Cash is still King

I love wracking up Delta Skymiles or American miles on my credit cards. Only thing that I use cash for is my barber, who doesn't take credit cards.

I love using card, since having a lot of cash requires stricter security.

We were in Norway and Sweden last year and told both countries are going to cashless. I wonder how the criminals will handle that.

We were in Norway and Sweden last year and told both countries are going to cashless. I wonder how the criminals will handle that.

Alas, I am sure they will find a way. If a cashless system protects we travelers more, then who am I to argue.

The cash vs. credit discussion is rather pointless when talking about "Europe". Every country is different, and probably even regions within the same country.

For example, Iceland and the Nordic countries are very, very heavily credit card use. In Iceland (not a cheap country!) I had difficulty spending the equivalent of $100 in cash I got from the airport ATM. Every store, restaurant, and parking lot seemingly preferred credit cards.

Germany is, in my fairly limited recent experience, the opposite. Cash is indeed king. Austria is similar, but to a slightly lesser extent.

Italy and Spain are mixed. Credit cards are common for restaurants and bigger stores, but people do pay cash (paying cash at an upscale restaurant in Iceland gets you strange looks). Where purchases are often smaller, like coffee bars and hole-in-the-wall places, cash is predominant and some are cash only.

In Germany I ran into many cash-only places. In Iceland I ran into card only places.

I usually charge purchases over 10 euros/10 pounds but often pay cash for less expensive items. Like geovagriffith, I like those credit-card miles and don't enjoy carrying around excess cash.

The problem with cards is that you must stay on your toes and keep control of the credit-card device, else the server, retail clerk, or hotel staffer may process the transaction in dollars rather than in the local currency.

In May of 2019, I withdrew 300 GBP from an ATM in the UK. During the next 6+ months, I spent 16 weeks in the UK. Of the 300 GBP I withdrew, I still have 250.

I use cards whenever I can to get the points. During my last trip to Norway and Denmark, my hotels were cashless. I've even stayed at a hotel in the USA that was cashless. Italy I needed cash for toilets but not much else.

The only place I really did need cash was Japan.

We always have cash since you never know when you’ll come across a cash only restaurant or hotel. My latest experiences were in Wales last year and we did have sufficient cash.

Card fees charged to retailers can be a very large number, generally 2-3 percent, with Amex higher, and it really adds up. Have respect for smaller stores/businesses and pay cash when you can. People do not think about this-or they just don't care.

We all pay for airline miles. Boycott programs like this.

I don't ever use a credit card at all. No reason to use one in Germany. There are no deals, no miles, just fees for using one.

If people want to know why Germans have so little debt compared to the population in the US, this may be why. If they don't have money for something, they just don't buy it. There is a lot less credit card fraud in Germany too. No one worries about having one of those RFD wallets or bags.

Walking the Camino in Spain and Portugal, was almost a total cash experience. I think I used my debit card 2 times when I was in a hotel type place in a larger town, otherwise, all cash.

Small businesses have to pay a hefty fee for taking your credit card, so many of them don't. Why should they? More paperwork and less money at the end of the month because of the fees. Cash is better.

I despise cash and try to never use it unless necessary. Of course Europe is a big place so I’ll always research where I’m going to see if the local custom is still cash, I have a feeling that’s becoming less and less common.

I know this sounds incredibly cold, but I’m tired of the small business whining about credit card fees. Just raise your prices. I have no idea about European tax laws, but too many cash only businesses in the USA hide behind the credit card fee excuse to skirt the law about turning over sales tax revenue.

I try to return with as little cash as possible. I can never swear on my Bible that I’ll return to Europe soon, it’s always my goal but who knows what curveballs life will throw at me.

I still like to use cash - easier to budget. Especially at Xmas time - it would be so easy to just keep tapping that debit or credit card - but if I have $200 in my Xmas envelope, when it's gone, then that's it until next paycheque. We do use our credit cards but they get paid in full every month. On holiday we tend more to credit cards, just because I don't want to carry a bunch of cash on me - I actually came across a store in London that doesn't accept cash! I felt kinda dumb charging 7 GBP to my credit card when I had cash in hand, but I really wanted the pastry...lol. But I look at someone like my mom who doesn't have a credit card - she'd be out of luck. (She barely uses her debit card at home, imagine trying to use it abroad).

My experience is the further north you go, the less cash you need.

In most places around Scandinavia, using cash is an oddball transaction.

In Italy, everyone wants cash.

I'm getting ready to sail around BVI in mid-February. From what I'm reading, most transactions there are conducted with cash.

At home in the U.S. I usually keep some cash in my wallet but it might sit there for weeks before I need more. I don't do miles. I get some cash back on credit cards but it's not part of my purchasing decision.

I definitely disagree with the title. Cash is not still "King" in Europe. In some areas, some countries especially further east and south there are still places where they prefer cash. In general cash in fine for small purchases - things like street vendors in many countries will be cash only. A few B&B type places prefer cash. But more and more places are going cash free. I was in England a couple years ago for only about 3 days, and I had about 7 pounds left from a previous trip so planned to take out more but found I didn't even spend that - in fact after two days of not using cash I decided to see if I could not spend any and I did. Europe is a big place and it will be different depending on where you go, but to say " cash is still king" is misleading.

I'm not sure if the graph is based on number of transactions or value. I think the former. Although, clearly there is a link between both measures.

My entirely unscientific observation is that in Britain cashless is becoming many people's way of life, even for tiny payments like buying a sandwich or a single bus ticket. Many (most?), small independent traders, pubs and stalls have terminals to accept contactless cards or mobile phones to pay these days. The last time I had (as opposed to chose), to pay cash was a rural taxi several weeks ago.

Whereas in Spain, it's still much more common to use cash for little purchases, like buying a coffee, with debit/credit cards used more for the big supermarket shop. But it's changing quickly, many small shops, bars & cafes already have the technology to accept cashless small value, contactless payment. Younger people (and tourists), are using it and the direction of travel is clear.

I also think the same pattern is in Spain as it was in Britain in the early years. You're currently much more likely for the shopkeeper or waiter to assume you'll pay cashless in Madrid or Seville than you are in a small village. Eventually, though it'll be ubiquitous everywhere.

I dislike having to deal with coins, but for some countries you need coins for parking meters.
We did four weeks in Britain a few years ago and had to always have coins for the parking, as well as sometimes for toilets.

I'm not sure if the graph is based on number of transactions or value. I think the former. Although, clearly there is a link between both measures.

It is number of transactions. By value for Germany for example it is a little under 50%.

It doesn't have anything really to do with credit cards as cash usage in the Netherlands has declined pretty much in line with the UK, but has the same very low credit card usage as Germany. Even in the UK debit card spending by value is roughly three times that of credit card.

The number of transactions has fallen quickly in many countries in recent years with the spread of contactless for small payments. Even Germany is starting to see a little belated trend in this regard if confined more to younger people than seen in other countries.

Cash handling costs in Scandinavian countries can approach 3% now, significantly more than card handling costs, hence the growing reluctance of merchants to take cash there.

Much paid-for parking in the UK can be done via app or phone but these typically need accounts to be set up with the various operators. Direct payment via contactless is also widely available. Tends to only be low cost local authority parking that is cash only.

So, back to my original question, has anyone ever been stuck needing cash and not having any? While at home I rarely have more than $20 in my pocket, but because of my familiarity with home, I know that's all I need. When traveling, I won't have that same comfort level and so I'm prepared for anything. However my wife kept in touch with a tour tourmate from an RS tour last Spring. I don't have specific details of why it happened, but at the end of the tour she took a cab from the hotel to the airport, apparently for the entire trip she used the swipe method for her credit card instead of chip and pin. The cab driver said swipe wasn't an option and she'd need to use chip and pin, but she had no idea what her pin was and had no cash with her. She ended up borrowing money from another tourmate that she saw at the airport to pay the driver.

Allan we had a similar experience in Prague as your wife’s friend. The night before an early morning flight our hotel clerk arranged for a taxi to pick us up. We were assured the taxis took credit cards. Not wanting to be stuck with Czech koruna we then spent all our remaining cash at dinner that night. Next morning the cab driver says cash only. At 5:30 am we ended up having to withdraw more cash than we needed at an airport ATM in order to pay him.

I was in a restaurant in Rome in tourist area of the city, a moderate priced casual place but not a tiny mom n pop shop. Bill came, we didn’t know it was cash only and had gotten a bottle of wine so the amount was higher than our cash on hand. So someone had to go to an ATM. No big deal, my husband sat at the table and finished the wine. I, unfortunately in this case, have the better sense of direction so went a few blocks away to an ATM that the waiter directed me towards. I don’t know what would have happened if I were eating alone though - leaving without paying to “find an ATM” when there’s no one else on your party still sitting there seems sketchy.

Moral of the story - unless in a mostly cashless type country, have the cost of a realistically moderate to high restaurant meal, whatever that means for you, in reserve. Would also pay for a taxi in the previous stories.

We were just in Ireland and most of our B+B’s needed cash. Germany and Austria accommodation, many stores and restaurants are definitely cash based businesses.

For an upcoming trip, I paid for 1/2 half of lodging online with a CC at time of booking. Balance due on arrival (Lisbon B&B) is cash only. Was told the establishment doesn't have the means to process a CC transaction at check-in.

Little recourse for that cash payment if anything major were to come up. And, I wasn't planning to withdraw a lot of cash at start of the trip. (I do have around €100 remaining from my Barcelona trip in 2018.)

The exception to "cashless" is Germany. We can still be glad for that. Cash is still king in Germany.

In Germany I use cash and prefer doing that almost exclusively, say 95% based on the last 2 trips, where I made it a point to resist the temptation to pay with a credit card.

A couple of times I was at the moment cashless due my own negligence of not checking how much cash I still had on me. It has happened.

has anyone ever been stuck needing cash and not having any?

A few times.
(1) Many years ago we had dinner with some friends in London on our last night there. We offered to pay for dinner because one of our friends had been very helpful to us on the trip. The bill came, I had no money, and it was cash only. Our friend paid, then we walked to an ATM. And I couldn't use it because I didn't know my PIN in numbers, only letters. I paid our friend back next time we saw him; several years later.

(2) A few years ago we had just arrived in France and went to have lunch at a restaurant in Meze we had dined at twice the year before. When the bill came, I had no cash, and the waiter (who knew us from the prior year) said it was their first day opening for the year and the credit card machine wasn't working. He said we could pay next time we were in the area, but I asked if there was
a nearby bank machine. He said yes, but he didn't know if it would take American cards; of course it did, and I paid him within minutes.

and finally (3) several times we've arrived at a rental property and didn't yet have the cash to pay either the balance or a deposit. But the owners were always understanding.

Coins for toilets! And one hotel in the Netherlands (years ago) had coin-operated showers - down the hall from my room.

I’m curious as to why people think it’s a good thing that a country is still mostly cash. Sure, if I go to Germany in the future and it’s still mostly cash. I’ll follow the local custom even if I don’t like it.

But surely most people, especially on this forum, have a general budget for their trip. At least that’s what I always do. €10 for an meal is still €10 regardless if you pay in cash or use a card. The only thing that I could see as a budget buster would be someone who really likes to shop. But, they can have the same issue back in the USA. Waking up in the morning with 5 new shirts is probably a good indication that you bought them, they weren’t delivered overnight by the shirt fairy.

What I do is review my card on their app ever day or two. While traveling you’re obviously spending a lot more than you would at home. My budget always has some wiggle room, but it usually ends up balancing out in the end. I might have spent a bit more on dinner or drinks one night, but ended up skipping an attraction a day or so later because I had Cathedralitis and couldn’t deal with another one.

With the app, I can immediately make a payment to the card as well which I do at certain intervals, interest rates on cash are so low that I don’t care about it. I’ve found that once I’ve hit $500, I’ll just make an immediate payment to the credit card.

I hope cashless continues to spread throughout Europe and also in the USA.

Yes, coin operated showers. Exactly my experience in a few hostels years ago in Germany, ie 1971.

The shower worked if you wanted only cold water. For additional luxury that of hot water, you had to drop in a 50 pfennig coin, (no change provided), nothing but a 50 pfennig coin was accepted. I don't recall how long the hot water gushed out for that amount.

When I travel by myself, I only pay for lodging with a cc. Everything else is cash. I did that in Italy in 2018 and France last year. If I’m staying at a B&B, I’ll ask them what they prefer.

In 2017, we paid for most everything in Spain in cash, except our hotels.

I just don’t like the chance of compromising a cc while on vacation. We had it happen during vacation in the US, and it’s a pain.

A few years ago, my brother was in Germany on business and didn’t listen to us about possibly needing cash. He went to a restaurant with coworkers, and sure enough, it was cash only. Fortunately, one of his coworkers covered his bill. In 2015, with my other brother, we went to Wurstkuchl sausage in Regensburg, Germany and he didn’t have cash. I paid his bill. His wife wanted to buy a bottle of wine in Melk, and sure enough, the store was cash only. My wife paid for the wine.

If the trend in Europe is towards "cashless" and I don't doubt that at all based on my own observations, I can almost bet that Germany will stand as the obstacle to this movement. I don't believe Germans will change in their thinking, in their preference for cash, based on what I've seen since 1971....good.

I remember in 2017 seeing in my hotel room news report on German TV, their version of NPR, if Germans prefer cash over credit cards, sort of asking the "man in the street" question.

Of course, women were asked as well with both genders almost to a person saying they rather use cash over credit cards, ie the overwhelming response was cash. The strange part of the random questioning was that it took place near a bank's ATM.

I travel to Italy at least once a year and lived there for a few years. It seems like cash is king in many places there. I prefer to use my credit card and get very annoyed being told that the credit card machine is mysteriously “broken“. The funny thing is, when I decide to walk out without buying/ordering, the machine is often miraculously fixed! 🤣 I understand the fees involved for small businesses, but this is still very much an annoyance to me.

I can’t understand preferring cash. In countries where it’s the main way to pay, I use it of course but I just don’t understand why an individual would prefer it that way.

If you loose cash or get it stolen...it’s gone. That’s not a big deal if you only carry $20 for small purchases, but if you need to have enough on you for everything (meals, groceries, admissions, souvenirs) for a family of 4 for multiple days it adds up. Carrying around hundreds of euros just feels like a risk. If my card is stolen I call it in and I’m not responsible for anything the thief bought.

I can stick to my budget regardless of how I pay so that’s not a concern.

It also just takes longer at the register and gets annoyingly heavy with all the coins. I never spend the less than 1euro coins because I don’t want to hold up the line counting and digging around, better to pay with bills and euro coins. So I have a lot of money sitting at home in 10cent euro coins and the like. I haul them on my trips and rarely use them, I just get more.

About the fees...multiple places here in the US are going cashless because the cost of employee time, errors, bank handling, and theft risk make having cash in the establishment more expensive than just accepting cards.

In Italy an Italian acquaintance told me that the card machine is “broken” in some places so they can skirt taxes. No record of what’s sold. I’m sure that’s not always true, but I’m also sure it’s sometimes true. This is not a good thing!

Everyone has their own preference. To each his own. I am one who prefers cash in most small transactions, home and abroad. It makes a relatively quick and anonymous transaction, and I'm not confused by making change and coins. Yes, cards work too, but sometimes they don't. And being stuck behind someone who can't get their card to work happens often. After 10+ times having my debit or credit card compromised here at home, I try and limit my exposure. Losing a card or having it compromised is a whole bigger deal when traveling than at home. I'd be a little more inclined to use (American) cards if they were true chip & PIN.

No one here has ever advocated carrying a whole trip's worth of cash on you. That's what ATMs are for. But you just have to accept that some people don't see cashless for every single transaction as a benefit. As noted further up in the discussion, the whole mileage-points connection is a US come-on, not universal.

I cant give a reference, but I believe I saw a news article last weekend about two US cities banning cashless businesses. There is a significant percent of the US population that doesn't have access to bank cards. Maybe not the traveling public.

Stan, according to this article, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are all banning cashless businesses.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/479627-new-york-city-bans-cashless-businesses

I found another article that says 20% of Americans don't have a bank card. That compares to 3% of Canadians and 10% from UK, Australia and Germany.

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_debit_cards/

Mira, I’m definitely not carrying all of my money for the trip with me! ATM withdrawals of 200-300 Euro. 10-40 Euro goes into my purse; the rest is in my money belt.

Transactions are fast with cash, especially because I have the correct amount ready. Those small coins are perfect for tram/metro tickets, coins for a toilet, or exact change for a gelato. We usually only waste the 1 & 5 cent coins.

A note about the “cc machine not working “. All transactions in Italy require a receipt, and you must keep the receipt until you’re past the shop/restaurant. That’s to curtail the non- reporting. Both the shop and the customer can be fined for noncompliance.

Yeah, I kinda wondered if some of the credit card machine is broken excuses were to get around taxes. Cab drivers can whine and cry about Uber all they want, but them pulling that nonsense constantly was the final straw.

And the cashless bans are also a swipe at Amazon and their entry into the retail market since all their stores are cashless.

Mira, while you may not be responsible for those purchases made by the thief, the CC company is. Its losses are passed to its customers in the form of higher interest rates or fees charged to businesses accepting the card. Nothing is free; somebody has to pay the bill.

True that there have been businesses in SF within the last two years which announced that no cash would be accepted as payment. They almost automatically ran into legal trouble. Not accepting cash at these businesses was seen/ denounced as discriminatory.

Keep in mind too that in German restaurants, eateries, etc, the waiter or waitress with the cash change pouch worn under the apron containing all the Euro bills and a ton of coins, just as it was when that pouch held DM currency and a mass of coins. This practice won't change....good.

Looking at my last six trips to Europe (most of the time, but not entirely spent in Germany), I remember using my credit card exactly 9 times. Four of those times were on the last two trips, when I used it for a POS purchase of clothing in a store for my SO, who likes to shop and found something fairly expensive she wanted. Of the other five, four were advance purchase from the US of rail tickets; using a CC is the only way to get the savings offered by advance purchase of tickets. The other CC purchase was from a ticket automat in Würzburg when there was a long line at the ticket counter. As I remember, at the time the Bahn ticket automats only accepted credit card payments - you could not use cash. Most of my ticket purchases were for local ticket and regional passes from local (Nahverkehr) automats which did accept cash.

A tenth time I did use my credit card before I left the US to guarantee an accommodation for late arrival, but since I did arrive and ultimately paid cash for the room, by CC was never charged.

I never use a credit card to pay for accommodations or meals. I've found from experience and my research, that the small, culturally interesting places at which I like to stay almost never accept credit cards. I have actually had these places notify me in advance that they only accept cash. To use a credit card for accommodations in Germany, you almost always have to stay at a bigger, overpriced hotel, one that caters to tourists who want to use their credit cards and will pay more for of doing so. Correspondingly, I've never tried to use a credit card in the restaurants a go to, but I have never seen anyone using one in these places, either.

Although I feel I spend less by not having to stay in a place that takes credit cards, I don't feel that the same is true for POS purchases. If my SO finds something she likes in a store that takes a credit card, I'm not going to go out all over town looking for someplace that has the exact same thing for less because they don't take credit cards. I used my card for the purchase to limit my trips to the ATM.

Credit card usage is not without risk. A couple of years ago, I used my credit card to make an annual payment to a computer security company. A week later a 99¢ charge appeared on my card from the same state. The bank explained to me that when a card number is stolen, the first thing they do is make a small purchase that won't be noticed to assure that the card is live before they start using it to drain you account (or sell the card number on the dark web). So they cancelled my card and issued a new one, but I had to figure out all the people that had the card number for automatic payment and change the card number. Last summer, my SO used her card, I think at a restaurant in Kennebunkport, Me. Soon after fraudulent charges began showing up on here card, so the bank closed the account and opened a new one. Again, she had to change the card number for multiple merchants. Six months later, she used the card in California, and the same thing happened.

But my major beef with credit card interchange fees is that they add to the cost of all good that a merchant sells. So we all pay more. The profits from this higher cost goes to pay overpaid bank CEOs and wealthy investers. It's essentially redistribution of wealth, from the less wealthy to the wealthier.

OK, I know cash vs card is a Holy War on these forums. What I find baffling is why Germany seems to be stuck in more of a cash era when it’s such a big banking centre? The Euro is basically the old Deutsche Mark. Frankfurt is a huge centre for international finance. London is an equivalent and almost all cashless.

Some of the southern and Eastern European countries don’t surprise me by still living in more of a cash era but Germany has one of the largest and most advanced economies in the world. Now I’m curious if Singapore and Hong Kong are still in the cash era or not.

What I find baffling is why Germany seems to be stuck in more of a
cash era when it’s such a big banking centre?

Germany was a major surveillance state under the Stasi and they have a cultural aversion to private companies like credit cards tracking aspects of their personal lives. Let's face it, credit card companies know more about you than family members in many respects when it comes to your finances (it's pretty creepy). The upside of cash is your purchases are not traceable. I'd prefer to go to a cashless society myself but I still cringe at how much info private companies collect and sell with respect to our spending habits, credit profile, etc. Ads are micro targeted based on recent purchases, and you're constantly nudged to spend more. You become "the product" and all your info is monetized.

Re: this thread. It's not that "cash is king", it's that many Europeans prefer to use debit cards and contactless payment in lieu of credit. That doesn't mean they carry and pay with cash for everything. Obviously tourists can't use their debit cards overseas and many don't use things like Apple Pay.

Obviously tourists can't use their debit cards overseas and many don't
use things like Apple Pay.

Myself and my travel companions routinely use debit cards for purchases overseas.
Apple Pay does allow debit cards to be loaded into it's RFID wallet.

I often use a debit card (provided by work) and Apple Pay in Europe. Works just like at home.

Not sure where the idea that tourists can't use debit cards comes from? It may be true for some debit cards issued by smaller banks or credit unions.

EDIT: Of course I am looking at this from the US viewpoint where banks get a significant amount of income (interchange fees) from debit and credit cards so they really really want you to use all of your cards everywhere. Of course there are ATM only cards issued by US banks as well as some customers don't want to have all of the functions of a Visa/MasterCard labeled debit card. And different countries have different banking laws of which I am no expert so YMMV.

I just love cash....
Have your accounts and email compromised while overseas is a bi*ch. Been there, done that.
My atm cards never hit any machine but a bank atm.
But everyone has to do their own thing.

Not sure where the idea that tourists can't use debit cards comes
from? It may be true for some debit cards issued by smaller banks or
credit unions.

I can't speak for all banks, but my bank-RBC which is one of the largest banks in Canada with $1.3 Trillion in assets doesn't allow me to use my debit card for point of sale purchases outside of Canada, ATM only.

I did laugh at the poster that thinks using cards at the check out is faster then using cash. You never experienced Aldi back in the day, when they didn't even have bar codes. The cashiers were much faster and got paid accordingly, making a really good salary.
Using a card slows EVERYTHING down. Lines where everyone is paying cash move along nicely, and then comes someone with a card. Stop, wait, wait, wait, ok move along again.

I can't speak for all banks

Most US banks allow their customers to use their debit cards for purchases worldwide. That’s why the MasterCard/Visa symbols are on the them.

Using a card slows EVERYTHING down. Lines where everyone is paying
cash move along nicely, and then comes someone with a card.

That's a good argument for improving the card readers (there is a difference in the types of readers - I experience it all the time) or using contactless payment (super quick; just requires a tap).

Germans are generally honest, rule-based people, but in other countries (largely Southern Europe but elsewhere too), the ubiquity of cash is associated with tax leakage and underreporting. At a minimum, I would like to see the annoying small "nuisance" coins be put out of circulation - it costs more to manufacture them than they are worth.

Using a card slows EVERYTHING down.

Actually the exact opposite is true in most cases.

Visa and MasterCard both have run independent tests for multiple years in a row to see what is faster. Card payments are always faster and can be significantly more so if there is coin that has to be counted for the cash transactions. Now this is done based on the typical US style cash register system: all coin in or out has to be counted manually (i.e. no automatic coin machine to give change). I have noticed that most grocery register in Germany (and most of Europe) has automatic coin dispensers for change which does speed things up. And European cashiers seem to be much better/faster at counting coins than US cashiers anyway.

There was a significant dip in card speed when the US first started using chip cards. It did take what seemed like forever for the card to process. But there was a major rewrite of the software in the card readers and now the speed of the card transaction is almost as fast as the mag stripe option and is again faster than cash. I don't know if the card reader software update has made it to Europe of not.

What I would really like to see go away is people writing a check for their groceries and other similar transactions here in the US. Nothing slows down the line like someone waiting till the last second to start writing the check and then not even knowing what the date is! :-/

And just to make clear: I am a cash paying person when in Europe. I pay for any and everything I can with cash (except when traveling for work where I am required to put everything on the business card whenever possible).

Sure there are still plenty of backward places where you have to pay with cash. But if the option of cashless is available why would you not want to? With small value purchases it's much easier to use a contactless debit/credit card or your mobile phone rather than actual money. With cash you quickly end up with pockets full of coins (and, unlike cards/phones, no record of where/what you spent). For bigger purchases, who wants to get and then carry all that money around, when you can deal with the payment by chip & pin and/or biometric?

As for cheques, does anyone still use them these days? I can't remember when I last wrote one, but it must be years ago.

At a minimum, I would like to see the annoying small "nuisance" coins
be put out of circulation

As I get older (still in my mid 50's, so I guess it's only to get worse) I struggle with coins in the UK and Euro countries because I have trouble reading the coins to see their value, so this definitely slows things down. But at home in Canada I have no problems since I'm familiar with the coins by feel or quick glance. We did get rid of our penny in 2013 and there is occasional talk of getting rid of the nickel and even converting the $5 bill to a coin. Our $1 and $2 are already coins. I had an embarrassing moment in the Cotswolds a year ago, the British penny is huge; about the same size as our Canadian $1 coin. I tried to pay with the penny because I thought it was a $1 coin. The clerk gave me this look like I must have been a half-wit.

Am I understanding some of these comments correctly? Tap is not commonly used in the US yet? That has to be the fastest method of pay. Also, people are still paying with cheques? I just asked my wife about it and neither of us has written a cheque in years. Very rare to receive one either, mostly e-transfers.

It's funny how banking can be so different from country to country, Tap and e-transfers seem to be common in Canada and some European countries but not as much in the US. But the Americans can use debit cards for point of sale out of country, but it's still a struggle with some Canadian bank cards.

Tap is extremely rare in the USA, it’s very slowly catching on.

My neighborhood is very unlike the USA, it’s highly educated, urban, and affluent and young. It’s safe to say that many in my neighborhood have traveled abroad even if it was just to study abroad in college. And yet, tapping is still rare even when the stores offer it which isn’t super common.

The USA just got chip cards around 2015 or so and there’s still plenty of places that’ll ask you to still swipe. So, that shows how behind the times the USA is.

But, more and more credit cards are issuing them as contactless as the old expire and the new ones are sent out.

It is nice that the public transit system in Chicago added contactless as a payment method when they updated their payment systems a few years ago. Chicago may be the only USA city that offers contactless payment and it’s a great option for visitors who then don’t have to bother with a stored value card that costs $5 up front anyway.

Checks are fairly rare among anyone under 50, but still used by older people.

Yes, People are still paying with checks (or cheques). Around me, it is mostly older women that I see who insist on writing a check for everything. I finally convinced my mom to use her debit card instead of checks and she was happy once she determined how easy it was. Same with e-payments for my mom. After seeing how much she is saving on postage, she is very happy to not write a check and mail it in and has no issues with paying monthly bills online. Also, the price of blank checks has skyrocketed recently adding to the drive to not use them for us.

Tap is still rare in the US, unfortunately. With the roll out of Apple Pay, many merchants now have the ability to take tap payments, but many still don't seem to want to. I run into many who have a card reader that displays the tap symbol but when I try to tap, they say it doesn't work. My main bank now even has tap at the ATM to get cash since they just replaced all of their debit cards with tap enabled ones.

It is just the "we always did it that way" reasoning that is keeping people from moving to the newer ways.

One of the drawbacks of cash: German man forgets €20,000 cash on car roof (Deutsche Welle)

The Bundesbank have tried to use cash flow monitoring to assess the size of the underground economy in Germany but without success.

Marco reminded my of this news item from a few years ago: https://lenews.ch/2016/03/13/what-would-you-do-if-you-found-144000-francs/
Fuller version in German: https://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/basel/ehepaar-vergisst-geld-tasche-im-tram-ehrlicher-draemmli-chauffeur-uebergibt-144-000-franken-id4761324.html

A couple left a bag containing CHF 144,000 (slightly more than Marco's story) and their ID documents in a tram. The driver found the bag, turned it and the the police returned it to the owners.

Switzerland is still very cash-orientated, though it is slowly changing. Supermarkets are all promoting contactless payments. And last week I walked past a bar with a sign outside "from February this bar is cashless", the start of the slippery slope.

Tap is extremely rare in the USA

Not in the Northeast. In my neck of the woods 99% of merchants now accept contactless payment. This ranges from small independent merchants (even seasonal roadside fruit stands) to chain big box retailers, and I live in a rural area. Also, bank owned ATM machines are setup for tap, gas pumps and most all vending machines. It's so widespread now that often when I have to do a quick run into town for an errand I just bring my phone with me, and forget the wallet at home.

The USA is a bit unique among developed countries in that we still have a very fragmented banking system. It is easier to introduce new technologies into a country where there’s only a few major players.

Part of this is just US history. There’s been hostility towards a central bank as well as big banks in the USA since the beginning of the country.

But also, as banks began to consolidate back in 1990s or so, the larger banks did everything possible to drive the masses away which resulted in an explosion of credit unions and online banks.

Sorry for the history lesson, but that’s the major reason why the USA seems 25 years behind the times compared to almost every developed country.

Cheques - we write one a year - for our property taxes. Maybe once or twice if we had a house repair in the last few years we'd write a cheque.

Cash faster than debit/credit...well, for me, I pay faster in cash because even before I have the total I always have it in hand, along with the change, and I count it out really quick. It's the people who wait until they get their total, then dig our their wallet/change purse, go digging thru the change...ugh. But the same happens with debit/credit. Sometimes the tap doesn't work or total is too big for tap, so you have to do the PIN thing. I can pay cash faster than waiting for the machine. And sometimes you get people who forget their PIN, or type it wrong, or just move at turtle speed. I've worked retail for years, so I'm always ready to pay.

Pay cash, 10% off, if you do that up front, and keep your mouth shut about it. :) This is Italy. I always ask about cash. They are always willing to deal, if its cash money, and they will present a discount. If they don't, its not an Italian place you are staying.

"Germany seems to be stuck in more of a cash era...." Hopefully it stays that way in Germany. I rather doubt it will change moving towards cashless.

I pay by phone and of course, most naturally, write and pay by check, ie, my credit card bills, the IRS, CA state income tax, Comcast, the PG&E bill, etc. Auto-pay only applies to car insurance.

No checks in Germany. I don't know if other countries have them or not, but what an outdated system.
Will be glad when banks in the US move into the modern usage of IBANs to facilitate international money transfers. For free! Why do they not have this?

when banks in the US move into the modern usage of IBANs to facilitate international money transfers. For free! Why do they not have this?

Because they use FEDWIRE and charge $50 to do it. :-)

Not sure where the idea that tourists can't use debit cards comes from? It may be true for some debit cards issued by smaller banks or credit unions.

A lot of merchants in Germany accept only Girocard debit cards; that is a national debit card system, so foreign tourists are unlikely to have such a card (while they come with nearly every bank account in Germany). V-Pay and Maestro debit cards are also sometimes accepted (but I don't think these cards are very common either). Visa and Mastercard acceptance have increased a lot, but you can still find a lot of shops that accept Girocard onlay.

And James - I've never written a check
;)

Pay cash, 10% off, if you do that up front, and keep your mouth shut
about it. :) This is Italy. I always ask about cash. They are always
willing to deal, if its cash money, and they will present a discount.
If they don't, its not an Italian place you are staying.

I didn't even have to ask. With my confirmation when I booked my hotel in Venice they let me know if I paid cash they'd give me 15% off. If by credit card my stay would have been €1165, but I paid cash-about €990.

I'm reading the comments about the US banking system with interest. I wonder if anyone from RS is and has considered the non-Americans that book his tours?We couldn't do a cross border e-transfer, or pay by cheque unless it was drawn on an American account, so we would have had to get an international money order, so we ended up just paying by credit card which means we didn't get the discount offered by not paying by credit card plus our bank hit us with a 2.5% fee for an international purchase.

From what I've experienced, my neck of the woods has a lot of Tap and Apple Pay possibilities (although I haven't used Apple Pay yet as I have a technical question about it), but I love to Tap away. However, for my weekly "pin" money, I use cash...when it is gone, it is gone...this is more a way to keep an eye on myself than anything. The rest I charge to build up my rewards on my cards. In Europe, I much prefer to use CC's all the time as is easier than counting change in a foreign country. As for checks, there are one or two items each year that require a check, which I do find inconvenient. That being said, I loved Sweden for the ease of it. But then, I just love Sweden...

we ended up just paying by credit card which means we didn't get the
discount offered by not paying by credit card plus our bank hit us
with a 2.5% fee for an international purchase.

Check out Transferwise, their fees are quite low and they seem like a good alternative in this situation.

Are there any Canadian credit card products that don't impose a 2.5% fee overseas? In the US, we are lucky to have several options.

Are there any Canadian credit card products that don't impose a 2.5%
fee overseas? In the US, we are lucky to have several options.

Surprisingly, very few that don't come with an annual fee. I did look into it, but decided that $25 on every $1000 spent isn't that big of a deal, except for the rare exceptions like the RS tour where the fees came to about $270.

Surprisingly, very few that don't come with an annual fee.

So what is the downside of selecting from among one of those very few if it would have saved you $270 on the RS tour, plus any travel expenses outside of Canada? I assume travel outside of Canada is part of future plans?

In a number of B&Bs I have stayed at in London ( Kings Cross), if one pays in cash, either at check-in or at check-out, that's to your favor. The B&B will accept payment by credit card but will also charge an additional 3-4% depending on the B&B for giving the guest that extra piece of luxury.

Have I paid that extra 3%, yes, at least once. Confronted with this surcharge, I make sure I have the cash on me.

So what is the downside of selecting from among one of those very few
if it would have saved you $270 on the RS tour, plus any travel
expenses outside of Canada?

Agnes, typical annual fee was $150 which means I'd need to spend $6000/year out of country with the card to recover the 2.5% fee. It's rare we'd have more than $2000-3000 on the card on a typical trip.

In a number of B&Bs I have stayed at in London ( Kings Cross), if one pays in cash, either at check-in or at check-out, that's to your favor. The B&B will accept payment by credit card but will also charge an additional 3-4% depending on the B&B for giving the guest that extra piece of luxury.

They can't legally surcharge credit cards issued in the UK/EU/EEA any more. American cards are still fair game.

Had some kitchen remodeling done a year ago, and the company (not a mom and pop, and popular in the area I live) only accepted checks. No CCs, period.

I did laugh at the poster that thinks using cards at the check out is faster then using cash.

The software and card readers have really improved over here. I was doing a run to Target today, and the reader screen nags you to insert card even while the cashier is still scanning your purchases. So by the time there's a total bill, the card information is in the card reader's buffer, my credit card is back in my wallet, and it's 2-3 seconds for the card system to transmit the data to the billing mothership and for the receipt to print out.

The slow down as the cashier was handing me my receipt was that I was also taking advantage of one of Target's regular 'buy enough toiler paper to get you through the zombie apocalypse; get a $10 Target gift card' promotions, and I actually had to dig my wallet back out of my bag, where it had been sitting for a good 45-60 seconds at that point, and add that gift card to the rest of my stash of Target promotional GCs.

My monthly lawn service is check-only. My cat sitter is check or Venmo and I write a check for her because I don't want to have to deal with another peer to peer transfer service in addition to my PayPal account. Passport fees in the USA are check or money order so I just wrote a check for that. Electric and water service are via online bill pay. The last few years, I've done property taxes via credit card because I could get more from a card bonus than the fee I pay for using the card on that transaction.

It's fast checking out with cards here, especially because often you can just tap the card for purchases under say 20€ or 30€ (my card has an upper limit for PIN-less transactions, and sometimes the merchant has a different one). It's certainly faster than handing over cash if you don't have the exact amount and waiting for your change to be counted back (or conversely if you yourself are searching in your coin purse for the exact amount if it's not known in advance).

Just out of curiosity, and no disrespect, but how do cash-only people handle renting cars (you can't without a card, can you?), buying train/airline tickets, and paying large hotel bills? Go to the ATM everyday? What if you spend more than $300 a day? Carry an enormous money belt? For me a mix is always best. Convenient sometimes to use the card, but for small purchases and small businesses, using cash isn't a big deal, and the vendors appreciate it. I always try to respect local customs and norms. Do what the locals do. And, keep some change after the trip if you know you'll be using it again (toilets? tips? that guy who wants 2 euros to 'watch' your car? Never seen one of those guys take a card, and I've parked in plenty of spaces where I want this 'service'), and throw the smallest coins in the donation bin at the airport on your way home. Done.

@Wanderlust58, we're arguing about everyday purchases, not buying a new car! I am in the cash camp. At home, I don't use my credit card at all for weeks on end.
I do use it (or my debit card) to buy things on the internet (transport, hotels) and occasional big purchases (furniture) and for renting a car as they insist on one, otherwise cash from the "hole in the wall".

The question is really "when travelling, what is the price point below which you pay cash and above which you use plastic. $/£/€ 10 or $/£/€ 100?"
For me it is at the higher end, except, last week in London I used my card "contactless" to pay for some trips on the tube, as that is the cheapest and quickest way. For 2 tube trips and 1 bus it cost ~£6.30 (I forget the exact amount)

In Germany I am one of these "cash only" types, carry more that $300 in Euro, certainly not all of it in one place, ....some of it in the neck pouch, some in the "hidden pocket" and some in the wallet and passport holder. I don't have to deal with car rentals, not a transportation option.

Many airlines allow you to buy tickets via PayPal these days, so all you really need is a bank account linked to the PayPal account, Hotels, I assume will take cash up front for the whole reservation plus a refundable damage and incidentals deposit like they take with a MC/Visa-branded debit card. There are some non-dodgy rental car companies that will allow you to rent with a MC/Visa branded debit card with the understanding that they will place a large hold on the balance for potential damages until the car is returned.

Daily, small purchases, we will use either cash or card, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. But for the settling up of a hotel bill, the difference can be hundreds of dollars, then the cash question comes in to full view. Your card is then just a place holder, for your reservation. Lodging for us is the second biggest expense. Expecting a cash discount on hotel has always worked out, but ask up front. And in one or two cases, we anticipated that the hotel would have "problems" with their ability to use a Credit Card, "technical problems." Completely understandable, we'd say, but if we pay cash, "whats the discount?" We would always have that cash on hand anyway to settle up, and at least a 10% discount. There is "above table," and then there is something else. Every small establishment in Italy, cooks the books, one way or another: Its how it is.

Don’t know how old the article is but paying part cash part card can be a huge headache at most hotels. I’m sure it doesn’t apply as much to the mom and pop places, but at chains it’s a huge huge pain. You’ll often have only one person with access to cash, usually the manager on duty. And then splitting the bill up. I’m painting with a broad brush, but this sounds like something I’d just avoid. Chain hotels, at least in the counties I’ve been seen to be almost cashless these days.

Airports are a much better bet as they’re used to people using up cash as they’re leaving the country. Sometimes they’ll even take foreign currency at the usual awful exchange rates.

I always advise against leaving Europe with a lot of cash, low value coins are fine as souvenirs for kids. I love the motto of assume you will return, but life can get in the way when you’re busy making plans and you may not be able to. Plus, who knows what changes could be made, how many threads do we have in the England forum about old pound notes?

I kept pre-Euro coins in FF and DM as a small collection, souvenirs, etc.

Coming back from Europe I always bring back more than $300-400 in Euro and some GBP notes too. Obviously, they'll be used for the next trip

Is cash (i.e. dirty money) still king in the COVID-19 pandemic era?

Is the current coin shortage caused by people avoiding cash as a COVID-19 vector? Or are people hording cash in fear of an economic collapse?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pandemic-leads-national-coin-shortage-federal-reserve-task-force-created-n1233907

https://www.legalexecutiveinstitute.com/will-covid-19-make-cash-obsolete/

Cash is so dead now I haven't hit an ATM since early this year, or needed to. No one really wants to accept bills. I think COVID will spur the transition to contactless payments. I just upgraded my main credit card to contactless so I can take advantage of it.

Only the trendy hipster places around here refuse cash. Everywhere else I've been takes it without horror or revulsion..

There is much more use of card payment in Germany now, from what I see and also from articles and surveys like this one (which is about the use of cash on holidays, but I think is generally true im other parts of life): https://www.welt.de/finanzen/article210681281/Corona-Folgen-Deutsche-Bargeld-Liebe-verblasst.html

In the UK virtually everything during the lockdown and continuing now as the lockdown sort of eases for the moment is paid online by card and in person by contactless card. Cash is simply not welcome in many many places at the moment. Our covid figures are much better now than previously.

Contactless limits have been raised from £30 per transaction (about $37 US) to £45 per transaction (about $56 US). Paying using a mobile (cell) phone contactlessly has a much higher limit so that is how cars are filled with fuel for example and large purchases are made.

Since February I personally have used one coin - a 20 pence piece for a toilet in the Cotswolds last month, and have not used any other cash at all. My wallet still has all the same paper money in it that it had 5 months ago.

We are still isolating as much as ever we can but we have had emails from our podiatrist, my barber, my wife's hairdresser, and our dentist, all of whom either encouraged cash or didn't take cards before the lockdown saying they are happy to see us in controlled circumstances (we haven't taken them up on that - we both have Covid-Hair) but that they will only accept contactless payments. All our local supermarkets have said that they far prefer contactless payments for people visiting in person and one has banned cash.

People in different parts of the country or in a different demographic may have different experiences - dunno.

There is no cash shortage. At least not in the US. There is plenty of paper money for anyone who wants it. There is a shortage of pre rolled coins at banks to sell to their regular commercial customers which in turn means those businesses don't have coin to give their customers for change due. I don't really know why this is unless all of the still closed restaurants, bars, and other similar places are sitting on huge piles of coins they never deposited before they were shut down. The other reason is that the processing of coin deposits at banks may have stopped because those services were closed during the shutdowns and they are the ones sitting on the coin deposits. The government says it is because the mint has slowed down the creation of new coins to add into circulation.

No business around me that I am aware of has stopped accepting cash for payment if they had accepted it previously. Many have posted signs requesting you use a credit/debit card instead of cash and several have now turned on the contactless or tap to pay options at their registers so that the clerks no longer have to handle anyone's cards. When you pay with cash, the local Kroger stores are now giving you your coin change back on a gift card because they are unable to get the coins they need from their bank (or you can "round up" for a charity donation).

But I agree with Agnes, there is just no demand for cash right now (at least not around where I live and shop). I last visited an ATM in February and except for about $20 I spent on tips associated with my last airplane ride all of it is still in my pocket. For a while, delivery people would run away in total fear if I tried to hand them a cash tip, so I stopped trying and since add tips into the purchase when I can. My barber, who was part of the "say no to outrageous merchant credit card fees!" group of businesses who would only accept a card if you insisted (and charged you extra to do so), now will accept only cards and you have to insert it into the machine and push all the right buttons for them (for those outside the US, many card payment machines in the US are still operated by the clerk and the customer rarely touches it in normal circumstances).

In Frankfurt, still paying for almost everything in cash. Considering the Finanzamt is not cutting anyone any slack with needing to pay taxes, a lot of businesses would prefer cash over a CC transaction. No paper trail means fewer taxes owed. Just sayin'.

Just wondering if Canada's polymer bills are easier to disinfect than American cotton-linen bills. Canada's infection rate is so much lower than America's infection rate.

I've never had to worry if a bill was still in my pocket when it went to the washing machine, and apparently others don't either.

https://www.freshdaily.ca/news/2020/03/washing-canadian-money/

Most places near me are accepting cash but have signs that they'd rather you paid by debit or credit. I've still got the same 2-$20 bills in my wallet that I had in March.

I still go through about $100 per month in cash. There is a breakfast only restaurant, my barber and a stand at the local farmers' market that accept cash only. My main credit card does not have the contact less feature available and, of my credit card purchases, only about 5% offer contact less charge so I could not make much use of it even if my CC upgrades..

Over the last few months, many of the small businesses around us were not accepting cash. I cannot think of a place that is still doing that though.

We rarely use cash when we are at home, but do use cash while traveling except for hotels and big ticket items.

I just pulled cash out of my wallet last week and it had been in there since early January.

@Edgar, here's your answer, from cbc.ca :

"If cleaning your cash makes you feel better, the Bank of Canada says soap and water will do the trick on polymer bank notes because they're resistant to moisture.

But don't use disinfectant wipes or other products containing bleach or rubbing alcohol. The central bank says these substances can damage the notes to the point where they may not be recognizable as legitimate money.

It's also a bad idea to wash older paper bills which, unlike polymer notes, aren't resistant to moisture."

Wearing masks is widespread, and social distancing..... which probably helps explain the lower infection rate.

I had a $20 in my wallet for over 2 mos and finally I was getting something at the grocery store for a few bucks and I said - can I use this $20? I'm tired of carrying it around - no prob. Most of the stores preferred plastic, but even the grocery stores would have one lane where you could use cash - not everyone uses plastic - my mom for one - she has a debit but I think the only time she's ever used it was when we went overseas and she needed some euros out of the bancomat, otherwise she always uses cash (she doesn't own a credit card - I get to buy her plane tickets when she flies).

But I use cash at the farmer's market and our hairdresser only accepts cash.

Here in Brooklyn many newly Re-opened businesses have signs outside saying Cash Only. Two bakeries, the nail salon, my shoe maker for example. I thought maybe they wanted cash to try and make up for some of the money they lost during the lockdown, not having to pay cc fees. In our part of Brooklyn, the part with the oldest population, cash is accepted everywhere. On the rare occasion we go to younger, trendy neighborhoods, they have signs saying no cash accepted.

There is always a delay for a merchant receiving the funds on credit and debit transactions as well as chargebacks and fraud with stolen cards where the card networks take money from them. These businesses probably are desperate for immediate funds to pay bills and salary right now. I really can't blame them for wanting cash.