KEY POINTS:
Where's the best place to buy your foreign exchange? The small amount of money most of us take on our trips means it probably doesn't matter much. But if every cent counts then I'd suggest you don't wait until you get to Auckland International Airport.
I've complained before that, in my opinion, the airport company exploits its monopoly position to impose excessive charges for passengers flying overseas, visitors parking their cars and airlines landing their planes (an issue the Government is finally doing something about).
Now there's increasing reason to worry about the airport selling monopoly rights to other businesses - presumably choosing the firms willing to pay the most rent rather than those offering the best deals - with passengers paying the price.
The airport company has now given DFS Group a monopoly on selling duty-free products at the international airport so shoppers no longer have the opportunity to compare its prices with those at Regency Duty Free.
The airport company claimed the end result would be a better deal for customers. In other words, it reckons that although DFS faces increased costs and will have no competition, it won't be tempted to increase prices. Uhuh.
The Commerce Commission gave its view on that when it refused to allow DFS to take over Regency on the grounds that - in the commission's bureaucractic speak - it "cannot be satisfied that the proposed acquisition will not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition in the market of on-airport retail supply of duty free goods at Auckland International Airport". Quite.
There has long been a monopoly on foreign exchange at the airport but for many years that was held by BNZ, which was kept honest by being a nationwide bank whose operations face plenty of competition elsewhere.
But after a tender called by the airport company that monopoly has passed to international foreign exchange company Travelex.
I've been a bit wary of Travelex since the time I changed some New Zealand dollars into Papua New Guinea kina at their Brisbane Airport kiosk and then discovered on arrival at Port Moresby that the local money changer offered a hugely better rate.
So I decided to check what sort of deal Travelex was offering travellers at the airport, and elsewhere, by the simple test of asking what it would cost me to buy US$1200. Travelex said that at the time of asking it would cost me $1569.60 to buy that much US currency.
An exceptionally helpful young man at airport-reject the BNZ gave me a price of $1541 plus a 1 per cent fee making a total of $1556.84.
Westpac quoted $1535.12 plus the same 1 per cent fee which added up to $1550.47. I went online to try out ASB Bank and came up with a figure of $1542 to which "normal fees" would apply. Kiwibank quoted me $1555 including the 1 per cent handling fee.
What all that amounts to is that the banks are much of a muchness when it comes to foreign exchange but Travelex is clearly the most expensive of the places I contacted.
A taxi driver at the airport told me: "The flight crews no longer change their money at the airport. They say it's too expensive. If they haven't got enough cash for the fare they get me to call at an A" on the way."
