Pizza promotion met with death threats!

[texas*princess]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/11/piz....ap/index.html

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A pizza chain has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, becoming another flashpoint in the nation's debate over immigrants.

"This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one e-mail read. "Quit catering to the damn illegal Mexicans," demanded another.

Dallas-based Pizza Patron said it was not trying to inject itself into a larger political debate about illegal immigration when it posted signs this week saying "Aceptamos pesos" -- or "We accept pesos" -- at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California. (Watch reasons behind the decision)

Pizza Patron spokesman Andy Gamm said the company was just trying to sell more pizza to its customers, 60 percent of whom are Hispanic.

OK, what I DON'T understand is why Hispanic people = carrying pesos.

I'm hispanic.. heck, my entire family is hispanic, and not one of us has ever even seen a peso! We live in America where the currency is American cash/coin & debit cards!!

That just seems extremely lame.

And all this comes soon after another Dallas suburb gets sued for passing anti-illegal immigration laws:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchas...uburb-over.php

[Kevlar281]

Have you really never seen a peso or is that just in an exaggeration? Anyways I can’t believe this is that big of a deal. Personally I could care less it seems like it would just be a big hassle for the stores to deal with the exchange rate.

[AGDee]

Living near the border of Canada, we see Canadian money all the time. You will frequently get Canadian coins as change and then they don't work in the vending machines and you can't CoinStar them. It would be great if a local store/restaurant, etc took the Canadian money. Addtionally, I found $25 Canadian shoved in a pocket in my purse a few weeks ago and had to call around to find a bank that would exchange it. I'm sure if somewhere around here took it as currency, they'd get business from people who want to get rid of their Canadian dollars. I can't see anybody being insulted by a business who elected to take both forms of currency. I'd also hazard a guess that 5% of the people working in my building are Canadian and have to carry both forms of currency constantly. That's got to be a hassle. I just don't see anybody here interpreting it as catering to illegal immigrants from Canada, but simply as a convenience for those who cross the border frequently. It certainly doesn't seem to be worth death threats.

[AlphaFrog]

In the business world - you cater to your customers. If 60% of your customers are Hispanic, why not advertise to them? I don't think they're trying to say Hispanic = peso. I think they're trying to say that they recognize that the Hispanic population is their main clientele and they're making a direct effort to market to them, and show them that they are welcome and appreciated at that restaurant.

Plus, a business owner can accept what they want for payment. If a restaurant wants to start accepting Monopoly money as payment, it's their prerogative to do so. I think what they're doing is completely American - exercising their right to free enterprise.

[texas*princess]

It makes sense for cities along the border of Canada & Mexico, like the story said, but Dallas is over 400 miles inland.

And no, wasn't exaggerating.

[Drolefille]

My boyfriend got a Panama quarter in change the other day. This might make sense if we weren't in the middle of Illinois! Lucky for him he likes collecting interesting coins.

[LPIDelta]

The thing that is interesting to me is that since Sunday, I have seen AT LEAST 6 news stories about Pizza Patron taking pesos...they couldn't buy that kind of advertising, and apparently, they didn't need too. All the commentary is just getting them more airtime.

Its a good marketing plan, but I am a little discouraged just because the US dollar is already losing value. Still....interesting concept.

[squirrely girl]

i like the whole money exchange set up with canada. i went to montreal over christmas and nobody complained when i used american and nobody complained when i used canadian after crossing over into maine. i can appreciate the concept of a euro.

people who are REALLY upset 'bout this need to worry 'bout something WAY more significant with all of their free time

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by AXiD670

I seem to be the target for Canadian or Bahamian coins. Growing up in FL, I never had a problem w/ a cashier taking the coins from me, b/c a lot of the tourists were Canadian. I never thought anything of it. The only time it was a problem was every once in a while when a vending machine wouldn't take the coins.

Then, about two years ago, while I was still living in Charlotte, I went down to the vending machine at my office building to try to get a soda. I only had the required three quarters, one of which was Canadian. The machine wouldn't take it, so I walked over to the little cafe that was in the bottom of our building and asked the lady if she could exchange it. She looked at it, and said, "This isn't an American coin. I won't take it." I asked her if she was serious. She said she was. I was FURIOUS. I have never in my life been refused to use a Canadian/Bahamian/non-US coin. What pissed me off even more was my other two quarters were still in the machine b/c the machine wouldn't let me hit the coin return button. I was so pissed. I guess if you live in a part of the country where it's common to see other currency, you never think about it, until you go to an area of the country that doesn't see as much tourism and something like this happens.

Yes, I'm still extremely bitter about that lady not exchanging my coin. Her little cafe was a piece of crap, anyways, and they always had roaches in the food.

Having worked in retail, I understand the lady's POV. We would not take anything outside of US currency.
And when up North, IIRC dollars are taken at face value which is great for the store as they are worth more than Canada dollars.

[Stef the Pef]

I can sort of understand the company's point, at least in the Texas locations. A LOT of Mexican immigrants live in Waco, and we have Pizza Patron here. Of course they're gonna have Mexican pesos on them when they go visit family across the border. Why not offer to take it? It's money.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/11/piz....ap/index.html



OK, what I DON'T understand is why Hispanic people = carrying pesos.

I'm hispanic.. heck, my entire family is hispanic, and not one of us has ever even seen a peso! We live in America where the currency is American cash/coin & debit cards!!

That just seems extremely lame.

And all this comes soon after another Dallas suburb gets sued for passing anti-illegal immigration laws:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchas...uburb-over.php

The reason that Pizza Patron originally gave for accepting pesos is because many families in the area went to Mexico over the holidays. When they came back, they still have left-over pesos from their trip. Pizza Patron figured that by accepting the pesos (which is only supposed to happen until February), they could increase some of their business because the people would be willing to spend the extra pesos that they have left. Pizza Patron is doing an exchange rate of 12 pesos to each dollar. The regular exchange rate is 11 pesos to a dollar. I think that a lot of the people who are upset just listened/heard the first part of the story "OMG! They are taking pesos!" and not the reason or short term period.

Also, the company, Pizza Patron, was began and marketed for the Hispanic community.

[AlphaSigOU]

"This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one e-mail read.

Jeez, whatta moron... The official name for Mexico IS the United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). Ignoranus.

[SoCalGirl]

When I lived in Virginia Beach I got stuck with Canadian coins all the time. I'd try to pass them off ASAP but sometimes they'd be refused. Living in San Diego, you'd think that Mexican coins would show up occasionally. I can't remember the last time I saw one though. It's probably because even in TJ the U.S. dollar prevails. When I took a trip to Rosarito all the prices were in Pesos but every place took dollars. Considering how the exchange rates are for Canada and Mexico I don't think anyone should "swap out" the coins. A Canadian quarter is not equal to a U.S. quarter!

When I worked at SeaWorld we accepted Pesos and Candian Dollars. We also took Francs, Marks, Pounds, Yen, and Australian Dollars. I'm sure they probably take Euros now.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AlphaSigOU

Jeez, whatta moron... The official name for Mexico IS the United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). Ignoranus.

??? Are you denying that Texas is part of the USA? I hate it when Canadian change infiltrates my pocket, because it's pretty much worthless here. I've used American dollars in Windsor, Canada, but they didn't exchange it...They took it at face value. It's a good deal for them because the US dollar is a little more valuable than the Canadian dollar.

[PhoenixAzul]

When I was living in Belfast, you couldn't buy things in American dollars. It was pounds or nothing. No Euro's either. When you cross the border from N. Ireland to the Rep. of Ireland, there's tons of these tiny little money exchange spots to get Euro. NI won't take them because the exchange between the pound and the Euro is so low. In border towns that are in the Republic and in Dublin you can use the pound, but in places in the west and south and northwest, it's not as common.

In touristy places like Dublin, you can have things charged/debited as USD, Euro or Pound. It's for their own benefit-- the RO Ireland relies on a lot of tourist revenue, and making the tourist's shopping easy helps them lighten their wallet. Ahh, Celtic Tiger indeed. It was pretty handy actually, but I was so used to carrying pounds. I don't remember if I bought anything in Galway aside from food (I stayed there a few days for my marathon), but I don't think you could do it there. I think in Cork city you can do USD. The less touristy cities are usually a lot nicer, a lot closer to what the country is *really* like, but the money thing is a pain.