My suggestion would be to send cash (Euro bills) for a small amount such as
this. I routinely send 100 - 200 Euros at a time and have never had a
problem. I usually round up to the next highest 5 Euro amount, since that's
the smallest bill and my local bank doesn't handle coins. There is nothing
illegal about mailing cash, but I will agree that the larger or more
bureaucratic the organization, the more possible it is for cash to disappear.
There is some risk, but oddly enough, I have found in the past that the
majority of people that I have dealt with are honest. I'm going to send 30
Euros to the Netherlands in the morning.
I was chastised on the list once earlier for suggesting this, since the post
office doesn't "recommend" it, but I think it is clearly the cheapest and
easiest solution. Most bank in a US city carry Euros, and the fees aren't
that bad.
Don
In a message dated 4/28/2003 9:01:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
mcshelly2@msn.com writes:
If you go to www.foreignmoney.com , they will send you a check in the
currency of your choice which you then can mail. I have done this once
because it was recommended by folks on another mailing list I subscribe to.
They charged $5, but I didn't mind since I was sending over 100 Swiss
francs. A German student I know recommends buying an International Money
Order at the post office. I haven't tried that.
Thanks for clearing up the question of the legality of sending cash. I had
been feeling very guilty since doing it!
First, there was some discussion on another list --- they all thought it was
illegal. Then, when I went to my bank, I said nothing about making a trip
anywhere with the euros, but the teller said, "Have a wonderful journey," as
she handed me the bills, and I thought "Uh oh. See. The list was right.
Good thing I didn't ever mention to her that I planned to mail them!"
Guilty!
The bank I went to also had only 5-euro bills, but I had to go to the
downtown branch in a city of 65,000 people. None of the nearer towns with
15,000 - 30,000 people for 10 miles around carried euros in their branch
banks. Also, I did my converting to euros during the first few months the
euros were in use. Perhaps today more banks have caught on that they can
serve a lot more people pretty easily with this one currency.