Ringmeet MMXV August 7th-9th 2015: Planning thread

[Matt2000]

the group with the most unused spare parts?

I can win this!

Well maybe, I will be bringing spare parts whichever roadtrip I'm on.

 

[narf]

Heres a question to all the Europeans. How widely accepted are Discover/Diners Club credit cards in Germany? Will I be fine with mine or should I start planning on getting a different card?

I very much second getting an MC. With that you'll be fine in most larger German supermarkets, most importantly Rewe Adenau, but you will also need cash. For example, don't expect restaurants or D?ner joints to take any CCs, those that do are an exception.
Concerning the type of card, MC and Visa are fairly wide-spread, Amex is somewhat accepted but anything beyond that is rare outside of hotels.

 

[CrzRsn]

I very much second getting an MC. With that you'll be fine in most larger German supermarkets, most importantly Rewe Adenau, but you will also need cash. For example, don't expect restaurants or D?ner joints to take any CCs, those that do are an exception.
Concerning the type of card, MC and Visa are fairly wide-spread, Amex is somewhat accepted but anything beyond that is rare outside of hotels.

Bah. I hate cash. I know my bank allows me free ATM use in Europe, but I'm sure they screw me over on exchange rate. I'll need to do research on that ahead of time and see where the best place to get Euros is.

 

[DanRoM]

I hate cash.

Germans love it, including and especially small businesses where you spent small amounts of money. REWE (the supermarket chain where we typically buy on Ringmeet) mostly doesn't take cards on amounts smaller than ?10.

 

[MacGuffin]

Bah. I hate cash. I know my bank allows me free ATM use in Europe, but I'm sure they screw me over on exchange rate. I'll need to do research on that ahead of time and see where the best place to get Euros is.

But keep in mind the Eifel mountains are rather provincial, so relying on plastic only could be a bit risky. At least make sure your card can use an ATM here at low cost, that would be very necessary. VISA and MC are the worldwide market leaders, you'll have the least problems with them (except for some technical issues from time to time ). You can get along with Amex here, too, but Diner's Club is virtually non-existent.

Germans love it, including and especially small businesses where you spent small amounts of money. REWE (the supermarket chain where we typically buy on Ringmeet) mostly doesn't take cards on amounts smaller than ?10.

Sorry but not true. I regularly pay with my Amex card at Rewe, also for amounts under 10 Euros. And I paid with it also in Adenau's Rewe already for a bottle of water. While some small retailers are known to do such stunts as you say, larger chains like petrol stations, hotels or supermarkets usually don't. Their interest rate is usually so small that saying "credit cards are more expensive for us" is just an excuse. The real reason is another one anyway: That it can take 3 months until they receive the money. Doesn't play any role in large retail companies like Rewe, though.

In any case they have to announce it before you pay, that they want to have a minimum amount of what you pay for. So there has to be a sign at the cashier. If there is nothing but the logo of the credit card company, they have to fulfull their contract and accept the cards without any minimum account.

 

[CrzRsn]

But keep in mind the Eifel mountains are rather provincial, so relying on plastic only could be a bit risky.

Fair enough, I'll take the currency exchange transaction fee over being stranded in God-knows-where, Germany.

 

[MacGuffin]

Fair enough, I'll take the currency exchange transaction fee over being stranded in God-knows-where, Germany.

As I said: Make sure your card works on the local ATM's, then you haven't got a problem

 

[MWF]

You may be better off bringing a wad of cash secured at a decent exchange rate as many banks and credit card companies raep their customers when converting foreign transactions back to the native currency. Certainly worth checking both options thoroughly before deciding how much of which to use. Cash also makes life easier when doing the whole "dividing up the check" thing when we all go somewhere for food.

 

[MacGuffin]

Yeah, restaurants usually shy away here from credit cards. I asked them once and they said it's too expensive. And I asked them back whether it's more expensive than my 5 Euros of tip... and the guy didn't know what to answer

 

[CrzRsn]

You may be better off bringing a wad of cash secured at a decent exchange rate as many banks and credit card companies raep their customers when converting foreign transactions back to the native currency. Certainly worth checking both options thoroughly before deciding how much of which to use. Cash also makes life easier when doing the whole "dividing up the check" thing when we all go somewhere for food.

Yep. My thought exactly. Leave ATMs for emergencies.

 

[MWF]

Not just ATMs but also the processing of card payments for transactions - they skew the exchange rate in their favour by a couple of per cent on each one they process.

 

[MacGuffin]

You know, if a company accepts credit cards or cash cards or whatever, they usually take the use of such cards into the calculations beforehand when they fix the prices. They'd be dumb not to do it. In other words: You pay for any item you buy at Rewe or the likes for guys like me who don't pay cash but use their credit cards, even if it is only a part of a cent You only don't know it

That's one of the major reasons why most discounters like ALDI or LIDL here accept no credit cards, by the way.

 

[MWF]

I'm not talking about the people who are being paid I'm talking about the financial institutions who provide the cards. Vendors include the costs of processing card payments as part of their operating costs and set their prices accordingly. Banks skew the exchange rates in their favour by a couple of percentage points when converting foreign transactions back to the native currency, mainly because they know most people don't check their statements that closely and even if they do they can do 9/10 of fuck all they can do about it.

 

[narf]

Here's a thought - bring US dollars and see if any Euro person about to visit the US in the near future wants to exchange money without double the fees.

 

[MacGuffin]

I'm not talking about the people who are being paid I'm talking about the financial institutions who provide the cards. Vendors include the costs of processing card payments as part of their operating costs and set their prices accordingly. Banks skew the exchange rates in their favour by a couple of percentage points when converting foreign transactions back to the native currency, mainly because they know most people don't check their statements that closely and even if they do they can do 9/10 of fuck all they can do about it.

Yea, that's right. Although it should be pointed out that all the costs are mentioned in the terms and conditions (at least here) and that all additional fees and the way they're being calculated are listed in the monthly statement.

But you are right: a huge amount of complaints we get is because people couldn't be bothered to read the terms and conditions and/or never check their statements. I wouldn't blame the companies for that, though.

 

[narf]

Banks skew the exchange rates in their favour by a couple of percentage points when converting foreign transactions back to the native currency, mainly because they know most people don't check their statements that closely and even if they do they can do 9/10 of fuck all they can do about it.

As far as I've observed, using the currency conversion on my Lufthansa AirPlus MasterCard and hence paying in local currency was always better than paying in Euros and letting the other party do the conversion.

 

[Matt2000]

Here's a thought - bring US dollars and see if any Euro person about to visit the US in the near future wants to exchange money without double the fees.

I don't doubt Thomas is planning on a visit some time this year.

 

[CrzRsn]

I don't doubt Thomas is planning on a visit some time this year.

If he swings by Detroit I'll by some Euros off him

But I think I'll be fine, working on a European program, there are people in my group going back and forth constantly.

 

[MacGuffin]

Alright... hotel is booked from the 6th till the 9th Just got the confirmation from Landgasthof Weihs in Kreuzberg. This means this year I'm gonna sleep 200 meters away from the camping site, which means I can walk there, which means I can drink alcohol!

 

[Redliner]

Alright... hotel is booked from the 6th till the 9th Just got the confirmation from Landgasthof Weihs in Kreuzberg. This means this year I'm gonna sleep 200 meters away from the camping site, which means I can walk there, which means I can drink alcohol!

I just sent an inquiry to that place as well.
Fingers crossed.