I think it's important to distinguish that many (almost all) places that accept EC (a debit card, really) do not accept credit cards. Hell, even Saturn, that makes Best Buy look small, doesn't accept credit cards unless it's over 1.500€ or something.
Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
321–330 of 497 posts
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#322Earlier 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…
Cash workflow: - Cashier tells you the total amount - I get a 10 EUR note from my trouser pocket - Cashier gives back money - I put money in trouser pocket - Done - Home: I put all spare money in a large glass jar Credit card workflow: - Cashier tells you the total amount - You look in your wallet/purse - You swipe card/insert in chip reader - You insert PIN number - You shield your PIN entrie from the people next to…
But you left out the step of having to get the cash money into your pocket to begin with. I haven't touched cash in many years, but back when I did use cash it was always a pain having to go to the bank, or an ATM, or remembering to ask for money back once debit cards became a thing.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#323Most brick & mortar stores in Germany will not offer debit card payments under 10 Euros, since the fees they have to pay are extremely high. Most clerks will frown upon small card payments for that reason, and sometimes outright decline the payment, even if that means no purchase happening. Credit cards are rarely accepted in any store but larger ones in malls. Most Germans, and that was pretty spot-on in the article…
The vast majority of German supermarkets accepts credit cards. Aldi even has signs at the cashier telling you it's possible "from the first cent". And that's a store famous for trying to save money wherever it can.
If the fees for offering card payment for a store are still extremely high, they are getting ripped off by their acquirer for some time now. But old habits die hard and many sale clerks (and even some store owners) are not aware of the changing reality.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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…
In efficient stores (e.g. Aldi in Germany and branches in Switzerland and Austria) the cashiers start taking the change into the hand the moment you say you pay cash. They do that up to the next bill and if you pay with a higher bill, picking up extra bills from the registry is really fast. Whereas with a credit card you put the card in, wait until the remote system decides if you should use your PIN or signature, then either put the pin in or wait until the cashier gives you the thing to sign and sign it. And if you're really unlucky the store has a system that looks you up in their customer database if you pay by card which adds another couple seconds.
The new contactless payment system is faster, unless the store does something stupid ... like wanting to do a customer database lookup before doing the actual transaction which one chain here in Austria unfortunately does.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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 found the whole swipe/insert thing really painfully slow and paid cash all the time.
Now though we have NFC tap-to-pay in Canada and it's wicked fast in comparison to everything. No signature, no PIN entry, connections seem much faster.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every evening I put all spare change from my trouser pockets into a large glass jar next to the door. Once a year I reedem the money and have a really nice dinner.
Do you count the change before you redeem it? That is a huge time-suck for me, and I hate doing it. Also, I feel really bad for the cashiers that are unlucky enough to have all that change dumped on them and are forced to count it all. Some banks have change counting machines, but surprisingly, many don't and the change is still counted by hand while you wait.
Are you serious? If you take it to the bank, they have change counting machines. Depending on how much you bring in, it takes about 1-5 minutes for the machine to count. In the US we have a company called CoinStar that has kiosks in every major grocery store chain which does the same thing. They take a small percentage, but we're talking about coins here, so it's probably less than a dollar per transaction.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you think that is a problem with debit cards you should go get a better bank.
I haven't had this problem with my bank just pointing out the inherent differences. With a debit card you are relying on the cyber security and data retention policy of the store, the bank, and the electronic network provider. Now I realize that if your account is used without authorization most banks refund the money. This can take a certain amount of time and could lock up your remaining funds in the meantime.
Less than a month ago my card details (the magnetic stripe) got swiped. However my bank noticed the funky payments, automatically detected the issues, temporarily froze the card. Then when I noticed it didn't work and called them they temporarily locked up the card for a single use, and then blocked it permanently and sent out a new card.
I noticed it on Thursday, I had the new card and all unwanted transactions rolled back on Monday.
This for a debit/Visa hybrid card, which acts as Visa out of country and on the Internet.
Also, the bank requires me to temporarily unlock the card for 'unsafe' Internet purchases before usage, which basically is all purchases that don't involve 2FA.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#328According 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…
Also remember that whole Eastern Europe (including East Germany) had no electronic payments before fall of Soviet Union. So credit cards took off in US in 80s but half of Europe just got out from under communism in early 90s and they were not very trustworthy of western banks so would prefer cash. Also the banking and payment infrastructure was non existent so needed to be built from scratch. This probably slowed dow…
Not sure how far east you want to go but in both Poland and the Czech Republic card payments are far more prevalent than in western Germany.
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can still buy the oyster card with cash however, right? Now try catching a bus late at night after the shops close - what a silly system.
Finding an operating cashpoint late at night isn't especially easy either (and the reason most are shut down is that operational ones tend to attract muggings). It's a pretty practical system IME; having a payment method on you is no harder than having cash; indeed in this age of phone payment it's easier.
I never came across a cashpoint in Britain that was closed at night. Is this a recent change?
Re: Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
#330A few months ago, there was some construction going on just outside the busiest mall in the city center of Dresden. When they dug into the ground, they accidentally dug a bit too far and cut the internet cable for that mall (and a few more blocks around it). That was on a Friday evening, so the replacement cable could not be delivered until Monday.
The entire mall was without internet access and, consequently, all credit card terminals, EC terminals and ATMs stopped working. If I had not been able to pay cash (as I always do because of Datensparsamkeit [1]), I would not have been able to go to the cinema that weekend.
[1] Does the word "Datensparsamkeit" have a good translation in English? It's sort of an idiosyncrasy of the German language and the German people. It refers to the practice of protecting one's data by not generating it in the first place. Cash is datensparsam because it is anonymous, hence the metadata of my purchase cannot be associated with my identity.