How can an American get a Maestro Debit Card?

You can open a bank account in the Netherlands as a non-resident. I do not know the numbers but I doubt it is particularly cheap; I would be surprised if any free offering exists. However it can be done and I am sure an NL bank could get you a proper Maestro card.

Option 2 and I think a more sensible idea is to buy a Maestro/Mastercard pre-paid card. https://prepaid.yourmastercard.nl/ There are competing choices and sometimes you can pick them up in the supermarkets. I don't know about NL specifically I must admit.

Aside from this I would in your shoes talk to your US bank about obtaining a Visa or Mastercard with 0% forex fees and with a chip and pin facility. Such cards do exist. Visa and Mastercard is accepted in most places; actually "Maestro" is a brand of Mastercard. For other situations you can withdraw a few Euros.

I admit that vending machines are always a bit of an issue; even with a UK Mastercard I would guess only 70% of the time it works in Europe. I really don't know why mainland Europe makes it so hard. In Lisbon even the airport metro station doesn't accept foreign cards which, in my view, is utterly bizarre.

This is no easy feat! I have a similar challenge with travel to the Netherlands, and have never figured out a way to get a Maestro.

Best I have been able to do is get an account at Service Credit Union, who offer a V PAY card. So far, I haven't found any places in NL that take Maestro and DON'T take V PAY. But, Service CU will only maintain an account in US Dollars, and the exchange rate they offer on purchases (the US DoD exchange rate) is lousy. Still, better than being embarrassed in front of a colleague in the cafeteria and unable to pay!

September 2019: It appears to me that the PayPal Cash Card will work for maestro vending machine purchases (and ATM withdrawals). I haven't tried it yet; I will update this post in November with results from my upcoming trip.

Full details on the card are at https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/cashcard-agreement

Added November 2019: I didn't try any ATM withdrawals using the PayPal Cash Card, but it worked great for purchases in Amsterdam and Rotterdam: ticket automats for the train and the metro, restaurants, and even public toilets for the 1 euro entry fee. There was one kebab stand where it wouldn't work but it worked everywhere else!

As a non-EU resident this indeed can be very difficult overall. However, there are Dutch banks who service international clients/expats but also US residents. Maybe take a look here: https://www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/contact/index.html See the non/resident/US section with contact details. You will get a real Dutch Maestro card. Hope that helps!

Source: I'm Dutch.

[Note: This answer is outdated, but it is valuable as it adds the history of the Chipknip cards which could be confused for debit cards. Chipknips cards were eliminated 2015-01-01]

You are confusing the multiple topics.

In banking cafeterias, there are special Dutch payment (or electronic cash) card systems in place. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipknip Because the banks introduced this new payment system, and the industry never adopted it, parking meters and banking cafeterias are the only ones who use it (and they disallow cash sales to try to keep their pet system relevant). The cards are the size format of credit cards and they have chips, but they are not banking/debit cards.

You will probably not get one of these cafeteria cards if you are not Dutch nor have a Dutch bank account. If you don't have a Dutch work permit and pay Dutch taxes, please just forget about this idea. Instead, continue to reimburse your coworkers with cash.

As for the Maestro card... Again I believe this is a red herring, but at least Maestro is a normal bank card provider. Try to open a Dutch bank account and see what they say.