Save Some Money on a U.S. Holiday

Preparing to leave for a week's holiday in Florida recently, I went to my local Bank of Montreal branch to buy U.S. currency. With the Canadian and American dollars roughly at par, I'd decided to use mainly cash on my holiday to avoid paying the foreign currency conversion fee that's applied to Canadian credit card transactions made in foreign currencies.

What's a "foreign currency conversion fee" you ask?

Like many people, until recently, I didn't know that, when the credit card bill arrives from your American holiday (or online purchase), the prices you see converted into Canadian dollars include not just the exchange rate difference, but also this foreign currency conversion fee. So, for example, when I paid the rent for the Florida condo in US$ with my MasterCard, $30 of the C$99.27 differential was for this foreign currency conversion fee. Before leaving, I called several institutions, since I have several credit cards, to see if any offered a better rate than the others, but they were all charging the same 2.5%.

While I was buying my US dollars, a teller at the bank told me about its US$ credit card. These are Canadian credit cards that don't charge a foreign currency conversion fee because they bill in US$ and are payable in US$. What you pay at the till in the U.S. is what you see on your credit card statement. You pay only the exchange rate differential when you pay your bill.

It sounded good, so I let her sign me up. The card arrived by courier a few days later.

Unfortunately, I'd already paid the rent on the condo, but we still "saved" money on the rest of our holiday spending. (It was some consolation when we were ransacking the outlet mall.) And since I go to the US a few times a year, and buy online several times as well, I expect to save more than the US$25 annual fee charged by the card.

Yes, there's an annual fee, but in the case of Bank of Montreal, it's only US$25, and the bank waived it for the first year. A US$25 annual fee means that, if I spend more than US$1,000 per year, I save money.

Paying the bill is simple. If I'd had a US$ account with BMO, I could have paid it online, but since I don't I simply went to the local branch. I used some U.S. currency I had left from my holiday and the teller converted the balance to a figure in C$, which I handed over in cash.

I've learned that other banks have these cards as well, though the annual fees vary. I suggest going online to check the annual fee for the US$ card at a few financial institutions to find the best price, and apply at your local branch so you can negotiate a waiver of the first year fee.

If you spend more than $1,000 a year in $US credit card purchases, easy to do if you're a snowbird, one of these cards can save you money.

Nothing Worth 500 Words

This week I've been tossing around ideas for a post without being satisfied that any of them were really worth expending five hundred words on.

The Ontario budget? Nothing much new there that hadn't already been leaked or hinted at ahead of time. The cut to transit funding for Toronto is something Torontonians are going to have to finally stand up and fight back over. Maybe it's time they stopped expecting someone else (the feds, the province) to solve their problems and just put tolls on the DVP and Gardiner to pay for the TTC and roads. Public sector wage freezes and cuts to welfare are something we saw with Mike Harris. At least McGuinty pretends to be doing it reluctantly, unlike Harris (and Hudak) who acted with gleeful meanness; but scapegoating the poor and public sector workers is what all governments do these days on behalf of "hard working, tax-paying families", so not even the NDP really objected.

And Mike was back in the news this week. Seems they're thinking of naming a new library at Nipissing University for the guy who gutted education in Ontario and slashed library budgets. Better we should officially rename the 407 the "Harris Highway", as it's already informally known.

Ann Coulter? She came to Canada and was widely quoted as saying that all terrorists are Muslim. I wondered what her reaction would be to the midwestern American Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police officers. I went to her website, www.anncoulter.com, wanting to send an email to ask. Unfortunately, there's no way to do that. Seems Ann's all about free speech -- for Ann. For you and me, not so much.

Speaking of right-wing, media-spawned buffoons, I see Don Cherry is the subject of a made-for- TV movie biography.

Which reminds me, the U.S. promoter of something called "Ultimate Fighting Championship" wants to bring his act to Toronto. If people will pay to watch the Leafs, no doubt they'll pay to watch this. I say let 'em.

Oh, and it seems most people ignored Earth Hour this year. According to the Star, Toronto Hydro reported only a 10% drop in electricity usage, while across Ontario, use was down 560 megawatts. Since normal usage on a Saturday evening in March is about 15,000 megawatts, that represents about a 3-4% reduction, or about one or two light bulbs per household. And though I support Earth Hour and the motives behind it, I have to wonder if it sends the right message. Should we really be saying to people, to effectively deal with climate change, you have to turn off the lights and sit in the dark? Maybe it's time for a different approach. Small acts of individual self-denial have a lot of appeal to the highly-committed, but smart technology, conservation, and, yes, higher pricing will be necessary to make a real impact on climate change.

So that's it, a pretty ordinary week. Makes a guy wish Harper would prorogue Parliament or a cabinet minister throw another tequila tantrum. Come on guys, I'm counting on you.

Is Your Toyota Really Trying to Kill You?

I don't own a Toyota, never have, though I have driven several different models on occasion, the longest being a rented Camry for a week while on vacation

Some Toyotas do have problems that qualify as safety defects. Toyota has admitted as much and has taken steps to remedy them. So I don't write this as a Toyota partisan.

But in the last dozen years, nearly half a million Americans have died in their cars -- about 40,000 every year (the rate for Canadians is proportionally slightly lower, possibly because of a higher rate of seatbelt use). So even if there have been deaths attributable to mechanical defects in Toyotas, they represent a tiny fraction of the total. That doesn't mean these deaths are acceptable; just that "death by Toyota" is relatively insignificant in the overall carnage caused by the automobile. The vast majority of collisions are the result of driver error.

Pedal misapplication has been blamed, and that's certainly possible, even probable in short duration parking lot/driveway situations. But I suspect there might be something else contributing to the events lasting several minutes, over several miles.

Some people (including me), when hearing of Toyotas racing out of control for miles on the interstate, ask, "Why not just shift into neutral?"

The commonly supplied answer (if the media think of this possible remedy at all) is that the driver is panicking and it does not occur to him/her. Fair enough; I'd be panicking too.

That the company grew too fast and took its eye off the quality ball has been admitted by senior Toyota management. But is there another reason why a company with a longstanding reputation for building quality vehicles is suddenly beset by a seemingly endless litany of mechanical woes?

Quite possibly because of its reputation for quality. With apologies to my Toyota-owning friends, Toyotas are not stylish or engaging to drive. What they are is dependable. And they are bought by people precisely for that reason.

Unfortunately many of those same people also don't really care about cars or driving. They consider their cars road-going appliances. If we had decent public transit, many of these people would choose not to own a car at all. Some of them should not.

They depend on Toyota's reputation for quality, not their own skill and knowledge, to protect them when piloting 1,500 kgs. of metal at 120 km./hr. It would not surprise me that the reason people call the Highway Patrol instead of shifting into neutral is because a) they don't know neutral exists; b) they don't know what N means; c) they don't understand enough about automobiles to know that transmissions connect the engine to the wheels.

Many Toyota drivers, of course, take driving seriously. But if the number of drivers texting, chatting on cellphones, watching DVD's, and yes, probably even blogging, is any indication of the general level of driving awareness, then is it any wonder that with a few hundred million drivers and tens of millions of Toyotas on the road, some of them are unprepared for an emergency?

But unless and until the authorities put more emphasis on emergency collision avoidance than parallel parking when it comes to driver testing, and the police target inattentive and aggressive driving and not just speeding, other makes will surely suffer the same fate as Toyota.

Just Give Me 500 Words

For twenty-seven years I was a high-school English teacher. In that time I asked thousands of students to give me this- or that-many words on a host of topics.

And then I retired.

I don't miss the bus or hall or cafeteria duty. I don't miss the marking. I sure don't miss the dictates of ministry, board, or office.

What I do miss -- apart from the camaraderie of my colleagues -- is an audience. Whatever else my students were -- a challenge, a frustration, an inspiration -- they were also my audience for twenty-seven years. And they were almost always a tough audience. Sure there were the classes who regarded me with god-like awe (yeah, right), but most of the time I had to work hard to motivate, explain, and entertain.

Now, as my friends (God bless 'em) will tell you, I need an audience. Not only do I delight in the sound of my own voice, I'm one of those people who tends to do his thinking out loud. I try out ideas; I work out plans and schedules; I test opinions. Put uncharitably: I talk not just to myself, but to anyone who can't get out of range quickly enough. You see, I have to hear myself to know if my ideas sound any good, or if they need fine-tuning.

So I've suffered these last few years. Sure, not as much as my friends, my dear wife, or even my cat, but I've missed my audience and I figure the cure is to start blogging.

Don't expect "fair and balanced". Not that I believe every question has a black and white answer; they don't. Most issues worth considering are complex and deserve a nuanced response.

But the truth isn't found in objectivity. And it's the truth, or as near as I can get to it, that I'm after. There is no excusing greed, willful ignorance, or bigotry. I will not patiently endure injustice, falsehood, or stupidity. There was no "other side" to the Nazis. Stalin did not have his "good points".

I hope to do what I tried to do in the classroom all those years: inform, inspire, provoke. I want to question received wisdom, the status quo, and common sense. Maybe I'll annoy. I'm sure someone will catch me in a grammatical or punctuation error. I'll have to apologize.

It's going to take some work. If people are going to read what I have to say, I'd better know what I'm talking about. So I'm prepared to do my homework and I expect I'm going to learn a lot.

I think the hardest part will be putting myself out there on controversial issues where I risk offending those who know me. I hope I can do that. We'll see.

So here I am -- embarking on my second career. For twenty-seven years I was a high school English teacher. Now I'm asking you to be my audience. I hope you're willing to indulge me. Just give me 500 words.