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Not paying with cash

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Re: Not paying with cash

#81

Post by jppope »

I prefer cash, not for the reasons mentioned.

First, cash makes me really think about what I'm buying. It doesn't poke you the same way when you tap a card... which is obviously one of the main reasons they want you do use cards. When I use cash, I am reminded of when I didn't have a lot, which keeps me from spending without thought.

Next, its a hallmark of the middle class to spend money that you don't have. Myself and some other people pay their cards off every month but that isn't the norm. Many people keep a balance... I do not want to be one of those people. When you use cash, its stupidly easy to know if you have the money or not.

Its also easier to do social activities when you have cash. Need to split a tab, here's the money. I'll buy the next round, heres the cash.

Also, it may just be me but keeping a decent stack of bills is like a little pat on the back for the hard work. Its a reminder that hard work pays off, which I can see when I buy a coffee, or some bread or something.

Reasons why I don't like cash: family members tend to treat my wallet like an ATM.

Lastly, if you want to make some people feel good (e.g. servers, bartenders, etc) tip them with $2 bills

Re: Not paying with cash

#82

Post by Gathering6678 »

I was surprised to know recently that, in France apparently, there are quite a lot of shops that don't accept cash. I thought it was going to be the other way around: shops stipulating "cash only". In my country, there are actually regulations mandating the acceptance of cash (unless it's an unmanned booth or certain vendoring machines, if I remember correctly).

Re: Not paying with cash

#83

Post by whycome »

jppope wrote: post #81

I prefer cash, not for the reasons mentioned. First, cash makes me really think about what I'm buying. It doesn't poke you the same way when you tap a card... which is obviously one of the main reasons they want you do use cards. When I use cash, I am reminded of when I didn't have a lot, which keeps me from spending without thought. Next, its a hallmark of the middle class to spend money that you don't have. Myself…

$2 bills?? You’re gonna get the occasional one who thinks you’re scamming them.

It’s crazy that Canada, being so similar to the US, got rid of the 1 and 2 like 30 years ago.

Re: Not paying with cash

#84

Post by bruce511 »

al_borland wrote: post #71
bruce511 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I'm sure it varies by area. But from a business point if view, cash is super expensive to deal with. As a side-effect of an acquisition we inherited a small number of customers that paid in cash. Turns out it's expensive to bank that cash, it's a security risk, it's a risk to the person transporting it and so on. In the general case, if most sales are already by card, the marginal gains of cash transactions are…

How does that cost of accepting cash compare to the interchange fees? I’ve heard business owners say interchange fees were their single largest expense after payroll. I’ve also gotten discounts on large purchases for paying “cash” (check). They effectively deducted the interchange fee from my bill. If cash was so expensive to process, they wouldn’t be doing this.

Again it'll vary by area. For us the cash was a lot more expensive. (Banks charge to deposit cash, and many of our bank branches don't accept cash anyway, so we have to go a bit further.)

Fortunately it was little enough that we didn't need a cash-transit vehicle, and it didn't affect our insurance.

Yes, I expect some merchants offer a cash discount, and that can add up for large purchases. But I'd prefer not to be carrying large amounts of cash. (We haven't had checks here for probably 15 years or so.)

We have a very efficient (and cheap) direct deposit system though, so I can pay via my phone straight from my bank app for a very nominal flat fee. So for large transactions that's akin to a cash discount.

Re: Not paying with cash

#85

Post by jaza »

spankalee wrote: post #31

The article and none of the comments mention rewards yet, which are the biggest reason to use cards! Credit card processors charge large fees on transactions, which is a huge tax on just about... everything. You can make a lot of that tax back via rewards. And not every card user has a good rewards-paying card - it's usually the more rich that do - so rewards function as a wealth transfer from the less rich to the mo…

Various studies have shown that, for the investment needed to "maximise your rewards" (ie time needed to research the different cards on the market / read the fine print of your chosen product / put through payments on a high rewards card; money on signup fees, recurring fees, transaction fees, etc), you'll achieve a much better ROI just investing the equivalent time and money into an index fund.

Re: Not paying with cash

#86

Post by iwanttocomment »

cyberax wrote: post #49

> I always get a chuckle from people saying you shouldn’t use loyalty cards in grocery stores and the like… when they pay with credit cards! Stores aren't allowed to use credit cards to track purchases or to link customers to loyalty programs. That's why you need to use a separate loyalty card, or a store-branded credit card.

Here in the US, it's absolutely allowed.

Walmart, for example, will by default add in-store purchases using a credit card (and no other identifying information) to the purchase history on a Walmart.com account set up with the same credit card.

You can only disable this tracking by going into Account > Settings > Privacy > Data Sharing in your Walmart.com account, where you'll find an option that states "Allow us to automatically add store purchases to your purchase history using credit card."

Re: Not paying with cash

#87

Post by asciimike »

trenchpilgrim wrote: post #57
cosmotic wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, there's no apparent way to pay for a train using an American android phone (or at least I couldn't figure it out last year). One of the two apps refused to install on non-japanese phones, the other installed but refused to run. Had to pay with cash and it was a huge pain. Half the time I inexplicably had to do a fare adjustment, a hugely embarrassing moment blocking the turnstile, especially considering th…

The trick is to get a Suica card, which as an foreigner you need to do at the airport train station before you leave to the rest of Japan. https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/welcomesuica/purchase.html

Hilariously, the physical cards can only be topped up at add fare machines (cash only) or ATMs (cash only).

If you go down the "add a pasmo/suica on your phone" then you get into licensing issues with the other cabal (credit card issuers): you need to use an Amex to charge it via Apple Pay (IIRC Visa is now supported, but when I tried it last week my card was declined, so... YMMV).

Re: Not paying with cash

#88

Post by Gathering6678 »

lisbbb wrote: post #50
Shank wrote: post #4

One thing I really love that Japan got right was the creation of e-money systems that are anonymous (you can get a Suica for 20,000 yen without any registration information), work offline (you don't need network at-payment, nor does the terminal), and are easily accessible (you can get them at any train station, you can charge them at any ATM or convenience store with cash). In contrast, a debit/credit card usually r…

But Japanese people largely still use cash, don't they?

From my experience, apart from small restaurants and yatais (basically food carts), as well as local buses in small towns, you could get by using a credit card / Suica perfectly fine.

Re: Not paying with cash

#89

Post by crooked-v »

whycome wrote: post #83
jppope wrote: post #81

I prefer cash, not for the reasons mentioned. First, cash makes me really think about what I'm buying. It doesn't poke you the same way when you tap a card... which is obviously one of the main reasons they want you do use cards. When I use cash, I am reminded of when I didn't have a lot, which keeps me from spending without thought. Next, its a hallmark of the middle class to spend money that you don't have. Myself…

$2 bills?? You’re gonna get the occasional one who thinks you’re scamming them. It’s crazy that Canada, being so similar to the US, got rid of the 1 and 2 like 30 years ago.

It seems to be much less common these days (probably because smartphones make it easier to look things up), but there are assorted news stories about people being accused of counterfeiting or even arrested for trying to pay for things with $2 bills.

Re: Not paying with cash

#90

Post by dlcarrier »

zippergz wrote: post #64
dlcarrier wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the places I buy from charge an extra 3% for credit card transactions, so rewards cards are just giving your money back, but worse.

Curious what part of the world this is in. I can recall a grand total of three places I've seen in my area do this. It's a tiny minority here.

A less urban but not rural part of California.

I do tend to shop at low-margin places like WinCo Foods. There's also an auction house I buy big ticket items from. Both charge credit card fees. I've never seen a gas station anywhere in the US not charge extra for credit cards, and most also charge extra for debit cards. The DMV also charges a fee. I don't know if Grocery Outlet charges a fee, but I do shop there too.

Also, pretty much every recurring charge I have, e.g. from T-Mobile, Comcast, and my water supplier and mortgage processor all charge credit card fees, if I use a card instead of ACH transfers.

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