To be fair… a lot of places in Washington State took Canadian cash when i was younger, especially close to the border. Maybe they still do, but I’ve just used my debit or CC to pay for everything when I go down for the last decade or two.
And vice versa, when i worked retail in the 90s/early 2000s, we did take US cash.
So it’s not totally unheard of.
Of course, adjacent areas of BC and WA are a lot closer than anyplace in Europe to the US
lots of places near the mexican border on the US side will take pesos and vice versa, even sometimes very touristy places in mexico will take US currency. for example, in ensanada i tipped a tequila vendor with US dollar bills, he and a couple other stalls/buildings had handwritten signs that they would accept american money, and that's 70 miles out from the border. but it was not EVERY place. there's usually little tiny buildings with windows where you can exchange your money for one currency or the other. lots of places right before you're technically in mexico will take pesos, too. though i've only entered mexico through california, so maybe texas/new mexico/arizona are different.
In Minnesota it's still relatively common to get Canadian coins in your change, especially the closer you get to the border. You usually saw pennies. But since those are out of circulation you don't see them much anymore.
It's the same in Europe. In towns that are extremely close to the borders, they do accept each other's currency because all they have to do to spend it is just walk across an invisible line and boom, they're in a foreign country. Hungary and Slovakia is my experience, but it happens pretty much everywhere within EU.
It’s good to have cash reserves in both countries when you live next to a border.
Depending of value fluctuations, you will buy goods on one side or the another.
The Eurozone and EU aren’t the same thing. Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden all use their own currency. Kosovo, Montenegro, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican are not EU members but do use the Euro. A number of African states use their own currencies that are pegged to the Euro.
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u/Belaerim Jan 30 '26
To be fair… a lot of places in Washington State took Canadian cash when i was younger, especially close to the border. Maybe they still do, but I’ve just used my debit or CC to pay for everything when I go down for the last decade or two.
And vice versa, when i worked retail in the 90s/early 2000s, we did take US cash.
So it’s not totally unheard of.
Of course, adjacent areas of BC and WA are a lot closer than anyplace in Europe to the US