I do think it's also somewhat generational. I'm at the older end of Generation X. I grew up paying cash (or writing checks) for almost everything, didn't really use credit cards until my late 20s/early 30s. There were a lot of places that didn't accept credit cards back then, such as most fast food restaurants. But I switched to cards mostly out of convenience as soon as most places accepted them.
I notice a lot of people older than me (Baby Boomers and older) still pay cash more often.
And lower income people use cash a lot, I presume because they are unbanked or can't get a credit card.
Tipping is about the only time I need cash. Outside of restaurants, most people I need to tip do not have an easy way to receive digital payments.
I have read that, if you tip with a card, the business gets it, and they may give it to the staff, and they may not. But if you tip by leaving cash on the table, the staff for sure gets it, and the business can't stiff them. So, yeah, the staff probably prefers it.
Also, to be pendantic about it, I've never actually seen someone spend hard cash, just fiat currency, which has much lower value.
I do keep a US Minted dollar handy, should the need arise for hard currency. Made in 1901 at the New Orleans mint
edit/clarify: Yes, a 1901 Morgan Silver Dollar, a coin with a current melt value of $39.64 according to coinflation
Anyway, I think we as a society should normalize using silver coins for personal wealth transfer, because they are a good size and weight for not too much value, and they are shiny and make a satisfying jingle sound when kept in a bag
Plus I can tip easily, split bills, not have to worry about internet connections, etc
This may be true for some people. Doesn't work for me at all. I see the money equally in digital and print formats.
Cash "just works" until you run out, or have too large denominations that people refuse. And there are more stores now that don't take cash at all.
I’ve had multiple places not able to accept credit cards due to internet issues.
Literally had that last week. (Library, they had to call me later for payment.)
I’m curious, how do you personally handle change specially small currency like pennies and nickels?
I suspect the POS defaults to credit. But I've never looked at any of the interfaces.
I know US Postal Service somehow detects my card is debit and then requests a debit transaction because the credit card pad asks for a PIN not a signature. So maybe some POS have an autodetect option.
(See also my other comment)
Many of the local places (Seattle - Belltown & the Market) are cool with rounding transactions to the nearest dollar, so that helps. It might also be part of being an active participant in the local society.
Apparently debit cards support either debit or credit transactions, and (some/all/most) POS systems are defaulting to credit? I notice I'm often asked to sign, rather than receiving a PIN prompt. That's how I know if the charge is going to be debit (PIN) or credit(sign).
And it is only debit that incurs the near cash equivalence due to far lower transaction fees.
I wonder if there's something else they are not understanding, and that their exceptions of Germany and Italy are demonstrating the conclusion doesn't fit.
Penalty was 2x the local sales tax.
Some restaurants do not take cash, period - it adds a staff member. A few places like a massage parlour I even tried to offer cash instead, and they didn’t care which leads me to believe the fees are very low. Of course, it is China so there’s no privacy.
Some relevant observations:
- Lower income customers used cash much more than higher income.
- Men used cash way more than women, with the exception of retirement-age women buying their smokes / wine / beer.
- Undocumented workers almost always used cash. Most were paid in $100 bills on Fridays, so they were probably paid under the table.
- Phone tap-to-pay was almost exclusively iPhone. In fact, I don't think I ever saw an Android user pay by phone tap.
- A surprising number of people didn't realized they could just tap to pay instead of running the chip.
- If the till ran out of pennies for change, no one gave a shit.
At a minimum buy all vice purely in cash. Bars, alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and anything that could hint at a certain lifestyle. Also protects you in civil lawsuit and divorce.
I also keep some singles in my bass bag, to tip bartenders. Most venues provide free drinks to the band, but then there's no way to give a tip unless I bring some cash.
Cash payments virtually disappeared after Sarbanes-Oxley, but have come back. Also, bandleaders are mostly using Venmo or its competitors when the band isn't paid in cash.
In such a short time we've gotten to total coverage of every act by every single person in America in very few databases, trivial to coordinate. I don't need anybody to know I always buy a bottle of water on the way to my board game night on Thursdays from one of the stores down the same road between the park I kill time at and the house where we have it. But then there's all these phones coming together, in that house, every Thursday. Even if I don't take my phone, even if I don't buy the water, they'll see I used my transit card to take the train to the park rather than to my apartment. It's horrific when I think about it.
They know when I turn on my computer, they know when I turn off my computer, they know when I turn on my television, they know when I turn off my television. With "smart" homes, they'll know when I turn my lights on and off, they'll know how often I cook, be able to guess what I'm cooking by looking at my shopping list. I don't have control of my phone, and it has a microphone in it. My car reports its location to the manufacturer. None of this is of any benefit to me.
The only barrier to total control is manpower, and historically the manpower has been easy enough to find. I'm looking to move counterclockwise on this circle. From 8:00 to midnight we're probably on the verge of getting questioned by the cops if they can see you but can't ping you. Let me go back in time.
netule•1h ago
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A while? This is my first visit to your random site.
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