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Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

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Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#241

Post by tbomb »

guelo wrote: post #220
codegeek wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an american, I find it strange that cash is faster. Most people who pay cash need to wait to get the change back unless they know the total beforehand and happen to have exact change. In the US, credit card machines are very fast even the chip enabled ones. Cash workflow: - Cashier tells you the total amount - You look in your wallet/purse - You spend time counting exact change if you do have it - If not, you take…

I find the workflow with the new chip cards much less convenient to the point that I'm starting to prefer cash or Android Pay if it's available. Even though I lose the 2% cashback bribe.

Which card is that, that takes away the incentive? I use Apple Pay pretty frequently and still get my cashback rate, or double points incentives on the cards that I use.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#242

Post by rb2k_ »

k__ wrote: post #69
jupp0r wrote: post #52

As a German, I think ot's always intersting to get an outsiders perspective. The article strikes me as absurd, though. There is a deep caution against technology here, especially if it's foreign technology. There were numerous attempts by German banks to reinvent the wheel with incompatible payment systems (Geldkarte, ...) none of which could be used for online payment. All of them failed. I would also counter the ef…

But I have the feeling credit cards are getting more mainstream lately. When I moved to Stuttgart 10 years ago I only could pay with EC card at supermarkets, now I can pay with credit card. With the RFIDs they even got much faster, I often don't have to enter a PIN or give a signature, just wave my credit card over the terminal and be done with it. Also I can withdraw money from all ATMs of all banks without any fees…

I moved from Stuttgart to the US 5 years ago. I am always delighted to come back and see that I need less and less cash. It blew my mind when even Aldi and Lidl jumped on the credit card train.

Looking forward to the day when I can visit Germany without having to go to the ATM.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#243

Post by Merem »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #81
mtmail wrote: post #2

According to https://www.cashforless.de/ec_cash_info/Fakten_zur_Kartenzah... methods for payments in stores 2011 was 57% cash, 5.3% credit card, 33% debit card ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cash ). > "of course, [the Germans] attitudes toward currency must owe something to Germany’s tumultuous monetary history. During the Weimar-era hyperinflation that peaked in 1923 [...]" > "the German tendency to sett…

As a German a.) I mostly pay cash because it's faster b.) some shops that can afford it only have cash payments to save on CC costs Not because of inflation or because something happend 100y ago.

German here as well:

In addition to a.), I like having full control of my money and not be dependent on some third party when making purchases.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#244

Post by cosinetau »

There was another article on HN this week that was attempting to predict when the stock market was going to crash. https://isthestockmarketgoingtocrash.com/

There's also been a number of suggestions of the kind of economy that we're existing in. The most alarming to me is that we're in a debt economy.

Germany struggled to pay it's abhorrent war debt and reparations after WWI, and I'm curious if rather than the government facing that problem if the population in the US, or China will instead? What is the big picture these pieces of information are trying to tell us?

Should we be taking a more cautious approach when it comes to using debt? (This commentor has no debt, and wants to keep it that way)

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#245

Post by IanCal »

pascalxus wrote: post #239

The question isn't why germans pay cash. the question is, why would you do it any other way?? I'll tell you why. In other countries we allow credit card companies to tax the masses. By creating regulations that prevent merchants from charging a different price for cash vs credit, you effectively force everyone to pay 2.5% extra for every purchase. That 2.5% goes straight to the credit card companies, even if you pay…

Capped at 0.2% now aren't they?

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#246

Post by herbst »

samastur wrote: post #102
intsunny wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1) CC is slow While the CC may or may not be slow. In the 5+ months I've now been living in Germany, I've noticed that people are very keen to pay with exact change if they can dig it up. This is an even slower process, but also seems to be the norm.

Years ago I collected all change for 6 months without spending any. Afterwards I counted all to see how much of each type of coin I have collected during this time. The idea was to see if it is worth bothering collecting all coins or is there are a cut-off for me as I dislike having carrying really thick and heavy wallet. It turned out that for my pattern of cash use collecting coins bellow 10 cents really wasn't wor…

People just collect them at home and bring them to the bank when they make holidays or so. Usually I don't see small coins used by anyone except cashiers for return money.

Personally I just throw them in those collection boxes for good things at airports and train stations when I leave the country.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#247

Post by germanier »

TillE wrote: post #195
aembleton wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure I've used this in Germany many times at Lidl and other supermarkets.

NFC payment has been rolling out more and more over the past couple years. Edeka is probably the biggest exception, I'm waiting very impatiently for them to catch up.

Edeka is (despite its appearance) not a chain but just a common brand used by lots of independent merchants without many rules[0]. Some Edeka stores therefore introduced contactless payments years ago, some never will. Best is to talk to the owner (they usually just have one or a few stores) – I have been successful with "mine".

[0]: In contrast to e.g. Rewe which is also mostly operated by independent merchants but has strict rules for those.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#248

Post by [deleted] »

pascalxus wrote: post #239

The question isn't why germans pay cash. the question is, why would you do it any other way?? I'll tell you why. In other countries we allow credit card companies to tax the masses. By creating regulations that prevent merchants from charging a different price for cash vs credit, you effectively force everyone to pay 2.5% extra for every purchase. That 2.5% goes straight to the credit card companies, even if you pay…

[deleted]

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#249

Post by usrusr »

nxc18 wrote: post #74
m_mueller wrote: post #33

As a Swiss German I think the currency stability argument is moot. Swiss Frank is one of the most stable currencies available and we still have a similar attitude to cash as Germans. IMO it's mainly due to the following reasons: 1) CC is slow, at least in Switzerland. Like in Germany, efficiency is baked into the culture - people hate to wait on someone paying his chocolate bar with credit card. It's also not rare fo…

Interesting. At least in my experience in the us, people paying cash is much, much slower than using credit or debit. All it takes is one customer paying cash to turn a fast register into a storefront-filling queue.

Hardly surprising that a rare form of payment isn't terribly fast. When you have cashiers who work with actual cash all day, and customers who know the process of taking a quick inventory of their change reservoir while their goods are being scanned so that they can very quickly decide between giving precise change (in addition to the uprounded sum in paper) or not once the final sum is known. Mirror picture in Germany, many people are still wasting time engaging in some kind of mini-negotiation with the cashier before paying in plastic (usually a debit card, which is quickly taking over most cash transactions that happen at a register).

Also, American banknotes with their identical size and color over all denominations are just incredibly impractical for anything but building those nice tidy stacks of drug money depicted in the movies. Cash payments in the United States are a terrible benchmark.

Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

#250

Post by herbst »

romanovcode wrote: post #68
intsunny wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1) CC is slow While the CC may or may not be slow. In the 5+ months I've now been living in Germany, I've noticed that people are very keen to pay with exact change if they can dig it up. This is an even slower process, but also seems to be the norm.

Also, almost every store accept touch-pay method where you just touch your CC with the terminal and it is payed without entering pin or providing signature. Only works if the amount is less then 25 EUR but still it is much faster then cash.

This is only true for big chain things. Pretty much everywhere in Europe I've been.
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