13

At the beginning of my previous trip I asked a question looking for hawker stalls near Changi airport which attracted an amazing answer about staff canteens that anyone can eat at.

That info came in after I'd already flown out on my connection so I didn't get to try it out, but I'm about to fly the same route in a couple of days.

But I'd like to avoid changing money or using an airport ATM to get Singapore dollars when I'll only be in the country for a few hours.

Can I pay with a Visa card at these canteens, or are the prices too low for them to offer it as a payment option, etc?

hippietrail
  • 80,147
  • 56
  • 281
  • 643

1 Answers1

17

No, you can't. As is generally the case in Singapore, most stalls are cash only or accept a limited set of local payment methods generally not including credit cards.

However, Singapore being Singapore (and because cash-only transactions make it all too easy to evade taxes), the government is strong-arming all hawkers into accepting electronic payments, so maybe someday soon you will be able to pay by credit card. Just beware that it's the hawker who has to pay the merchant fees and wait for their money to come through, so cash is likely to remain king for a good long time.

lambshaanxy
  • 99,971
  • 45
  • 616
  • 891