I guess I'm German. Anyone else here prefer using cash?

[Tico]

Like many Germans in the article below, I carry cash.
My wallet usually has around $200 cash.

Why?
I'm creeped out how the system increasingly abuses our personal info.
What when and where I buy things is nobody's business to exploit.
Cash is the most private way to pay.

When younger I filled up huge cans of coins because I never left the house with change.
Now I carry around a change purse to make exact change.
My goal is to spend all of my 8 trillion coins before I croak.

I do have one CC for online purchases.
All my bills are on auto-pay from my checking account.
I'm not interested in applepay, paypal, bitcoin, or any of those other new ways to pay.

How do you pay for various things?
Do you carry cash?

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/72832...-is-still-king

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Tico

…How do you pay for various things?
Do you carry cash?

HI Tico

Only enough cash in pocket to pay for meals unless we are traveling.

Cash doesn't work for ordering online. We no accruing debt. We use the Venture card that earns double air miles for every dollar we spend, and we pay for all our monthly expenditures with that, and then pay it off every month.

We fly as often as we choose for no dollars. We rent a car on the other end to get around. At age 70, we don't want to spend several days driving to locations when we can fly each direction in ½ day and spend more time with family or being tourists on the other end. We use cash for incidentals, and a card for sight seeing (museums, entertainment, shows etc).

When we travel, we often use cash in restaurants. We book AirBNB or hotels online, and we rent cars online, and get our airline tickets online. We avoid ATMs (have not used one in years). And we don't allow vendors to store our card info online.

Being in the USA when we travel by RV, we purchase all our gas by card from the same (proven and trusted) company, and they give us a discount. We often pay for our campground expenses by cash (and often get a discount for using cash).

[keith.rogers]

I only rarely carry cash anymore.

We get points on the credit card so use it for everything we can, and have autopay only use the checking account (rarely used for paper checks) if they charge a fee for credit card payment.

And, yes, we pay the card off (online) every month.

[Silly Moustache]

I am British. I NEVER carry coin but keep a small "purse" in my car for parking fees.

I always carry my wallet, with two Credit cards, and my bank debit card, and rarely more that about £10-£30 in cash.

Even most parking fees can be paid by swipe card now.

[Murphy Slaw]

I always carry cash.

I have cards for online stuff and such, but always carry well over a hundred bucks cash, a few knives, a watch, a lighter even though I don't smoke, a multi-tool and a few guitar picks.

[Otterhound]

Yes , I do .
I am at the opposite end from most though .
I prefer coinage over paper .
I have actually experienced situations where the attempt to refuse my coinage came with the " we only accept cash " BS . At that point , I end up training them for free at my expense . When will people be trained to not only do , but to think ?

[raysachs]

THe only time I carry cash is when I’m going to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. And there are fewer and fewer merchants there that you need cash for. My iPhone can pay at most merchants using Apple Pay and there’s a compartment in my phone case where I can carry a credit card, debit card, health insurance card, and driver’s license. So when I need a physical card, I have it, but I need them less and less often.

Apple Pay is the same as using my debit or credit card, BTW - both cards information are loaded into my phone. It just handles the transaction electronically so nobody has to see my card number. On my account statement there’s no difference between a transaction I have to pull the card out for and one where I use the phone to pay. Using the phone is just more secure and convenient...

I only use PayPal online, but Apple Pay and PayPal use the same currency and account as my debit and credit cards, and the same as if I used cash. Bitcoin is its own virtual currency and is a COMPLETELY different thing than any of the other methods mentioned here.

[fazool]

It's not a "German" thing (at all) as you say, more of a generational thing.

Retiree-age folks almost always seem to fish around in their purse or pocket to get exact change.

I pay with exact change every single time, right to the penny. I do it with a swipe of my bank card and I don't hold up the line for the rest of the people.


Having a massive collection of coins is, to me, a total nuisance. Go change them in. Roll them and deposit them at the bank.

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by fazool

It's not a "German" thing (at all) as you say, more of a generational thing.

Retiree-age folks almost always seem to fish around in their purse or pocket to get exact change.

I pay with exact change every single time, right to the penny. I do it with a swipe of my bank card and I don't hold up the line for the rest of the people.


Having a massive collection of coins is, to me, a total nuisance. Go change them in. Roll them and deposit them at the bank.

I’m retired and have exactly the same attitude. I carry cash only for unexpected & unusual (or very small) purchases where cash payment is required.

[Bob Womack]

I am an inveterate saver. I save money all the time. It is my nature. My wife and I can do purchases via a family card if we wish or by cash. But a part of our system is based upon cash. I carry my lunch money and a small dollop of family money (anyone remember "mad money?"), and a family card. By the way, just so you know, last time I got hit by another driver in a distant city at one in the morning and had to get towed, the towing service demanded cash. Think on.

I've had millennials at cash registers actually get cross with me because I used cash for lunch. I remind them of the legend on the upper-left of my country's bills, "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." The charge card doesn't claim that. "Cash vs.card" is just like many of the questions on the forum surround guitars: who is serving whom? I prefer for the monetary mediums to be subject to me rather than the other way around, thank you.

I've paid for brand new guitars cash (funny looks for my stack of twenties) and I've bought them via cell phone from the road. Can't do that with cash. Whatever.

Bob

[Wengr]

Where I live, the trend is for small locally owned businesses to accept cash only. Tired of the merchant fees obviously.
And further what's with the gas stations charging a cash price and a higher credit price?
That used to be against the merchant agreement.

[Steve DeRosa]

Most of the local small businesses - grocers, eateries, etc. - have started imposing a 3-4% surcharge for credit cards, so we're using cash more often these days...

[619TF]

Unless it's an online purchase or a utility bill/rent it's ALWAYS cash. Why? Untraceable. Privacy is a lost art in today's world. It's also a basic right that most are apparently willing to happily surrender in the name of alleged "convenience".

[Otterhound]

Just returned from the bank and I have 8 Eisenhower dollar coins .
This should be fun .

[TeleBluesMan]

The power goes out here a lot during summer thunderstorms. Most stores can't process cc without power. Also, ATMs don't work when the power is out.