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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Venmo significantly predates Square Cash, and once you get used to using a particular app for a task switching is a burden, especially for something like this with a powerful network effect.
As far as I remember, Paypal significantly predates Venmo. What happened there?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is only the case if you were very late to p2p transactions. Venmo was well embedded in my social circles by the time there was any competition (with the possible exception of Google wallet. With something so utility-oriented, why go out of your way to rebuild an entire network? You may as well ask why anyone uses Facebook when Google+ had better features on launch (like post visibility granularity).
But it's a US thing, right ? Here in Belgium/Europe I can take out my smartphone, open my bank app, input my friend's account number and send him money right away (35 years ago you had to do it by paper, 25 years ago there were computers in the bank and now it's on the phone/tablet/web browser). Of course it's really going from one bank to the other so it's not p2p but the UX is as smooth.
Note that I've had friends try to split bills to the penny. I tell them to stop, because both our times are worth more than that. (The exception being if I know they need the extra cents, in which case it still seems more reasonable to round down in their favour.) That kind of gentle social shaming is productive and something I've noticed a lot of people my age shy away from.
TL; DR If you think Venmo is ruining your friendships, it probably isn't Venmo.
>“It’s making people less generous and chivalrous,” Ms. Pennoyer said. “It used to be you’d go to a restaurant, and you’d put down your credit cards and split it 50-50, even if one person had steak and one had chicken. But now people pay exactly to the cent.” How is this portrayed as a bad thing in the article? This solution to this problem is the ONLY reason I use Venmo. Perhaps the author was always the one orderin…
> How is this portrayed as a bad thing in the article? It takes some of the humanity out of the time spent together. Being generous with each other is part of how friendships and other relations are formed. Among friends, boiling it down to a precise transaction is petty. If a friend is abusing this approach, that says something about both him and your friendship.
I don't use this app and this article kind of explains why. If I go to dinner with friends, or anything, I'd rather pick up the check than worry about splitting it. The next time, they'll pickup the tab, and so forth. That's what friends do. I don't know if I'd want to go out with someone who is going to bill me for it later, or wants to use an app to split things up. For me it just makes things superficial, awkward,…
But I still like splitting check much more. It allows me to spend/not spend how I want regardless of whether I am least or most willing one to pay for more expensive things. If I drink/eat a lot I pay a lot and I don't have to feel bad about somebody else paying it. And if I want to save money, I don't drink and don't have to worry about friend eating a lot.
I have never disagreed with something so much. While I'm financially not doing so bad, I grew up poor. When I was college age going out with friends was complicated- if we all handled our own bills it was one thing, but when I'm not drinking and only eating cheap food to save money splitting the check would literally mean I'm subsidizing other people friends and could be the difference between being able to afford to…
One paragraph in I thought to myself "haven't I read this before?" A quick google later: https://qz.com/687395/venmo-is-turning-our-friends-into-pett...
That article has a funnier lead. Offering a glass of wine in your own home, then billing for it afterward. That person was probably an asshole before venmo existed.
I have never disagreed with something so much. While I'm financially not doing so bad, I grew up poor. When I was college age going out with friends was complicated- if we all handled our own bills it was one thing, but when I'm not drinking and only eating cheap food to save money splitting the check would literally mean I'm subsidizing other people friends and could be the difference between being able to afford to…
You were either too proud to tell your friends the truth or had bad friends.
I don't use this app and this article kind of explains why. If I go to dinner with friends, or anything, I'd rather pick up the check than worry about splitting it. The next time, they'll pickup the tab, and so forth. That's what friends do. I don't know if I'd want to go out with someone who is going to bill me for it later, or wants to use an app to split things up. For me it just makes things superficial, awkward,…
Reciprocity like that is easy when you're eating with the same person on a regular cadence, but harder when it's highly irregular (i.e. you meet up because you happen to be in the same city) or you see different combinations of a large group each time. I'm not wild about blowing my entertainment budget for the month in one meal, which is what would happen if I paid for 4 people, though on a long enough time horizon (…
Also much easier when you're rich than when you're not.
I have never disagreed with something so much. While I'm financially not doing so bad, I grew up poor. When I was college age going out with friends was complicated- if we all handled our own bills it was one thing, but when I'm not drinking and only eating cheap food to save money splitting the check would literally mean I'm subsidizing other people friends and could be the difference between being able to afford to…