South Africa ATM ... denominations
 

Next month we will be in ZA again, and I’m looking at re-stocking my small hoard of rand. I have a forex-free debit card which will be my main tool for spend, but cash will also be needed (especially for tips).

If I use an ATM, what sort of output could I expect? If I punch in R2000 (c. GBP 100) I guess that will all come in R100 (or even R500) which is potentially easy on the wallet but rather heavy on the tipping front! There was a Tripadvisor question which suggested drawing [say] R490, which would inevitably give smaller notes. Are the ATMs that clever?!

Advice would be appreciated.

Not sure I recall ever seeing a R500.

ATMs generally dispense R50, R100 and R200 notes.

You do occasionally get R20s so your trick may get you 19 x R100s, 1 x R50 and 2 x R20s. Some of those 19 x R100s may come out as R50s instead too.

But I don't think all ATMs carry R20s.

But is easy to change a R100 note in a garage or Pick N Pay by buying something small like cigarettes, water, confectionary, biltong...

My thanks ... what I expected, really, but just checking. As you say, small purchases with large bills cracks it anyway. A glass of wine and a beer solves it nicely! :)

Most ATMs will have R100 bills and if you punch in R2000 you'll most likely get 20xR100 bills (as much as I'd personally like to get R200 bills they are pretty rare at ATMs)
FWIW, everywhere where you will pay with your debit card will also allow you to add the tip on the card, and most other "tips" will often use coins anyway.

R200 bills are not at all rare from ATMs. It is a regular source of annoyance to me that when I draw cash I always get a wodge of R200 bills (which aren’t accepted by parking payment machines in malls, for example). I think I get the higher denomination because my withdrawals are always R4000 or more.

My most recent experience (July, Aug, Sept 2019) which included JNB, JNB metro area, CPT and STB withdrawing ZAR 2,000 - 3,000 at a clip was an abundance of R200 notes and the balance in R100 notes. I had kiddos with me, so every small item purchased was paid for with R200 notes to break them down into smaller sized bills (on occasion, I asked at the till for small bills).

IIRC even at a fairly new mall outside Numbi gate at KNP, I received the bulk of my withdrawal in R200 notes.

Thanks for that reinforcement ... I really don't need a money clip full of R200s for daily activity. Yeah, I need a slab for our regular taxi driver, but apart from that I'm looking at either (a) Forex-free Debit Card (b) BA Amex or MBNA Credit Cards or (c) Small change!

I have a fair few 'smalls" and coins from last year .... I guess they will be re-loaded as we go along.

Thanks again, everyone, for the inputs.

It might depend on how much you withdraw, I use FNB ATMs and usually in amount of ~R2000 and it's almost always comes as 20x100 or so

As mentioned before, if you get larger denominations, just buy smaller items to break down the notes.
The downside is that you can end up with a pocketful of "shrapnel" by doing this. Depending on the amount, housekeeping will not say "no" if you leave a banknote and a pile of coins with a Thank You note at the end of your stay.
The Cape has recently had loads of rain, so the scenery should be great!

Happy travels!!

Yeah, 2 weeks to go and we would really appreciate a bit more warmth. ;)
At least there should be enough water to be able to indulge in a nice hot bath! :D

I think the largest denomination in circulation is R200. Most ATMs will usually give you R100 or R200 bills. The small-purchase method of splitting the bills is the way to go. Just split one down every time you buy a bottle of water or a packet of cigarettes.

R10 and R20 bills are generally the most useful for tipping. The only thing I generally use coins for is to placate the ubiquitous "car guards", whose only useful function is not keying you car or smashing your windows.

Have picked up enough small bills from the Post Office here, and have enough coins to keep us going. Juat didn’t want to get an ATM top-up and find myself in tipping difficulties!

No parking issues ... we walk everywhere, except for our regular inter-Town driver who we pay with big notes! :)