This stuff is very common on the border - I'm not sure about the Northern border w/the Canucks, but I grew up on the border with Mexico: We would go over there and at the register, the cashier would ask if you were paying in U.S. $ or Mexican $ - she would then press a button on the register which would compute your total in the preferred currency, depending on your choice and that day's exchange rates. I never considered it a big deal, but whenever I take friends or family to Mexico, and because this still happens today at cash registers, people unfamiliar with the process just trip out.
Now I know what someone might say - "Yeah, but you never see that happen in the U.S.; you only see that in Mexico." Well of course - exchange rates favor the transaction in that fashion. Plus, if you read the articles on Pizza Patron's current practice on accepting pesos, they are accepting them at a rate higher than the current exchange rates so they will not lose money. It's simply being done to generate a buzz in the media, and they are using the issue of unused Mexican currency to help their cause.

 

Exactly!!

 

Up in Canada I think almost any store will accept american currency. Usually it's at a lower exchange than at a bank and usually there is a limit to the amount that you can give them in US currency.

On my last trip through the US, I was at a gas station in Utah and I was paying for my gas. I had the exact change although one quarter I had was Canadian amongst the rest of my american change and dollar bills. The guy at the register flipped out and started yelling at me for trying to pass Canadian money off as American. I was surprised he even noticed and I was surprised it was such a big deal. I thought I was going to be shot.