I had two reasons, the first is because i found it way too easy to spend on my card without thinking, and the second because I wanted to regain a bit of privacy alongside everything else I’m doing. Ive set it up in my bank that on payday, an amount of my salary automatically goes to the bills account, some goes to long term savings, some to short term savings, then the rest I take out in cash.
It really does change my perception of spending I think: Ive found myself not buying things because I didnt want to break a note and carry change. I can physically see how much I have left. I can take £20 to the pub and leave when its finished. Plus it feels really good knowing every single transaction isnt stored forever. I have a small amount of money on a contactless ring for emergencies like a bus fare or somewhere that unexpectedly only takes card.
Is anyone else still predominantly using cash day to day?
I encourage cash spending at a small business I operate. Average sale is around $150, 10% discount for using cash. About 25% of people pay cash.
It’s very thinly veiled tax avoidance, but zero people have complained or called us out in it.
well nobody complains about having to pay less, and calling it out means they might lose the discount in the future and who would want that?
Being able to use cash is a privilege, and we should not let governments take it from us, since then they can monitor and control everything money-related.
I’d love to but since tons of credit cards charge fees to the store, shops increase their prices on menus and items to account for this. On top of the fact that I receive points for purchasing, I’d be losing money if I were to be using cash alone.
Depending on the business, some actually charge less if you are upfront on paying cash
I’ve only seen small/local businesses, sometimes big gas chains, give a cash discount so naturally it makes sense to use cash when I can but it is very few shops still.
Yup, but those are exactly the places to use cash and it’s amazing what even some of your meals being in cash and it influencing your budget does to your purchase habits.
I agree fully with using a cash back credit card for the big places and purchases and cash when around town locally.
Kinda feels like I’m doing what my grandparents did but hey it kinda works
since tons of credit cards charge fees to the store, shops increase their prices on menus and items to account for this.
why does this stop you from cash? you’re still charged the same
Like Orange said, I’m not getting a discount by using cash. Prices are higher because of credit cards so I might as well use them to get 2 - 5% cashback/discount. Doesn’t sound like much but it leads to hundreds of dollars in a single year for me.
You usually are tho. Around here it 3%
Only very few shops in my areas and mostly just local resturants. So yeah, it makes sense to use cash then but it isn’t the norm around here.
That’s their point, they don’t get a corresponding discount for using cash.
“Is anyone else still predominantly using cash day to day?”
Yes. Germany.
Man, Japan and Singapore too.
Lots of heavy cash flow dense countries seem to still be a fan of the paper, honestly.
.
When were you last there, and what areas?
.
Huh. I’ve been to all of those but Yokosuka, some as recently as a few months ago but also pre 2023, and I’ve found that almost everything I go to took card. I wonder if we somehow happen to only go to places that do/don’t take card and thus have totally different experiences with cash only.
And yeah the toilets are great. Toto sells them in the US if you’re based here. A little expensive, but if you’re gonna live at your current place for a long time, it’s probably worth it.
The bar sounds awesome, sheesh. That’s the cheapest tab of that size I’ve ever heard of. I buy most of my things while I’m there due to pricing, and even then I’m shocked at how damn cheap that is haha
.
Hm. Since covid, even my local bakery started taking cards. Even most corner shops for late night beers do. Kebab is usually still impossible, but that seems like the final frontier.
Heh, Germany isn’t a good example. Its really hard to find a German bank that doesn’t charge you money to let you take cash out of your own account.
Most countries in South America use cash for most transactions.
This is one thing the UK is really good for, all bank owned ATMs and most public ones are completely free to use for any cardholder of any bank. My bank doesn’t even have physical branches but I can still use the ATM of any bank lobby for free. There are some paid ones run by private companies but the fee is usually a flat £1-2 max. I’ve been to ATMs in Europe that have tried to charge me something like 10EUR to take out 30.
A lot of the convenience of the modern UK high street baking sector is because of Girobank, the 1960s Government’s successful attempt to force modernisation on the banking industry. When I hear about the ass-backwardsness of other country’s banking arrangements (especially the US) I give a little thankyou to Girobank.
Edit: Also, yes, tourist ATMs are predatory bullshit.
huh, thats not common in my experience. Most people are with Sparkasse or other mayor banks which allow for free cash withdrawals, at least in their network. You can also get cash in supermarkets o.O
Sparmasse charges a monthly fee, no?
Most probably do, but thats not specific for cash and also depends on your local Sparkasse
Only if your direct deposit amount is below a threshold, which is low enough that most full time workers meet it.
And what happens when you stop working in Germany? They just steal your money every month? Fuck that
This is all perfect when you live in a responsible country where people pay their taxes. Instead, when you live in a place where paying your taxes is seen as something stupid, the less cash, the less space for tax evaders.
I loved it when COVID came and the government started giving all these businesses owners (bars, hairdressers, etc) a subside based on the profits they declared the year before COVID and they all went mad because they were getting 600€/month (which, ironically is the amount they declared to have earned monthly the year before COVID).
I’m starting to use more cash for daily spendings. The rise of surveillance pricing is terrible, better to hide qt least some of information from my bank.
I’m finding supermarkets locking their regular prices behind an app or loyalty card is getting out of control. Out of all the major supermarkets, ONLY Aldi has nothing of the sort currently.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s will often have a £3 item that costs £6 without their loyalty card. Of course it’s £3 in every other shop: it’s not a special offer for members, it’s a punishment price for those who don’t give away their data.
Wow, I’ve never seen pricing that bad without a loyalty card in the US. Not saying it doesn’t happen, quite often it’s a 20-30% discount for the loyalty card, and occasionally more if you use the app (which I refuse, since I use Jenny’s number for the loyalty card).
You’re right to call it a punishment. Wonder if we can aggregate the loyalty app program somehow, like host the app in an Android VM on a VPS that anyone can then access, so the data they get is muddied.
A nice way to understand how much your data costs
Some credit cards offer 2% cash back… (Not points) So it’s hard to give that up when you get 2% off for just about every dollar you spend. Why wouldn’t you put every dollar on card you would normally spend.
This doesn’t work well if you are paying interest…
If you’re fiscally savvy and don’t overspend and can pay your balance in full every month and are not paying interest, this is a strong vote for choosing over cash.
However, without that…I see no benefit and would use more cash for all reasons in this thread.
This is sort of a scam though. Credit cards give rewards, but then charge the business for the processing fees. So the business needs to raise prices to cover the fees. So really no one is getting that 2% except for the card network. And if you don’t use a card you lose 2%.
It is basically a protection racket. “It would be a shame if you didn’t use our credit card and had to pay 2% more everywhere”
Yes, I know it is complicated. Handling cash also costs non-trivial amounts. I know that the EU has limits on fees (and that is why basically no credit cards have rewards there). I also know that some businesses see the fee as more of a marketing costs because higher spenders tend to use cards and people tend to spend more on cards.
Out in NYC, the bodegas all have a little plaquard saying that either 1: listed prices include a 2% credit card fee and you can save by using cash, or 2: listed prices may not match your final charge because they add a 2% fee on top for credit cards.
Which is the same thing effectively but it can be sometimes confusing if you’re trying to watch for the fee.
Anecdotally, I have sometimes noticed the cashier will say a price, and then say a slightly different price when I pull out the card. So it’s not like they always apply the fee regardless. At least some of the time anyway.
Not universal of course. I don’t remember if that’s also true for grocery stores, and it’s probably not the case for big chains but honestly I don’t know.
You’re also paying in the data they sell on you
I visited the UK back in 2022 and I was pretty baffled at how you can universally “tap to pay”. We visited a pub on the coast of Dorset where they wouldn’t even accept cash as a mean of payment. All in all it was nice, because it meant not having to deal with a foreign currency at all, we spent 10 days just using electronic payment, so as a tourist I think it was a good experience.
In Germany, where I live, you’re basically getting nowhere without cash, it’s still very difficult to eat out or buy small food items like bread or a sandwich. There’s also a culture of paying cash for many things, including pricier items like a second hand car! Shop cashiers usually don’t even blink if you try to pay with a 100€ bill (except if you’re coming super early and they don’t have change available yet). It’s not unusual for me to end up drawing a quarter to half my monthly salary in cash.
I first disliked it when I moved from France, but now I think it’s actually good for the society. You always have some change to tip a waiter or give to a beggar, a coin for the cart at the supermarket, get something from a vending machine… Also I live in a very quiet area so getting mugged is very unlikely, making it not so scary to carry cash around.
I agree, cash is fun in Germany. I think it really helps that the 1 and 2 euro coins are available and used in circulation. It was so nice going into the Späti and buying a beer with a single coin.
Change feels unnecessary in the States since the highest denomination that’s widely circulated is the quarter dollar. There are dollar coins, but they are hardly ever used.
Haha don’t get me started with US coins, I also have a fun story there: we arrived fresh off JFK Airport in NYC and headed to our rental apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn. It was pretty far from the a subway station so we got a connecting bus to get us closer.
The next day, we thought of taking the same bus line to head to Manhattan, except our party of four ended up being expected to pay 4x $2.75 in a machine inside the bus… in coins. That’s 44 quarters. Yup, don’t have that on day 2 of my stay. So we walked 6 blocks.
€1-2 for a beer? Germany truly is more advanced than the US
Some are only 30 cents! At least they were…
I find it interesting that Germany is so far behind when it comes to IT and modernization. It’s like you’re stuck in 1990, even though you’re surrounded by countries that have used chip payment cards since the early 2000s and contactless payments since the early to mid 2010s. Nobody here in Denmark has touched a fax machine in the last 15-20 years, and apparently Germans still fax things sometimes to this day??
hey don’t belittle technological advancements in germany, people here at are the forefront of innovation: https://simple-fax.de/fax-ki
:'D
Canada has universal tap to pay also, but what surprised me about the UK—at least in the London area—was how quick it was? The payment processing was near-instantaneous. In Canada, I think the machines make a phone call behind the scenes to a bank or something? There’s a significant delay before it goes through.
I live in Germany too without using cash for a few years now and it’s no problem at all.
Been thinking of trying this. Thing is nobody uses cash anymore around here (Nordics). In supermarkets I know for sure I can use cash, but restaurants, bars or small business it’s going to be hit and miss. I guess I’d have to endure the awkwardness of asking in every single place if they take cash or not
Businesses aren’t legally required to accept cash?
In the US, I’ve started paying in cash to combat the aggressive tip buttons (your options are: 20%, 30%, 40%, or Other). With cash, I feel free to provide a reasonable tip for whatever service and they see it and appear appreciative, even if it’s not the 20% the little tip screen attempts to strong arm you into.
You can press “no” or “custom.”
Still less convenient.
I would consider paying with cash again IF $100 bills weren’t so much trouble.
It’s hard to get a $100 bill. ATMs just don’t spit them out. Many places refuse to take them. It’s just hard to carry over $100 in cash without quickly having your wallet explode in size.
Back in the day $100 was like caring $1,000 now. You could get a lot done with $20 bills… You can burn through the majority of $100 just going to dinner and I also have no desire to manage all that cash at my house or hit up an ATM every other day.
Yeah I do agree that American cash doesn’t stretch as far. I’m definitely having to hit the ATM or cash back option way more than before for how much things cost. 50s are good for restaurants and the like but 100s are so weirdly distrusted and a pain. But I rarely get back 5s and 10s cause seriously inflation is just so good damn high.
I keep thinking I’m gonna pull out a bunch of cash to have but then… Yeah I am not one to stuff it under my mattress and it being available electronically is so useful… Sigh…
Trying. It’s all we can do until things change for real.
I also want to pay more in cash to reward businesses for still allowing you to pay in cash as I’m noticing more are going cashless. I’m occasionally reliant on cash so I don’t want to end up stranded on those occasions where I can only pay cash, so definitely want to ensure the option remains open. The privacy is a benefit too of course.
I think at the moment I mostly buy “important” stuff in cash and everyday stuff with card. Important like a new computer or something, because I’d plan to have that computer for a while and don’t want it easily traced to me. Everyday stuff like food because, while I completely understand not wanting the state/banks/etc to know anything about you, I personally don’t care too much if the state knows what I eat. Would be nice to eventually become one of those people with no footprint at all though.
A computer is something you’d want to buy with a credit card, as they often come with additional free warranties for various mishaps
Thats fine if you value the warranty over your privacy (not trying to be sarcastic, everyone has a different threat model and I mean it when I say that’s fine for some people), but personally I would prefer the computer were not traceable to me, including at the cost of having to buy replacements when they otherwise come with warranty. I have turned down various things that electronics come with that require leaving your details. I understand why people leave their details to get the extra stuff but i am willing to spend more to be anonymous.
If you fully stop using cashless at the grocery store you might get put on a list. Governments love tracking irregularities.
Appearing “normal” and occasionally using cash at your regular grocery store makes it far less suspicious. Then for every irregular store you can use cash.
deleted by creator
People don’t understand that not leaving any trace is suspicious of itself. Though it requires participating in a system many oppose.
Now they have your fingerprints. Good job.
Just never go outside without leather gloves and a ski mask
Follow me for more excellent tips that definitely won’t make you look like a serial killer to everyone
You should also shave all of your body hair. Without eyebrows you may look like Mark Zuckerberg. Who wouldn’t want that?
