I work as a tourist guide and whenever clients leave Japan they sometimes hand me their pasmo/suica with remaining charge on it. I accumulated more than 40 pasmo and about a dozen suica. I want to return them to get the cash but Im worried I might get in trouble because no way to prove it was given to me graciously. They’re all nameless. Do you guys think its risky? Even if I dont get in any legal trouble, Im worried my cards just get confiscated and the money on it never given to me. There might be a few 万 worth of money. These are literally my tips, I rarely get cash tips.
23 comments
Get on the Yamanote line and return 2 at each station?
Given all the fuss about nameless Suica and Pasmo not being available anymore you could probably also sell them on Mercari for more than what’s in them.
I’d probably do them slowly over time at different stations. Or just go and explain that you’re a tour guide so that’s why you have so many. That might be less suspicious actually than doing it over time if they start to recognize you doing it often with no explanation
I’m also a tour leader and I have a bunch of cards too. I re-use them for dfferent groups so I’m not exchanging them for cash, but just saying, it’s not that weird to end up with plenty of cards if this is your line of work, so hopefully nobody would think it’s suspicious.
Can I have one? I’ll pay you the balance on it
I would pay ¥5,000 for 10.
I have a large friend group coming over to visit soon and it would actually be really nice to not bother with naming/birthdays, etc.
Not sure why people are making a big fuss about this? There are lots of legitimate reasons you might have a lot of cards (bus company, police, lost property etc) Just don’t do it at a small station where you hold up the whole queue for ages…
Airport has an automated return machine I think
Maybe you can try 10 first and if you get asked you can tell them you’re a tourist guide. Surely you have a way to prove your profession? And then if it goes through without any problem you can tell them you might come again in the future with some more cards. If it doesnt get through, maybe just try another station… Or something that
Just zap them into your phone. Easy to add to your Apple Pay or whatever android has.
Are you still tour guiding? Then keep 20 of them and let your clients borrow them for their stay.
As for the others, just keep a couple on you and turn one in, now and then.
First of all you Suicas can only be returned to JR stations, so you can divvy them up and it’s really not that many. No one is going to blink an eye if you return and refund a couple of them at a time; when asked, just explain that you have a few spares and have transitioned to Mobile Suica so you no longer need them.
I’ve recently dug out all the spare cards in the house and brought like 5 Pasmos to a nearby station office for refund, and other than being annoyed about doing 5 refunds in a row the staff did not seem surprised at all.
If they have balances on them then why not use the cards at the store first? I know having cash is better, but this is an easy way to use the money before handing over blank cards.
Basically free conbini food and anywhere else that accepts pasmo as payment.
I’d love to take 2 off your hands. Send you a DM
lots of vending machines take IC card payments. just use them up there, and keep the blanks for customers to borrow
This company https://en.japantravel.com/ is looking to buy a bunch of them, you should reach out
Get a half of a friend and split the stack
Make a promo for new customers. Book a tour, get a Suica for free 😂
just use the balance and return it.
I recenly returned some pasmo cards of mine and my gf. For blank cards you can just return them at the station easily but make sure to empty it of any balance (like down to ¥10 should be fine) or else youll have to pay ¥200 charge to get the remaining balance in cash. Or just use the balance at stores like conbini/ supermarket then return one by one as it goes. Unless some of the cards have more than 5sen/1man on them i wouldnt bother paying the charge to get the money out.
Named cards require more fuss but you dont have them so no need to worry. If they ask why so many explain that youre a tourist guide, you can show them some pictures of you touring people around.
Hey bro, can I buy them from you for my guests? Pm
I have like 30 Suica cards that I bought for a group a couple of years ago… I have been using the money left, but I will start using them again when the groups come back. This was before the Welcome Suica was available.
As I bought them myself, I kept them as well and did not let them take it as a souvenir. When I bought them, I was told there was no issue with me returning them all together afterwards, but I decided to keep them for future usage.
Why dont you “sell” the cards to the travelers?
You are getting arrested for this 100%.