A harbinger of the future

Perhaps the future, yes, but I think as you would have went south, Amsterdam for example, definitely Germany, then cash would be more prevalent. The Scandinavian countries are perhaps way further down the road to a plastic economy than most countries, but last year in Germany, while a card was no problem in shops and hotels, it caused a hesitation in restaurants where they seemed to prefer cash. In previous years in Italy they would all but shun cards for small purchases, but in Rome I noticed more and more use compared to previous years.

Paul , I quite agree , and not meant to be an indicator for the rest of the continent . It was , for me , a striking anomaly , given the usual way of doing things , Steve

Or maybe it's not the future ... have you watched your young-adult kids??

"last year in Germany, while a card was no problem in shops and hotels,"

Two years ago in Germany, I had no problem using a credit card in shops in touristy areas (Munich, Oberstdorf). I didn't even try it in smaller towns. For accommodations, I only used cash, and I don't think half of the place where I stayed would have accepted cards.

A place in Germany where I stayed a few years ago posted that he would only accept cash for payment in his pension. He stated that if you wanted to use a credit card, you would have to book (and pay) through a booking website (and his is one of the few places I've stayed the even used a booking website).

Perhaps the future, yes, but I think as you would have went south,
Amsterdam for example, definitely Germany, then cash would be more
prevalent.

I disagree about Amsterdam. Holland has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to electronic payment. They were one of the first adopters of chip&pin, and for many years had their own internal debit card network which most locals use to pay for stuff big and small. In addition, all payments for public transit is via chipkaart system. In fact my last visit to Amsterdam I spotted a few merchants who don't accept any cash at all....just plastic. Same experience in London, even merchants at market stalls like Spitafields, Brick Lane, Camden, Notting Hill happily take plastic.

I am surprised that this is news, as it would be considered the norm in the UK.

In the UK, most places take credit cards. London buses no longer take cash payments. Most people pop their office lunch from a supermarket - a sandwich and a piece of fruit on credit, even with a total bill of £2 or less. There has been talk of supermarkets not taking cash, but as far as I know, this hasn't happened yet.

In Berlin a few weeks ago, some attractions and restaurants took credit cards whilst similar sized places didn't. Their two main supermarkets have just started accepting credit cards. Croatia is mixed too, but all hotels accept credit cards.

Cards issued in Denmark are charged differently.

Tom, I was recently required to pay a credit card fee at my US county clerk's office. Their explanation was that with their chronic budget issues they can't afford to subsidize citizens using credit cards. I don't know if it was legal, but I didn't have a choice.

Some of the small transactions are by debit card, not credit card, at least in Italy.

"A harbinger of the future" if used to describe payment Austria or Germany is premature. I don't think it applies, as yet in terms of evidence. The wave of the future...maybe, but it will take longer in Germany and Austria. For Americans having the magnetic stripe or chip and signature credit cards, Germany and Austria are the best, most convenient places in contrast to Holland, France, Belgium, or even London My transactions at train stations, DB machines or staffed ticket counters, places of accommodations (hostels. Pensionen, hotels) which take a Visa/MC as opposed to an EuroCard, store merchants where you buy a phone card, restaurants etc..always went through. Never had a problem unless told that the only credit card accepted was the EuroCard....fair enough. Then I paid in cash, eg, paying 240 Euro for a six night stay in Berlin. At the food vendors in German and Austrian train stations you see the transaction paid for in cash. I would suspect and expect that if you get off the foreign tourist radar, ie, visit places only on the German tourist radar in Germany or Austria or none at all, then cash is expected or preferred or the only credit card accepted is the EuroCard, which doesn't apply to Americans anyway.

I rather doubt a local having lunch at the Karstadt dept store near the Munich Hbf would pull out a credit card instead of cash. There are pretty nice restaurants at Savignyplatz in Berlin-Charlottenburg where esp if one is in a group, you can easily eat up (plus drinking too) a storm but don't necessarily expect to pay with a credit card. You'll be told it's cash only.

Zoe makes a good point. In France as well, I would say MOST of these transactions are made with a debit card rather than credit card. Contactless purchase is also growing here (for amounts 20€ and less).

I suspect this is going to become more common in future using either PayPass or completely cardless systems such as Apple Pay, which will be linked to either debit or credit card accounts. I'm not sure there will be universal adoption though, as a lot of small businesses in some countries still prefer cash rather than paying the credit card fees.

I doubt that Italy will ever adopt card use to the same extent as that of the Scandinavian countries. In many of the hotels I've used over the years, the staff encourage cash over credit cards, and will provide a discount for not using cards. Another example from one of my more recent trips is Poland, where the railway staff and local Taxi would only accept cash. No cards of any type were accepted.

Some of the small shops here will only accept credit cards for purchases over a specific amount (ie: $20).

Some five years ago smaller shops charged every transaction by plastic card, so for smaller payments it was more attractive to pay with cash. But since card payments are free they don´t and it´s now once used to it very convenient and more safe to pay with the card, I carry always a minimum amount of cash with me, just in case.

Scandinavian countries are blessed with a high degree of confidence in their society and approach new developements with a more open mind and more easily change their habbits, so in this case plastic payments. And as the Netherlands has about the same mentality we approach it in a compairable way. In other words we see no or less obstacles in changing a habbit and see more easily the benefits (safety / convenience) of it. Germany for instance in general has a more risk avoiding mentality and they prefer more to keep things as they are, so in comparison less easily change their mindset. But will certainly going to pay more and more with the card, only it will take some more time, the same for other countries.

Yup, this is happening in the US. I pay for most everything at home using a credit card. Many of the newer places have ipads instead of registers where they scan your card, you select a tip amout (if it's a restaurant), sign, and you're on your way. They look at you funny if you use cash. I actually carry very little cash and if a place is cash-only I have to go out of my way to go the ATM if I plan on spending more than $20. I pay the balance off at the end of the month, and get airline miles for my groceries and coffee stops so why not?

That said, I haven't seen the same adoption in Spain and Italy...yet. I'm sure it's coming, but I have to adjust to more cash when I travel there.

Our last visit to Bavaria and Austria in late 2013, everything was cash, even paying for our rooms, which were at small family owned Gasthof's and the like. Some didn't even accept CC's. We never used a credit or debit card the entire trip. Even here at home in NJ, I never use a credit or debit card. Gas, restaurants, supermarkets, etc., always cash.

Apparently cashless is the way to go here in Canada too...

'An online survey of 1,000 people conducted by processing payments firm Moneris earlier this year found that 77 per cent of respondents preferred to pay for purchases by debit or credit card, and 65 per cent said they rarely buy anything with cash anymore.' (link to the story... https://ca.news.yahoo.com/consumers-cashless-2016-credit-cards-apps-ease-carrying-120008740.html )

Of course, that's all fine and good until the machines are down at the grocery store (seen it happen more than a few times) and you either have to abandon your groceries or use the generic cash machine that charges you $2 to withdraw. Or your bank charges you crazy fees for all the debit transactions you do - we do most of our day to day banking with President's Choice, so no fees. Our other bank - Scotiabank, I think allows 5 transactions a month before they start dinging us (with the account we have). We were in the grocery store just the other day and the cashier had all the stuff rung thru, and the customer's debit card wouldn't work...so they had to go off to customer service...with cash, not an issue.

I'm old school - unless I am getting good airmiles, I like to use cash. Makes our monthly bookkeeping way easier (checking our receipts against the bank statements and credit card statements). Some people don't use the tap and go and it is a bit annoying to wait for someone paying for something that was $2 and taking a minute to do it with their card (then again - you get the people who stand there forever and count out their change! At least there are no pennies to count out now ;) ).

"what is prohibited in the US is for retail establishments to have different prices for cash or credit"

Actually, I think Federal law leaves it up to each state to decide. In Colorado, state law allows the credit card companies to contractually prohibit the retailer from charging more for using credit cards (gosh, I wonder who pushed for that law. What about let the market decide?), but the retailer is allowed to give a discount for cash. So far I haven't seen anyone do that.

In Germany, there is a "virtual" discount for cash in that the more economical accommodations only take cash. If you want to use your plastic, you have to select someplace that takes cards, and they will invariably be more expensive.

But there is something pending that might change the whole dynamics of this. The European Union has decided to put a cap on what the banks can charge for their interchange fee - 2/10% for debit cards, 3/10% for credit cards.

I might expect more places in the EU to now accept credit cards since they will no longer have to pay the old interchange fee, which in the US is about 4%; I've heard higher, at least to small establishments, in Europe. However, expect the fee you pay your credit card company to use your credit card in Europe (currently 0 - 3%) to increase since the banks won't lose revenue. If they can't get it from the merchant, they'll get it from you. I expect the no-foreign-fee cards to disappear, since your bank pays the "Network" ½ - 1% for the foreign transaction, but now can only get a 3/10% exchange fee from the merchant.

Lee - don't Safeway's charge less for gas if paid with cash/debit in your area? In Greeley there is 10 cent per gallon difference.

Gas, yes (Safeway near me also gives a discount for debit card); retail, no (not that I've seen).

There is no doubt that Europe is quickly moving to cashless payments of all kinds. The big one which is not visible to you as a tourist is SEPA which allows European account holders to make a transfer to any other European account, regardless of country, within 24 hours and at more or less the cost of a local transaction. Our account numbers are globally unique now, which means you need very little information about the account details of the person you which to pay.

In Switzerland debit cards and contactless payments are being pushed heavily these days, with most kiosks and small shops now offering contactless payment facilities. I see more and more people paying for their papers, coffee, drinks etc... this way everyday. At what point kiosks will start to discourage cash payments remains to be seen, but I'd give it 5 years or so. Even kids have debit cards now!

A few years ago Deutsche Bahn experimented with cashless payment in their ticket automats. In 2008, I arrived at the Regionalbahnhof in FRA and bought 2 tickets, a local RMV ticket to Mainz and a Rheinland-Pfalz (Länder) ticket. I got the RMV ticket from their automat with cash, but the (1st generation) Bahn touch-screen automat only took plastic, so I had to use my credit card (one of less than a half dozen times, except for ATMs, in the last decade I've used plastic in Europe). Now, according to this Bahn automat tutorial, the 2nd generation machines accept cash as well. Apparently that "card only" format did not sit well with the Germans.

Tom_MN: the restriction by MasterCard, Visa, and American Express to not allow merchants to add in fees at the time of purchase have been removed. Now as long as the buyer agrees to the fees, they are free to charge whatever they want when you use your card. This was part of the huge legal haggling Walmart did with the credit companies as well as the US government laws passed a couple years ago to reduce the "burden" on merchants when they take credit cards. Most merchants have decided not to charge the fees to their customers.

Some US states still have restrictions on not charging more for credit than the advertised price. Merchants get around that by giving discounts for cash.

At home I use my credit card for all purchases of $10 or more. I use very little cash. I might go to an ATM once every two or three weeks. I find for knowing where my money went it is much easier to track using credit card receipts/bills than trying to figure out where all that cash went that was in my wallet or my wife's pocketbook. No way am I going to use a debit card for purchases. It has to be a nightmare trying to keep a check book balanced, and besides that I will always take advantage of 1 month's free use of money you get with a credit card. (In my lifetime I have paid $0.50 in credit card fees and that was because we forgot to pay a bill.)

When we were in Italy for 30 days 1 1/2 years ago, I used a credit card for all purchases of 20 Euro or more and never had my card refused. We did have 1 or 2 hotels/B&Bs that offered us a discount if we used cash which we did take advantage of.