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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

#251

Post by lokedhs »

rjbwork wrote: post #144
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 only know 1, I also work in tech. I, have found developers and other tech workers to be, somewhat ironically, more "Ludditic" than the general population.

I know zero. In fact, before I saw this post I didn't even know what it was.

Now, I'm pretty sure this is because I don't live in the US. Is this a purely US-specific service, or is it available (and used) anywhere else.

If not, are there similar services in other countries? I believe Wepay in China is something similar, but I don't know much about that one either.

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

#252

Post by pacaro »

rhapsodic wrote: post #250
Tade0 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one data point in the form of my father, who is a mechanical engineer. He always knew what you absolutely shouldn't do with your car, like give it gas on turns(wears cv joints in fwd vehicles) or keep the clutch depressed when you're standing still(wears some bearings I don't remember the name of). He has had the same car for the past 25 years now.

>keep the clutch depressed when you're standing still(wears some bearings I don't remember the name of). It's the throwout bearing. Your father has a point, but I would rather keep the clutch in. Too much thinking involved putting it in neutral every time you stop.

Not putting it in neutral when stopped can contribute to failing your driving test in the U.K.

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

#253

Post by [deleted] »

rhapsodic wrote: post #250
Tade0 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one data point in the form of my father, who is a mechanical engineer. He always knew what you absolutely shouldn't do with your car, like give it gas on turns(wears cv joints in fwd vehicles) or keep the clutch depressed when you're standing still(wears some bearings I don't remember the name of). He has had the same car for the past 25 years now.

>keep the clutch depressed when you're standing still(wears some bearings I don't remember the name of). It's the throwout bearing. Your father has a point, but I would rather keep the clutch in. Too much thinking involved putting it in neutral every time you stop.

[deleted]

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

#254

Post by a13n »

I recently deleted venmo in favor of fb messenger pay. I think it's US only right now, but it's just one less app on my phone. I also always hated how venmo held on to your money if you forgot to withdraw it.

It also just makes sense. I send and receive text, photos, videos, and now money from friends in one place.

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

#255

Post by shinymark »

abritinthebay wrote: post #235
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.

Serious question: how old are you? I’m 37 and probably wouldn’t know anyone using it in my normal social circle except I happen to know a bunch of ~24 yr olds (some younger) via a younger colleague. Of those you are younger guess how many use Venmo? Every. Single. One. Not every day, or all the time, but regularly: especially with friends & at weekends. It’s spread so we’ll split lunches at work occasionally with it.…

I'm a 35 year founder of a small company in San Francisco. I had never heard of Venmo until recently. The dividing line among my team is around 30 years old. Below 30 -> use Venmo all the time. Above 30 -> never heard of it.

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

#256

Post by a13n »

bogomipz wrote: post #154
aggie wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, many restaurants have a limit on how many ways they can split the bill, usually 2-4, so for larger groups venmo is an easy way to solve the issue. And there certainly are some restaurants that don't split at all (seems to be a regional thing).

>"In my experience, many restaurants have a limit on how many ways they can split the bill," That limit is artificially imposed though isn't? I also think this is mostly an American thing because its perceived as a "hassle" which is ironic because they're being tipped for their "service" in the US. In Sweden I noticed for instance instance you can get a meal with a group of 10 people and at the end of the meal the se…

I think it's more that credit cards charge the restaurant a flat fee per bill ($0.30ish?) So that eats into their profits at some point.

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

#257

Post by lojack »

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.

I'm 30, work in tech, and most of my friends and family (in my generation) use Venmo. Weirdly enough, I don't really use Venmo with my friends in tech (different circles).

Our use case tends to be for fantasy football, splitting vacation homes, hotels, bigger gifts for the parents, and other more expensive things. Replaces checks more than cash I'd say.

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

#258

Post by ixacto »

This is not a good idea. I don't want some company like venmo/paypal/brantree/visa looking datamining every last cent and transaction that I spend. Who knows who they could sell the data to or if they get hacked. Just use cash and tell the server what you ordered. They will give you an individual check, with totals on it. If theres >10 people yes you might need to pay 10% extra fee but that's better than subsidizing someone's 3 $15 cocktails, $30 steak, $10 dessert.

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

#259

Post by ajdlinux »

aggie wrote: post #84
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…

In my experience, many restaurants have a limit on how many ways they can split the bill, usually 2-4, so for larger groups venmo is an easy way to solve the issue. And there certainly are some restaurants that don't split at all (seems to be a regional thing).

In Australia it's not uncommon to see restaurants with "Sorry - No Split Bills" signs up at the cash register.

It's also not that uncommon to see the staff let you split the bill anyway on a case-by-case basis...

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

#260

Post by lojack »

intopieces wrote: post #222
int_19h wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I _always_ ask for this if its what I want and the server doesn't offer it. They offer up front because its 10x easier to do knowing thats the plan going into it than having to split things up afterwards.
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