New York City Forum: Change for tips

I'd get singles from the hotel desk. They'll be more than happy to exchange it for you. You can put tips for things like meals and cab rides on your card.

More often than not when in a bar in nyc when we order a couple of beers it comes to around $13-14(tourists traps i know)we always get the change in $1 bills,this is how i get my stash for tips,sometimes before i go i change around £100 into us dollars and ask for low denomination notes and this acts as my tip fund while away

Any bank will do this as a matter of routine. Just walk in with, for example, a twenty dollar bill and ask for 20 one dollar bills.

Once upon a time there was a Saturday Night Live skit about a fake bank whose business was just making change. But in practice this is not worth thinking about beyond identifying a sign that says "bank." The front desk of the hotel where you're staying will also do this routinely.

IN a restaurant etc. if you want smaller money for tips you can hand the waiter a $20 and ask for two tens, or 4 fives, or 1 ten, 1 five and 5 ones. They will be happy to do it. ( do NOT have waiters break bills for tips elsewhere, that is not nice)

You can also walk into a shop selling candy for 25 cents, get one piece, and pay with a $5 bill.

You may think you will use credit cards for everything, but not to buy a newspaper, or a candy bar, or in some restaurants that don't take credit cards.

And try to avoid using $50 or $100 bills anywhere except in fancy restaurants or at banks and department stores. Many shopkeepers refuse to accept them because they are afraid of counterfeits.

Im not sure where you're from but in America, getting change is not the issue it is in places like Italy and France, where you are almost expected to pay with exact change.

People are not reluctant to make change if they have it (except in small stores that might have a sign on the register that says they only accept $20 bills or smaller) and there is nothing wrong with asking a server to give you change. Any time you tell a cashier you need change so that you can tip an employee they are happy to do it.

suitcaseready.com

Just get change at the front desk of your hotel. It's no big deal.

If when you get out of your taxi/car, you don't have change to tip, just come back and tip them after you have checked-in and broken your larger bills.

"If when you get out of your taxi/car, you don't have change to tip, just come back and tip them after you have checked-in and broken your larger bills."

Don't do this. You can charge the taxi AND the tip--or break a bill at the airport. To expect a cabbie to wait for you to check in and then come back out is unrealistic and unfair to the cabbie. While s/he sits 15-20 minutes waiting for his tip, he is not working. Time is money!