Marinas on the ICW

[GreenSailor]

In the spring I will be bringing a boat from Lake Ontario to Georgia. I have been looking over some of the waterway guides and it appears to me that quite a few marinas want a check or cash for their transient docks. Am I correct or just looked at the wrong marinas?

 

[Capt.Bill11]

I don't think I've ever had a cc turned down at a marina for transient dockage, fuel or whatever.

When I've delievered boats that's all I use.

 

[O C Diver]

Sometimes the prices get better for cash or check (3 to 5%), but pretty much everybody assumes transients will be using plastic.

Ted

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. GS. Plastic is all we use. No refusals thus far (17 days on the water). Never even heard of any that demand cash...

 

[psneeld]

Are you finding those places along the upper lakes?

Where are they located and what source is saying cash/check?

As others have posted, from NJ to Florida I have only found a couple not so upscale places that may have only taken cash.

One I remember was fifty cents a foot so I handed the guy a $20 bill for a 40 foot boat, he stuck it in his pocket and said thanks, then walked back to where he was working on a boat. He never said he wouldn't take a cc...but it looked like too much effort for both of us.

Those are rare and usually there are other places nearby that will take a cc.

 

[FF]

As long as your card will debit in US dollars , no problem with acceptance , BUT you can get taken ROYALLY on their exchange rate.

I would use an ATM to get US cash and ask for cash discount .

At many smaller places , they will "forget" the local sales tax (6% is common) for cash.

IF you can get a US dollar credit card , request the cash discount , and if they refuse , pay with the plastic.

AMAZING how many will suddenly prefer discounted cash!.

 

[ranger58sb]

As long as your card will debit in US dollars , no problem with acceptance , BUT you can get taken ROYALLY on their exchange rate.

When traveling outside the U.S., we've usually gotten the best exchange rates by using plastic. Would have assumed that's true for travelers from other countries...

-Chris

 

[BandB]

I can remember the days when many foreign airports required cash on fuel purchases and the travel advances our pilots were given were staggering.

Today we're a plastic world. Very few businesses don't accept cards. You can accept them just using a smart phone. I knew a restaurant in my hometown once that thought they wouldn't. Well business people would go in with large groups and no warning. They had no money. It was then take a check or nothing. And it was never return there.

All our fuel and dockage away from home is by card, even when there is a cash discount. Now we do make up much of the cash discount with rewards. A marina offers 5 cents per gallon discount when fuel is $3.50 a gallon. You're getting a 1.5% or even 3% reward for using the card and that's 5.2 cents to 10.5 cents per gallon.

Even though cards cost processing costs, smart businesses for the most part still don't want to encourage cash. Every cash transaction runs risk of some of the cash disappearing. Plus marinas are not famous for having the best controls in place.

 

[FF]

With most marinas not up to Livimore Labs security (and they get hacked) there are protection methods.

The simplest is to have your bank issue a DEBT card , with strict instructions to NEVER use any sort of overdraft protection .

Then you simply transfer what you think youwill need in marina or resturiant bills .

Should the card be compromised , all you might loose is the residual , not spent.

NO half dozen $5000, tickets to Moscow.

 

[mbevins]

FF....I don't think a debit card is necessarily the type of cash they would be looking for. I do agree with your idea as I do that now for the "under $10 " purchases, Starbucks and stuff as I don't really care to throw that on a C C.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

 

[BandB]

I keep reading about debit cards vs. credit cards. You are better protected using a credit card.

As someone said above, whether you use a debit card or just write checks, never get overdraft protection. If you have it now, I'd strongly recommend getting it eliminated. Most of us don't ever overdraft and if suddenly our account was overdrawn it's fraudulent activity. We don't want their activity to clear.