Be Flexible

2 days ago, I went to one of the money changers in the town to transmit some payments to few suppliers in the morning. This house is considered the largest money changer in the town (in a tiny country) and have 6 counters and more than 15 seats in the waiting area. As it is early of the month, the money changer is full of customers. My ticket number is about 30+ from the current one.

While waiting, I took a look at the exchange rate. It is terribly low compared to the Internet rate. From what I can recalled, the other money changers nearby are not as many customers as this one. I'm thinking why there's tonnes of people still want to come here to remit money? I have to come to this house because I need to remit to company instead of personal account. And according to my accountant friend, this is the house that I can do so with lower transaction fee of few dollars only.

I bumped into my ex-colleague and he told me that a lot of people like this house because it has a lower transaction fee and the recipient can receive the money within the same day.

I continue to wait. The more I'm waiting and calculate, the more I feel something is not right. I decided to call my banker and ask for today's exchange rate. The rate is about 1.5 points higher than this house. Even the bank transaction fees are 3 times higher, it seems the total amount still slightly lower than this house. I might as well go back and do online money transfer!

As it still has 20 over numbers before my turn, I decided to walk over to a mall which has my bank as I need to ask them how to do online TT to the payment country.

When I entered to the mall, I noticed a money changer which I used to do personal remittance back to my hometown and there's only 1 customer doing the transaction at that time. And the exchange rate is 2.5 points higher than the 1st house. Even the transaction fee is doubled than the 1st house, if it exceeded certain amount, it is still worth it. And most importantly, I do not have to wait at all.

Out of curiosity, I just asked them whether they do company payment, and they said yes. I immediately pass them the details, open an account and I complete the transactions within 20 mins.

What's the moral of my story?
1. Do not simply follow other's advice. There's always better alternative, to explore if you have the time or no choice.
2. Be flexible. When thing doesn't works, try to look for alternative instead of stick to the plan.
3. Ask around. Sometimes the only thing you need to do is, just asking around.

Cheers.