moneygram!

i sent a moneygram today to my friend in burkina. it's a good service, and seems much better than western union.

but like many of these things, it is ridiculously out of date. if you are in the US, you can do it online and it seems great. but if you're in the czech republic, there is a lengthy paper form you fill out. then, right after you spend 10 minutes filling in the paper form, you hand it over to the agent, who spends 10 minutes typing all your information into the program on his/her computer. why you can't do most of the typing yourself online, and then bring in the cash for the transaction, i don't know. it seems like it would be a real time saver.

anyway, i had done it before so i knew what to expect, so it went reasonably quickly, right up until the agent clicked 'Go' or 'Send' or whatever it's supposed to be. it turns out that the exchange rate had changed! the amount of money is near the top of the form, and by the time she had finished typing in the rest of the form, the CZK-CFA rate had changed. that's was fine for me because the change was in my favor (more CFA per Czech crown) except that it rendered the entire form invalid. so i had to get another paper form and fill it all out and then she had to once again type it all in. it was ridiculous! she said that had never happened before while she was using moneygram, which is somewhat reassuring.

and also? they only accept cash.