 10% extra, that way they should be covered for quite a while.

    The border petrol stations are usually a good guide to the value of sterling, and their allowance has stuck now for a week or more, so the exchange markets must have come to a stop for a while.


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