Argentina pesos Blue Rate (Black Market) vs Red Rate

Western Union is a ripoff. There is massive arbitrage going on in Argentina and has been for a long time, because they suffer high inflation and constantly default on foreign (IMF etc) debt with no end in sight. They would always rather get USD from you than to use Argentine pesos whose value is depreciating all the time. The off-the-market folks are not going to be beat by a foreign tourist, so you can play their games if you want but you'd have to know where they deal with black market currency to begin with (Western Union is not going to be your ticket since they extract right off the top and you'll lose money with them too). Personally, I'd rather help a sad economic basketcase country like Argentina using their official rates than to try to come out ahead on arbitrage schemes. You will still get a good value for your money using official channels. I bet they will want USD in cash for all payments (lodging etc.) if they can help it because USD is very valuable and they can't get enough of it to stay afloat inflationwise.

We visited Argentina in 2014 when we did a cruise around the horn and spent five days pre-cruise in Buenos Aires.

The Black Market was widespread and we took advantage of it a little, using cash as much as possible rather than credit cards.
Most restaurants or merchants would take US dollars at a better rate than the official rate, which meant you didn't have to do the Black Market much.

Also, we had friends that went to Argentina on the same cruise we did and there was a new President, who did away with the Black Market. That President is no long in office and the same folks that were in charge when we visited is not in charge again and hyperinflation seems to be catching on a bit. It is sad.

You can get a better rate if you exchange dollars using specific exchange stores. Also, using cash to pay for restaurants or hotels. Obviously, you need pocket money to pay for transportation or small items you may need during the day (a water bottle or similar items).
The hotels can recommend an exchange place too. Going now is going to be very cheap. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city with great restaurants, museums, etc. Just be careful with thieves and scams like in any other large city.

Agnes, i had no idea Western Union was a rip-off, I thought they were a reputable company. Their rate chart for Latin America has a fee of about $25 for $2,500 worth of pesos----I actually didn't think that was bad!

It's not just the fees with Western Union, they also set the margin on their exchange rates (interbank rate plus a profit margin - don't forget that part...it's never just fees/ commissions). This is not unlike another third-party exchange intermediary. They do disclose this in their legal text.

Give this a read - the very end covers foreign tourists:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-21/argentina-eases-some-currency-curbs-as-black-market-peso-slumps

Agnes, thank you for this article---it's promising there is a higher exchange rate for tourists. My question is going to be how we get that. Since it sounds as if you have to prove you are a tourist, you wouldn't get that rate at an ATM. So maybe have to go to a bank to get cash from your card or something---I wish I understood this a bit more. This is the first time I've heard of this and I always assume credit cards are the way to go everywhere, except for really small purchases. I obviously don't want to leave money on the table---just now sure how to access this new monetary exchange rate for tourists! If someone knows, please inform me! Thanks again!

We we’re only there for a week in 2016 and guessed how many pesos we’d need while there and just got them at a money exchange in the states. We didn’t have an atm card at that time. We used a CC for the hotel, but used cash every place else.