Originally Posted by Wogsterca
Banks not being able to do currency exchanges is quite typical in the US, even some of the tourist areas may have only one or two banks in a city that can do exchanges. Here in Canada, you can exchange just about any currency for any other currency, and the bank will not ask questions, providing they have the currency your exchanging to, in the appropriate denominations. For the OP swapping (I assume) US dollars for Canadian, getting our bank to do it, is probably easiest.
Interesting ... I guess I've been taking Canadian banks for granted!
Yeah, I've had no trouble at all getting whatever currency I wanted. Only once has there been a bit of a delay ... whatever it was I was asking for was more than the bank had on hand of that particular currency. They ordered it and I had to return about 3 days later to pick it up.
The exchange rate is always the going rate at the moment (give or take 15 minutes or less ... my teller told me the other day that they update their rates every 15 minutes), and there's usually about a $6 fee for the exchange.
You're probably right that it would be easier for the OP to bring the money here. Even some shops near the border will accept US dollars.