r.i.p. alleria. 1997-2017. blizzard ruined alleria forever. blizz assassinated alleria's character and appearance.
i will never forgive you for this blizzard.
Using cheques is something that has been extinct in Europe for several decades. I've never even seen a cheque in my life and I'm 31, I'm not sure if banks around here even accept them anymore.
I use cash maaaybe once or twice a year, at most. I use contactless payment for like 90% of all payments these days and chip-and-PIN debit card for the rest that goes above the payment limit of contactless.
I'm perfectly fine if cash goes the way of the Dodo, wouldn't affect me at all.
Not take cash is just wrong. But its heading that way in Sweden. Most people dont use cash, but later are supprised that they got skimmed.
On the most basic level, it's a lot easier when you're in a store to see "hey I have a bill for five in my wallet, so I must spend less than five" than it is when you're paying with intangible money and need to factor in recent purchases on the card in relation to the balance in your bank account. Most people probably aren't looking up their current credit transactions and bank account literally every time they make a purchase. So in that regard, it's a lot easier to accidentally overspend with a credit card.
There are also people who simply have a difficult time operating on a credit system. The entire industry is built around people making short-sighted or risky decisions with their money. It's a major contributor to debt. Sometimes it's a problem of self control or being lazy with budgeting but sometimes it's a matter of desperation when you are living at such a low income level that you have to build yourself into debt to function. Regardless of the cause, many credit card users live outside their means because it is so very easy to do so. The proof of this is the simple fact that credit card companies are billion-dollar industries because they rely on people spending more than they have.
I pay for literally everything possible with a credit card from tiny day-to-day purchases to my bills, but I also pay mine off in full every month. I definitely think there are some people who should not own or use credit cards for the previously outlined reasons. The problem is when someone makes universal statement about the good or evil of credit systems, when it really comes down to the individual using them and how responsible they are able and/or willing to be.
I've lived like that and balanced my purchases by browsing my bank account and looking up exactly what I could buy at the store before I left my home. I've got a far easier time spending cash than I have doing card purcheses. Anything less than a 500 SEK bill (~50 Euro equivalent) back when I used cash a lot was just gone for small things. A coke here. Chocolate bar there. Coffee next.
And as it was a debit card directly connected to my bank account. I could generally see the money I had access to or not instantly.
- Lars
As a small business owner I wouldn't object if everyone used debit cards only. Its a minimal transaction cost for me and hopefully free for the customer. Credit cards cost me more money to process although if people are spending extra through me to get more rewards from their cards I don't object. Cash is a bigger hassle. It doesn't help that its no longer convenient to bus to my local bank branch.
Weirdly I use cash more often in my personal life than debit. I use credit cards to pay for online services.
For American's I can see why its a problem for cashless. I generally assume an American bank is screwing both the retailer and the customer on transaction fees. Maybe some progress will be made when a civilized President and Congress gets elected in 2020.
I don't think it's a bad thing at all. A lot of food trucks around here don't accept cash simply because it means they can't be robbed at gunpoint of said cash.
Threads like this make me realize how slow the US can be when it comes to handling currency.
Card chip rollouts just became a widespread thing 1-2 years ago. Despite being a lot safer than swiping, people still resist and whine about chips and stores drag their feet to adapt. Hey but "why is my card always being info stolen?" Mobile wallets? Even if the checkout terminal says it can take them or there's a reader either its not hooked up properly or not at all. A lot of fast food places take e-payments but only through their shitty insecure apps. Yeah, I would my cc info on dozens of apps to increase the chances of being part of a another data breach.
Resident Cosplay Progressive
I haven't used cash for at least the last 5 years, maybe even closer to 10 years. I can do pretty much everything with a contactless debit card.
In the odd situation where there's a vendor without a card reader, for instance, a hot-dog stand in a weekend event, or that guy selling some old stuff at the first-sunday-of-the-month-open-air-market, I can pay with an app.
Cash should be phased out, permanently. The sooner, the better.