Germany’s Passion for Cash Cools on Hygiene Fears in Virus Era

I hope this helps speed up the shift to credit cards (preferably contactless payment) that much faster. Some people say "cash is king" during emergencies, but I've found that no one wants to take my cash right now (so it's not surprising that this is the case elsewhere).

For the few times we venture out, usually farmers markets, we use a credit card that I carry in a plastic bag and wipe with alcohol when I get home. When this first started I hit the ATM every day thinking cash would be king, but I was wrong. Now (usually after a few too many glasses of wine) I hide $20 bills around the house. My better than I deserve wife periodically finds one and gets really excited! I think she has caught on (but I’m not sure).I really don’t remember where I hid them all so this could go on for a while...

New definitions of "dirty money" and "money laundering":

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/07/tech/mobile-payments-coronavirus/index.html

Dirty money: The case against using cash during the coronavirus
outbreak

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/17/coronavirus-china-disinfects-cash-in-a-bid-to-stop-virus-spreading.html

China is sterilizing cash

I like it! I almost never use cash in the USA and try to avoid doing so abroad as well. The novelty of using different money wears off very quickly and I’ll still never be as fast with the coins as the locals are.

And this pandemic has reinforced my view that assume you will return is a great motto to narrow down your sightseeing, it’s not a great motto for money management. I still find it odd that people choose to bring home a large amount of Euros (or pounds or other currency) after a trip. While obviously this pandemic is a once in an century occurrence, there’s so many ways life can throw curveballs at you.

I'm always hearing about "Germany’s Passion for Cash", but as a tourist I've never found it to be the case. I was in Berlin for a week last February and only used cash on just three occasions: to/from the airport for the taxi, and the bratwurst stand on Potsdamer Platz. All other merchants happily accepted plastic, including Apple/Android Pay and all other forms of contactless payment.

Cash is King can still apply, it just depends on the type of crisis being experienced.

In the virus scenario, it is true that no one wants to touch anything they don't actually have too. Cash has always been seen as "dirty" so it is at the top of the list of things people don't want touch. Delivery people are actually turning down tips when offered in cash where I live!

But if there is a natural disaster (earthquake, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and so on) where infrastructure is damaged and undependable, cash may be the only way to pay for what you need. The power and phone lines could be down for an extended time and without both, card payments are impossible.

I'm not sure if I agree with the prospect of cash being used less in Germany. I kinda liked the ease of paying with cash and not having to worry about DCC or the clerk not being able to find the one working card machine. But times change. Probably before I get back to Europe again cash may disappear completely.

Like Alan, I'm using one credit card (my United card, ironically racking up lots of miles) and either swishing it in bleach water, especially if I have a big vat of it if I'm washing groceries. Otherwise I suds it up between my hands and wipe aggressively with a towel
I came home from Florida in January with 2 emergency $50 bills in my wallet, I think they are still there. Haven't had my purse out of the closet since March 13

Am used to using cash to pay for almost everything but bills, so needing to use my debit card for even small purchases is a pain in the neck.
Prior to this, a stunning 76% of all transactions in Germany were cash. This is an official number, not something I made up.

In the U.K. during the crisis, they have increased the limit on contactless payments from £30 to £45 per transaction to avoid people having to touch the reader but my last three food shops have all been nearly double this! I don’t know if it will drop back to £30 when things return to normal.

Retailers don’t want cash at present.

" I've found that no one wants to take my cash right now (so it's not
surprising that this is the case elsewhere)." If that is the case I'd
get a good lawyer and sue the owners of those businesses, because the
US dollar banknotes are still legal tender all over the USA from
Alaska to Key West. They can tell you they prefer plastic or say that
"I'm terribly sorry, but we don't have change", but they HAVE TO
accept dollars.

No, they don't have to accept cash. That is not what legal tender means. https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm

Why are people washing their cards? Your card shouldnt be leaving your hand.

caro, are all cards on your island contactless? Surely some visitors have cards that have to be inserted in a chip-reading slot that was just occupied by a card that had been held by a different person?

I'm always hearing about "Germany’s Passion for Cash", but as a tourist I've never found it to be the case. I was in Berlin for a week last February and only used cash on just three occasion

Up until recently I also shared your opinion based on my previous visits to Germany however on my most recent trip to Berlin last September I encountered far more places that only accepted cash than I did on previous trips. I put it down to the fact that because I was visiting with friends we were visiting a lot more bars and smaller, casual restaurants whereas when I was in Berlin prior to that I was with my family and we visited places that did accept cards.

When in Munich I was also with friends and we paid in cash because we had a cash kitty, I didn't take any notice of whether a paricular place was cash only or not.

Not having been away from home for several weeks now, I cannot say what the present situation is in Britain. What I can say is that I have not handled cash - coins or notes - since the beginning of lockdown. All payments I have made have been either by card (when ordering online) or by direct bank transfer. That is true even of very small amounts between neighbours.

Even at the end of March, when I had an appointment at our local hosptal, for payments at the pharmacy (OTC medication) and at the convenience store in thje hospital, contactless was the preferred method.

The situation regarding legal tender here, as I understand it, is that if someone owes you money, you have to accept whatever legal payment method they choose. However, if you are selling something, you can stipulate a payment method. Few places will now accept cheques, for example.

caro,

In the US, most credit and debit cards have only just moved to chips most do not have the contactless tap to pay option and quite a few debit cards are still mag stripe. I know, the US is a decade or two behind on things like this unfortunately. Maybe the current situation will push us toward more modern payment options. My grocery store just now added a scanable option for payment with your card of choice (enter your card details into their app and then scan a screen from the app like any other item you are purchasing and it bills your card). So, yeah, our cards still leave our hands for many transactions. I use Apple Pay whenever it is accepted so that does reduce the number of times my card is actually physically used, and during the lockdown I am paying for most everything through online ordering for delivery anyway so no physical payment card contact required.

"No, they don't have to accept cash. That is not what legal tender means."

Contrary to the post, a recent US federal court decision said refusing cash was discrimination against minorities because fewer of them have credit cards. Also, many poor people do not even have bank accounts.

Crumbs Mark, i hope so too. I just tap for everything under -£45 at the moment, feels very safe. But i will go back to cash for small purchases after this, easier to stay on top of my spending! Tap does make it a little too easy....

And even with a credit card that has a tap-to-pay, contactless feature, many card readers here still don’t. Mark, on the south side of the Denver area, mentions his grocery store now offering the newer option. Up here in the northwest corner of the metro area, some do, some don’t. And the gas station now has a notice on the pumps that Tap-to-Pay is coming soon, but for now, it’s still insert or swipe. They take cash, too, if necessary.

Tim, its been contactless for about 10 years for £ 30 and under and with lock down its gone up to £45. Over those amounts it chip and pin. So still there is never a need to hand your card to some one else. Even with the few swipe cards from the States that i might see, they could swipe if wanted too. Its not secure to hand your card over. Would feel really weird as chip and pin has been arround for such along time.

caro, here in The States, the scan-and-verify-signature process is so ingrained that it’s still not quite unusual to hand over your card, knowing you’ll get it right back. Maybe a bit like handing over a tenner, knowing you’ll get your change.

Cyn, but then your card can so easily be cloned. Signing was ingrained over here for decades, but it only took a couple of years for chip and pin to feel totally normal, then a couple more for tap. Every one is doing it!!!!!

It still feels odd receiving change consisting of one dollar bills when visiting the US, particularly during the first few days. When you're so used to receiving small change in coins it initially takes you back a bit and it's easy to think you've been overpaid.

JC, as you may know, we have tried to introduce one dollar coins here...and each effort went down in flames. And we still love our penny, too, despite that they cost more than they’re worth.

And we always have to stop and remember when we’re overseas that the handful of change we carry can be worth many, many dollars.

Coins would be easier to wash and dry than American currency which are printed on a cotton/linen paper. Canada has a better idea using a polymer material for currency. Plastic currency would dry faster than cotton/linen. Just as I would inject bleach to kill the virus, I wouldn't bleach my currency either.

And the Canadians have Lonnie and Double Lonnie coins that are easier to wash than American dollar bills.

We wont know if any of these social changes are temporary or permanent for a long time. ApplePay is great, but it often seems to not work and you need backup.

from Mark

But if there is a natural disaster (earthquake, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and so on) where infrastructure is damaged and undependable, cash may be the only way to pay for what you need. The power and phone lines could be down for an extended time and without both, card payments are impossible.

I've seen that situation here after a major ice storm knocked out power for 4-7 days in a big part of the city. The only store within a mile of my suburban home doing business was a hardware store, by flashlight, and estimating the cost of items you needed by hand, cash only. And people were desperate for deicer, batteries, lanterns, kerosene, tarps, etc., so they were busy.

A better way to decontaminate cash, coins or paper, is to use a gamma ray machine commonly used for X-rays or cancer treatments. The intensity can be turned up as needed, there is no residual on the processed items, takes only a few seconds.

Of course, this is not a home option because the radiation will kill you if you are not careful around it. It would be something companies that handle large amounts of cash would use. Like bank branches and armored car companies.

A number of airlines have refused to take cash payments at the airports for years at this point and will redirect you to a kiosk where you can buy a prepaid debit card that you can use at the counter.

I had to get a AmEx Delta Platinum Skymiles card reissued a few weeks back due to possible fraud and the new one has a contactless option.

"A better way to decontaminate cash, coins or paper, is to use a gamma ray machine commonly used for X-rays or cancer treatments. The intensity can be turned up as needed, there is no residual on the processes items, takes only a few seconds."

Oh sure, I am going to drop down to my nearest Home Depot or Best Buy and pick-up the inexpensive home model !!!

Thanks bob for reminding us about the working poor who don't use banks or credit cards.

And here in my small town a lot of folks above 60 do everything by check, and are still trying to find coupons to clip. Those may be phased out too

Here in Oregon not only do we vote by mail, the unbanked in need of the SNAP benefits are provided an Oregon Trail Card (Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card). https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ASSISTANCE/FOOD-BENEFITS/Pages/Oregon-Trail-Card.aspx

An Oregon Trail Card is an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card and
is similar to a debit card from a bank. It is what the Department of
Human Services (DHS) uses to get benefits to clients.

When individuals or families qualify for food or cash benefits, Oregon
Trail accounts are set up for them. Benefits are deposited into the
accounts each month

.

caro, we’ve fortunately, never had a waiter/waitress or salesperson duck in back and clone a credit card. Maybe there are many unscrupulous people around, but we’ve managed to do business - in the USA and abroad - with businesses that don’t have shady staff.

JC and others - US coins, with the exception of our “one thin dime” 10-cent piece, get bigger as the denomination increases, so judging a coin’s value is relatively easy. The U.K. 2-pence piece is so much bigger in diameter than higher value coins that it can take a moment extra to sort out what’s what.

A classic (but silly) idea for somebody who wanted to impress others with their huge wad of cash was to take the highest denomination bill you could afford, then fold it around a huge stack of $1 bills. The supposition is that onlookers would assume everything else in that wad was $50 or $100 bills, making the bearer seem to be a wealthy person - or maybe the target for a thief!

A fun (maybe) trick is to take a $1 and an old $5 bill, and fold each in half, lengthwise. Line up the two bills, with the upper portion of the $5 on top, and the lower part of the $1 on the bottom. The face in the round space looks kind-of like former president Richard M. Nixon! This doesn’t work with the redesigned $5 bill, with its larger Lincoln image.

@Edgar the Canadian coins are loonies ($1) (not Lonnies) and toonies ($2) because they have a loon on them.

We use tap almost all the time and some stores have upped the limit to make it easier to do so. I use tap so often that when I do have to put in my pin I sometimes have to stop and think what it is....

JC and others - US coins, with the exception of our “one thin dime” 10-cent piece, get bigger as the denomination increases, so judging a coin’s value is relatively easy.

I don't bother with US coins other than quarters as they're the only ones that seem to have any use. I have never enountered a $1 coin but I understand they're rare and only minted periodically. We have a stash of nickels and dimes in one of our drawers, I don't know what we'll do with them.

I just find it throws me the first few days dealing with $1 notes where I'm so used to dealing with 'paper' money of a value no lower than £5/€5.

US Dollar coins are minted yearly. It is a small amount and mostly go to collectors as part of the annual bundle the Mint sells.

The current dollar coin is only slightly larger than the quarter and is significantly smaller than the 50 cent coin (another one rarely seen, except in Las Vegas).

If you purchase stamps at the US Post Office from their vending machines using cash, the change due over a dollar will be paid to you in dollar coins and of course the rest in smaller coins. But the Post Office now pushes the use of debit and credit cards instead of cash, so even that small use of the coins is disappearing. The problem is using them if you end up with them. Most store clerks have never seen them and they don't have a spot reserved for them in their cash drawer. I actually had one tell me "We don't take Canadian coins here" even thought the US dollar coin looks nothing like any Canadian coin other than maybe the color. Most vending machines in the US do accept the dollar coins (federal law passed in 2000 required it), but I never think of using them when I use the machines other than at the Post Office. I end up depositing most of them that I get to my bank account or using them when I buy postage from the post office.

I wouldn't mind the US stopping the printing of the $1 bills and forcing us to use the coins. It would save millions in printing cost every year since the paper dollars only last about 8 to 18 months while a coin lasts 30 years or even longer (according to government documentation) and with the stockpile of several hundred million dollar coins already in place would cost the government even less to start. The complaint is that the coins weigh so much more than the paper dollars and people believe they would be overly burdened by having to carry them. I have never felt that issue while in Europe or the UK with a pocket full of £ or € coins. A fairly expansive survey of how much of what kind of paper money people in the US had at a random point in time showed that most only had one to three $1 bills in their pocket or wallet with the majority being $5 and $20 bills, which disproves the complaint.

But since everything is going electronic through use of debit/credit cards, I guess this will be moot in a few years anyway. :-)

rt.com? The Russian state "news" agency?

Wikepdia:

RT (formerly Russia Today) is a Russian government-funded international television network.[5][6] It operates pay television channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing Internet content in English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Russian.

RT operates as a multilingual service with conventional channels in five languages: the original English-language channel was launched in 2005, the Arabic-language channel in 2007, Spanish in 2009, German in 2014 and French in 2017. RT America (since 2010),[7] RT UK (since 2014) and other regional channels also offer some locally based content.

RT is a brand of "TV-Novosti", an "autonomous non-profit
organization", founded by the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, on 6
April 2005.[1][8] During the economic crisis in December 2008, the
Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, included
ANO "TV-Novosti" on its list of core organizations of strategic
importance of Russia.[9][10][11]

RT has been described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian
government[12] and its foreign policy.[13][14][15][16][17][18] RT has
also been accused of spreading disinformation[18][19][20] by news
reporters,[21][22] including some former RT reporters.[23][24][25] The
UK media regulator, Ofcom, has repeatedly found RT to have breached
its rules on impartiality and on one occasion found it had broadcast
"materially misleading" content.[26][27][28][29] RT's editor-in-chief
compared it with the Russian Army and Defence Ministry and talked
about it "waging the information war against the entire Western
world."[5] In September 2017, RT America was ordered to register as a
"foreign agent" with the United States Department of Justice under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act. Under the act, RT is required to
disclose financial information to the U.S.[30]

I certainly hope Germany makes credit card machines more common place in shops and backerys after this, I lived in Germany last year and got caught out so many times because they wouldnt take card and I dont usually carry cash on me

I wouldn't mind the US stopping the printing of the $1 bills and forcing us to use the coins.

I absolutely agree. When I was a little kid, the COL was 1/10th of what it is now. That is, you could buy as much then for a dime as you can now for a dollar, but back then we didn't think we needed a paper 10¢ note. We really don't need one now. Probably don't really need a $5 (50¢) note, either. Certainly not a quarter. The nickel really annoys me; I get rid of nickels as quickly as I can. They're only worth half of what a dime is, but are bigger than dimes and weigh a lot more.

The euro coin system is really so much smarter than ours. A two euro coin weighs about the same, maybe a little less, than 50¢ in quarters. In Europe I often make a small purchase - a cup of coffee or a sandwich - with just the coins in my pocket. I don't have to drag out my wallet as often.

I think one reason we American have trouble with coins in Europe is that we don't take the time to become familiar with them. It's easier to use paper notes; the value is clearly shown on them, and, in Europe, the size difference help to distinguish them. I used to find I would just pay for everything with paper notes and accumulate a huge pile of unfamiliar coins. I finally learned to hold the coins, like a roll, in my fingers, and look at the edges. Besides being copper colored, the 1, 2, & 5 cent coins have mostly smooth edges (no notches or milling). The 2 cent coin does have a groove around it, but it is basically smooth. The 10, 20, and 50 cent coins are brass colored with big notches around the edge - a few on the 20 cent piece, lots on the 10 and 50, but the size difference makes the difference obvious.

The 1 and 2 euro coins are sometimes a little harder to distinguish, but the edge milling on the 2 is continuous, while on the 1 it is intermittent. Anyway, those coins are big enough to easily see the numbers.

I'm old enough to vaguely remember the "five and dime" store. I think it was a Kress.

Edgar, maybe "Kresge's" which morphed into K-mart? Great chili dogs.

The value is clearly shown on euro coins! It is not tough to distinguish them. Plus they increase in size as well as worth. Why look at the edges, when right on the front and back of the coin it says 1, 2, 5, on the copper, 10, 20, 50 on the brass colored and 1 euro or 2 euro on the mixed silver and brass.

The reason that I do not use coins in Germany is the check out at "Hertie's" or similar, where the cashier reels off "vierundzwanzigdreiundachtzig" at the speed of light. By the time I can break that into translatable syllables and words, the cashier could have rung up the next customer. I just leave the small change along with the real tip for the housekeeping folks each morning in the hotel.

Why look at the edges[?]

...because when the are laid out flat on your hand, they cover each other up and you don't see the "value ... clearly shown" on the coins underneath. You only see the value on the ones on the top. When the coins are on edge, I can recognize the value of all of them.

I just know that before I used the edge method, I tended to accumulate a lot of coins; now I don't.

If you stay in hotels, where prices tend to be rounded to the nearest euro and eat in restaurants, where the prices are usually rounded to the nearest 10 cents, you tend to use fewer coins - just 10, 20, & 50 cents and 1 & 2 euro ones. But for my last 2 trips, I've spent a week or more in Ferienwohnungen, where I needed to shop in grocery stores, and I got a lot of small coins in change. That's when I found I needed a better system for managing my coins.