International Money Orders

Member Joined: 04 Aug 2003 Posts: 593 Location: CT

If I get an International Money Order from a US post office in US dollars, there is a short list of countries that accept and cash the money order right at their local post office. The list is here:
http://www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/sendmoneyinternationally.htm

From the list, there are 2 that I'm am mainly interested it: Canada and Japan.

My question is, has anybody tried to cash one of these at a post office in their country and do they pay you in US cash or do they actually do a conversion right there and pay out in the local currency?

I emailed the post office and they told me to contact the post offices in each destination country to find out what they actually do with them.

And I don't speak canadian... ;)

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:56 pm

I have mailed International Postal Money Orders to Japan, and was told by the receiver that they do a conversion to pay in local currency. The charge for the conversion was either minimal or non-existant.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:11 pm

Prior to PayPal days where non-US members could use this service, Int'l money orders was often the means to conduct overseas dealings when cash is involved. I have always used these type of money orders and the end person has never had issue getting their money and no large fees were incurred. The only downside is that these type of money orders are more expensive (I used to pay $3 for one) and not all postal areas carry this service. The reason I said areas is that sometimes persons use non-post offices to do some of their USPS needs. Also not all post offices are "international" meaning they will not sell money orders of this type and other international services are limited at best.

Member Joined: 04 Aug 2003 Posts: 593 Location: CT

Thanks for the info. I have used International MO's for years, and up until recently the post office had a service where you'd provide the address and they'd route it through some office in St Louis, do a conversion, and mail a MO in the recieving country's funds, but that has been discontinued. So I was curious where that left us.

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:58 pm

Here is the locator link for Post Offices in your area:

http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgidir.dll?Mem=1355&PR=138&CSF=LocatorPostOffice&CID=1222

They don't have options specifically for international money orders, so I might suggest just tossing in your zip and then calling the ones close to you to see if they provide international money orders and what the fee is. My guess is that since postage has gone up 2 or 3 times, the fee may not be just $3.00 anymore.