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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

#151

Post by z1mm32m4n »

thanksgiving wrote: post #147
jamescostian wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 19 and most people I know use Venmo. I'm curious - around what age are your friends? My parents don't know what Venmo is, and I don't think many of their friends (most in the age range of 40-60) do either.

> I'm 19 and most people I know use Venmo. I'm curious - around what age are your friends? My parents don't know what Venmo is, and I don't think many of their friends (most in the age range of 40-60) do either. Made in 1987 here. I have Paypal as well but I prefer Google Wallet. Google Wallet is directly connected to my bank account. I don't trust Paypal to connect it to my bank account. Why would you trust Venmo wi…

I have a separate bank account for Venmo that I keep capped at a few hundred dollars. Getting robbed a few hundred is much better than a few thousand, and for the convenience of Venmo (especially on a college campus) it's a fine risk for me.

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

#152

Post by sshanky »

wink wrote: post #139

Ha, such a non-issue to us petty bean counting Germans, we always split the bill and it's only a problem like once a year with particularly stubborn wait staff. Yes, maybe I'm generalizing a bit too much, but you're usually asked if the bill will be split if you're obviously looking like a couple. I'm leaning towards preferring that way. I've no problems buying friends a beer or two, but a) I don't want to be overthi…

I lived in Germany in the '90s and loved the way they split bills at the restaurant. In fact, there wasn't even any "splitting"—you paid for whatever you ordered. The server wore a money pouch and sometimes even a coin dispensing machine. She would walk around the table and ask each person what they ordered, would write the prices down on a neat little recycled paper pad that was about 1" wide and 6" tall, hand it to you, and you paid her immediately. No tips (you rounded up sometimes), no guilt—just German efficiency. Geil!

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

#153

Post by sshanky »

broknbottle wrote: post #3

I don't understand why Venmo is such a popular app. I've always used Square Cash and just recently tried Venmo for the first time. My sister and I had dinner and she offered to split the tab. She refused to try Square Cash and had me download Venmo. On the iPhone it felt like buggy port with some weird social feature that allows users to see public transaction.

I also don't get it. Google Wallet has been around for ages and couldn't be any simpler or easier. These kids obviously haven't been burned by PayPal yet.

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

#154

Post by bogomipz »

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 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 server will walk around with card machine and run the individual cards at the table. It's not seen as a hassle at all just part of the job.

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

#156

Post by saimiam »

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 only experienced this resistance to splitting bills in New York. Where I live now, largish city in the South, they'll gladly split the bill any which way you want. Same with Midwest cities - no issues splitting.

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

#157

Post by JCharante »

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).

Really? I've seen a bill be split 30 different ways at multiple places. It must be a huge hassle, but I think it's possible.

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

#158

Post by technofiend »

gozur88 wrote: post #98

>"It’s making people less generous and chivalrous,” Ms. Pennoyer said. “It used to be you’d go to a restaurant, and you’d put down your credit cards and split it 50-50, even if one person had steak and one had chicken. But now people pay exactly to the cent." Spoken like the person who always orders steak. I don't drink, so I'm always irritated when I go out to dinner with a bunch of people and someone says "let's ju…

The infamous "unpopular subsidy of Wally's lobster" Dilbert cartoon covers this, although we had a coworker at my last job who took it to the next level. We'd go to lunch and this guy would wait for everyone else to chip in their money (tip included) and then he'd see how much was left, claiming he didn't have change for a $20. But I noticed he was taking enough change back that all the tip money was subsidizing his lunch. So even if the waitress started with $20 in tips she ended up with $5 when Rick was done.

The next time we went to lunch and he conveniently didn't have change, I pulled out a stack of 100 $1 bills. I don't know if they do it any more but you could get them brand new and glued to a spine (called gluebacked). It's trivial to peel off exactly how many dollars you need. That stopped Rick's trying to steal the tips to pay for his lunch. I think was embarrassed that someone had actually noticed what he was up to and prepared for it.

But yeah I don't mind Venmo after getting skunked by friends who wanted to equally split the bill at a tapas restaurant. It made sense since we would be sharing little plates of food. So we agreed up front and then the two of them proceeded to drink everyone else under the table because of course the bill was subsidized.

I'm usually generous and forgiving about these things, according to my wife to a fault. But for someone who doesn't drink at all to suddenly have their evening's cost doubled is no bueno. I absolutely refuse to equally split the bill if people are going to drink even if it makes me look cheap. Now drinking in England is different - everyone's expected to pick up rounds and it's equally distributed. But sheesh trying to make people (particularly those that don't as a rule drink) pick up the majority of your drinking tab is just rude.

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

#159

Post by tzs »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #32

I don't use this app and this article kind of explains why. If I go to dinner with friends, or anything, I'd rather pick up the check than worry about splitting it. The next time, they'll pickup the tab, and so forth. That's what friends do. I don't know if I'd want to go out with someone who is going to bill me for it later, or wants to use an app to split things up. For me it just makes things superficial, awkward,…

One problem with the alternating tab pickup system is that if some people routinely eat more than the group average and some routinely eat less then either the sparse eaters end up subsidizing the abundant eaters, or the abundant eaters end up purposefully eating less than they want in order to make the finances fair. Both cases are likely to lead to unspoken resentment within the group.
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