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Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

nytimes.com

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Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#221

Post by afterburner »

uiri wrote: post #119
mabbo wrote: post #17

I think the problem here is expectations. If you went to dinner with a friend, and thought everything was covered but then later received a bill in the mail there's an aspect of unexpected demands in it. If your friend said ahead of time "hey I've got this app that will let us split the bill easily, that okay?" then you'd be expecting it and there's no social transgression. Social norms and expectations are the ficti…

Not only do restaurants regularly split bills up to N ways up here but Interac eTransfers solve the electronic money transfer problem with native integration into everyone's online banking regardless of which bank it is.

Most banks charge a $1 fee for e-Transfers though.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#222

Post by intopieces »

int_19h wrote: post #217
1024core wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This (widely disparate eating patterns between friends) used to be a problem, but then we hit on a solution: at the end, when the bill comes, each person adds up what they ate/drank, and adds 30% to that (which covers the tax + tip). Some items can be ordered "for all", and the persons who did that take ownership of those too. It's worked beautifully so far.

Why not just say "separate bills" at the beginning, so that you get them itemized individually?

I do not ask for this unless the server offers it. It takes longer to get the bill and pay for it, then if the server is busy / inattentive they just dump the cards on the table and let the group of 12 adults squint at Chase cards.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#223

Post by egypturnash »

OJFord wrote: post #215
algesten wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember checks from the 80s, my mum/dad used to have them. I never owned a check book.

Good for you? Maybe try one sometime: as it turns out, old things are not de facto bad.

if you enjoy keeping a running tally of how much is in your account, and love knowing that what you see when you check your balance at the bank is never up-to-date, checks are great!

man i quit doing that as soon as i could check my balance on the internet and just use a credit/debit card, just make sure you turn off 'overdraft protection' before doing this or you can dig a very deep hole of compound interest.

- signed, an early gen-xer

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#225

Post by freeflight »

int_19h wrote: post #217
1024core wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This (widely disparate eating patterns between friends) used to be a problem, but then we hit on a solution: at the end, when the bill comes, each person adds up what they ate/drank, and adds 30% to that (which covers the tax + tip). Some items can be ordered "for all", and the persons who did that take ownership of those too. It's worked beautifully so far.

Why not just say "separate bills" at the beginning, so that you get them itemized individually?

I'm asking myself exactly the same thing. I've never "split" a bill, but I've requested separate bills plenty of times and always gotten them, it's nothing out of the ordinary in Germany.

Imho it's also the most reasonable approach that doesn't put anybody in an awkward position.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#226

Post by copperx »

vowelless wrote: post #142
extr wrote: post #77

Young millennial male, every single person I know uses Venmo. IMO this article largely misses the point of the app. It's replaced cash/checks is all, it's not some huge social upheaval in the way we use money that needs to be analyzed. In my experience it's rarely used for splitting bills for dinner or picking up bar tabs (I can't remember the last time I went somewhere that wasn't able to split the bill on their end…

I got my landlord onto Venmo to pay utilities. She wanted a check slipped under her door. That wasn't happening. Now she just requests the amount every month and all I have to do is tap "Pay".

As the other HNer noted below, we've had free BillPay in banks for decades now. It's also safer than Venmo.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#227

Post by copperx »

OJFord wrote: post #215
algesten wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember checks from the 80s, my mum/dad used to have them. I never owned a check book.

Good for you? Maybe try one sometime: as it turns out, old things are not de facto bad.

Why would old things be bad anyway? That's an IT pop culture myth.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#228

Post by kristianc »

rc_kas wrote: post #117
extr wrote: post #77

Young millennial male, every single person I know uses Venmo. IMO this article largely misses the point of the app. It's replaced cash/checks is all, it's not some huge social upheaval in the way we use money that needs to be analyzed. In my experience it's rarely used for splitting bills for dinner or picking up bar tabs (I can't remember the last time I went somewhere that wasn't able to split the bill on their end…

"every single person I know uses Venmo" How does that happen. I don't know a single person who uses Venmo. Not one. I know a lot of people and I work in Tech.

Likewise in the UK. We have Faster Payments and a heavily consolidated banking system here, turning banking apps into a de facto P2P payments platform.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#229

Post by cs2818 »

almostApatriot1 wrote: post #183
rc_kas wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"every single person I know uses Venmo" How does that happen. I don't know a single person who uses Venmo. Not one. I know a lot of people and I work in Tech.

I've heard there's a West Coast/East Coast divide when it comes to Venmo with it being much more popular on the east coast.

I've noticed it has entered the vocabulary of students at the university I'm at in Mississippi (where new trends seem to arrive later), so I assumed it was fairly popular across the country at this point.

Re: Thanks to Venmo, We Now All Know How Cheap Our Friends Are

#230

Post by cakedoggie »

treehau5 wrote: post #102
dsjoerg wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't had many friendships with diverse income levels.

This problem is even worse when it's not even necessarily income levels that is the problem, but just different values around money & spending. If you have the same income level, but find it outrageous to spend x on y, you just get viewed as a "cheap ass" It's not my fault I don't want to pay 13 dollars+tip for a cocktail when I can make 20 of them at home for the same price.

> It's not my fault I don't want to pay 13 dollars+tip for a cocktail when I can make 20 of them at home for the same price.

Oh, certainly not your fault, but you might be better staying at home. Why agree to go out somewhere with your friends if you are just going to drink water?

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