How often do you use cash ?

[jcb]

How often do you cash in your daily life ?

My answer is: almost never.

I thought of this question after remembering about how in 2016 Hillary Clinton said she would put Harriet Tubman on the 20$ bill ( https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/stat ... 28?lang=en ), and realized that I hardly ever use cash anymore. I use my debit card for nearly every purchase, not just for online purchases, but irl purchases too. The last time I used cash to buy something was over a year ago when my card was declined, because my overzealous bank deactivated my card after it thought that some of my online purchases were suspicious. (I always carry about 50$ in my wallet just in case this happens again.)

I remember my mother used checks alot when shopping when I was a kid, and I got a set of checks for my account when I opened my first bank account, (although I hardly ever use them), which is something that doesn't happen anymore by default. So, I assume there was a time in-between the dominance of cash and cards when checks where the most commonly used thing, but I didn't live it.

As a follow up question, when you do use cash, what denominations (of bills and/or coins) do you use the most ?

My answer: I currently help a family friend run a concessions stand a few hours a week, and judging from this experience and others, I conclude:
- 1$, 5$, and 20$ bills are the most useful.
- The 2$ bill is useless, because (1) it can just be replaced by 2 1$ bills, which are much more common, and (2) some people don't even know that 2$ bills are real, and instead think that they're fake. (When I was a kid, I would get a 2$ bill every year from a family friend as a novelty birthday gift.)
- Even the 10$ bill feels a bit useless, given that it can be replaced by just 2 5$ bills.
- 50$ and 100$ are too large to be useful to buy most things at a concessions.
- The penny, nickle, and dime, although common, are too worthless to be useful. (I watched Freaky Friday (the original 1976 version) somewhat recently, and noticed that one of the characters asked another character for a dime to make a phone call. ( https://youtu.be/9bot7RWyz8A?t=182 ) I guess that the dime was useful 50 years ago, but not any more.) (The only time in my life that I've ever bought something with a penny was when I was a kid, I'd buy a single tootsie roll for a penny at the local swimming pool's concessions.) (As a corollary to these coins uselessness, I wish that the American government would stop minting these coins that that fail at being money. Canada stopped minting their pennies 10 years ago, but they're still inexplicably minting nickles and dimes.)
- Half-dollar and dollar coins are too rare to ever be used.
- Quarters are the only coins that are both useful and common.

Thoughts ? Especially, what's the situation in other countries ? (I've heard that cash is still king in Japan, because fees are so high for credit/debit cards there that many businesses won't accept them.)

[zompist]

I only use cash for the laundry machines downstairs.

There's an ice cream place in our town that only takes cash, and they always have a line. Maybe it's all people trying to get rid of their small bills.

[Raphael]

There's an ice cream place in our town that only takes cash, and they always have a line. Maybe it's all people trying to get rid of their small bills.

Funny that you'd say that - there are some ice cream places with that policy here, too, so these days, when I use cash, it's usually to buy ice cream, and rarely ever for anything else.

For the record, I'm in Germany. When I use cash to buy ice cream, it's usually either 5- or 10 Euro notes, or 1- or 2 Euro coins.

Sometimes, I get gifts of cash in larger denominations for birthdays or Christmases. I usually spend that in the denominations in which I got it.

It's interesting - until relatively recently - I think about four or five years ago - I always used cash. Then, one day, I miscalculated what the stuff I was buying would cost in a supermarket, so when I was at the checkout, I didn't have enough cash to pay for my stuff, and I had to use my debit card to pay. I liked that so much that I've almost always used my debit card ever since.

[Ares Land]

I live in France.

I rarely use cash anymore. Except maybe for the vending machines at work. Even recent models accept debit/credit cards now.

It used to be that debit card use was expensive for businesses. Generally you needed to pay cash for anything below 20 euros; also some restaurants and -- annoyingly -- taxi drivers.
All of that changed with contactless cards a few years back and now just about any place will take a debit card for any denomination.
You can use contactless payment for up to 50 euros a day, and it's really convenient. I remember when it was introduced, and how people got really paranoid about it. (Some people removed the contactless chip on their card)

My debit card was damaged last March, so I got 50 euros in cash while waiting for the new one. I spent the last bill yesterday.
20, 10 and 5 euro bills are the most useful. 50 euros occasionally. Euro bills come in 100 euros and 200 euros denomination, but I don't remember even having one of these.
As for coins, the 5 and 2 cents coins are more trouble than they're worth. They initially introduced 1 cent coins but they were so rarely used they were retired soon after.

I remember checks.
Some cultural difference I'm aware of...

Here payment by credit/debit card is through a terminal and a PIN code. When I was in the US back 2012 you still had to sign the bill instead. I don't know if that's still the case
The rest of Europe was hit or miss -- sometimes they asked for PIN codes, sometimes for a signature. AFAIK PIN codes are used everywhere now.

I'm not sure about ATMs... I think they didn't even ask for a code. I do remember the outrageous ATM fees. (Here it's basically free.)

In the 2000s in Germany it looked like nobody ever used a card; everything was paid for in cash. To accomodate this, ATM menus offered the highest denomination first... In France it's the other way around, so French tourists had to be careful not to end up with 200 euros or even 500 euros in cash by mistake.

When I was a kid my parents used checks to pay for groceries. When I was old enough to pay for my own groceries, supermarkets didn't take checks anymore. In the 2000s I still wrote checks for rent payments and income tax payments; now it's all debit card and direct debit. I just ordered a new checkbook, just in case... but I don't expect to actually use it.

The big one is that credit cards aren't really a thing here. It's almost all debit cards.
People are very wary of credit and debt; except for cars and houses. There's a class/income/privilege thing going on here -- lower incomes do rely on consumer credit. In any case there's no such thing as a credit score in France.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I'm also in the almost never group. I live in the middle of nowhere, in a town with nearly no public transit, so often have to order things online. I'm also paid electronically now, working for an out-of-State company.

Pre-Covid, I was a tipped employee who received most of my money in cash, so I paid in it more often (though mostly I would deposit it in big chunks so I didn't have to worry about losing it). I also lived within easy distance of two good places to buy things, so I didn't need the money to be electronic (I paid rent by cheque then).

[Raphael]

They initially introduced 1 cent coins but they were so rarely used they were retired soon after.

They were? Huh. I didn't know that.

I'm not sure about ATMs... I think they didn't even ask for a code. I do remember the outrageous ATM fees. (Here it's basically free.)

That might have been because, being in a different country, you used the ATMs of different banks than your own. I don't know how it's elsewhere, but in Germany, withdrawing cash is free at your own bank's ATMs and costs a fee at other banks' ATMs. However, if your bank is an S&L, like mine is, you can withdraw cash for free from the ATMs of other S&Ls, too.

In the 2000s in Germany it looked like nobody ever used a card; everything was paid for in cash.

Until recently, that was still the case in Germany. It might have changed more recently, but I'm too much of an out-of-touch introvert to tell.

When I was a kid my parents used checks to pay for groceries. When I was old enough to pay for my own groceries, supermarkets didn't take checks anymore. In the 2000s I still wrote checks for rent payments and income tax payments; now it's all debit card and direct debit. I just ordered a new checkbook, just in case... but I don't expect to actually use it.

I'm a little bit older than you, and I don't think I remember ever seeing anyone use checks. It was always direct debit for large or regular payments. Although I think that, when I was a very small child, for some reason my grandmother called the forms she used to withdraw money from her account, before she started using ATMs, "checks".

The big one is that credit cards aren't really a thing here. It's almost all debit cards.
People are very wary of credit and debt; except for cars and houses.

Same here, except perhaps even more so. Here, people even seem to be wary of debt for houses. Bausparen - literally "building saving"; a special type of savings account that is used to save up money for a house - still seems to be more popular than mortgages here, at least judging from the number of ads you see for it.

[xxx]

in France, covid has accelerated the use of contactless cards, raising the contactless limit to €50 and making it possible to pay small amounts, for example in bakeries, which previously did not accept cards for one baguette and two croissants...
There are still vending machines, but they are gradually being connected to the banking network...
even if cheques are still accepted...
we're in the process of going totally digital...
one more sector that will precipitate catastrophe in the event of a digital middle age, or even a digital winter...

(make paper copies of your conlang archives, or engravings on metal or stone or clay tablets...)

[Torco]

i try to always have cash, but use it mostly for the purchase of vegetables of dubious juridical status. or when a shop goes "system is down", which happens rarely but not never.

[Ares Land]

That might have been because, being in a different country, you used the ATMs of different banks than your own. I don't know how it's elsewhere, but in Germany, withdrawing cash is free at your own bank's ATMs and costs a fee at other banks' ATMs. However, if your bank is an S&L, like mine is, you can withdraw cash for free from the ATMs of other S&Ls, too.

Yep, that's it. But the fees are very high, compared to France. Here, I can withdraw cash up to 6 times a month at a different banks' ATM; after that there's a one euro fee per withdrawal.
In the US, as far as I could see, you're also charged for withdrawing cash at a different bank; but it's something like 2 or 3 dollars per transaction, plus a percentage of the withdrawn amount. You can also find ATMs in places like bars and these charge even more.

The fees were surprising but not a problem in practice -- my bank has a partnership with an American bank so I just used their ATMs for cash.

[alice]

Personally, hardly ever, although I keep some around in case I need it.

I'm a little bit older than you, and I don't think I remember ever seeing anyone use checks.

We call them "cheques" round here, and my wife still gets them from her clients, many of whom are elderly and haven't yet migrated to digital banking.

[Raphael]

I'm a little bit older than you, and I don't think I remember ever seeing anyone use checks.

We call them "cheques" round here, and my wife still gets them from her clients, many of whom are elderly and haven't yet migrated to digital banking.

It's not a cheques vs. digital banking thing here. Doing payments by simply telling your bank to directly transfer money from your account to someone else's account was the norm here long before digital banking became a thing among regular people (though I guess internally banks have long used computers for processing that kind of thing). You filled out little forms with the recipient's account information, the amount of money, and the reason for sending the money, and put those forms into boxes at your bank. You can still do it that way if you want. Or you could tell your bank to send X amount of money to this or that account each month.

There was a time when the cheapest method to send very short messages to people in different parts of the country was to use that process to transfer very small amounts of money to their bank accounts, and write the message into the subject line of the form. I've heard that back then, some presumably fairly miserly people used that method to play long distance chess.

[Civil War Bugle]

I mostly use cash if I'm buying in person, and reserve other forms of payment primarily for online purchases. I have a bit of a preference for not shopping online. I get and spend $2 bills.
I have checks from my bank but I am addicted to cash so in the sort of circumstances where I might use a check, as often as not I buy a postal money order instead.

I use a currency tracking website which may bias my habits, but I also think I was leaning towards cash usage even before I used it. I also feel like I have a tendency towards compulsive behavior which influences how I choose to interact with money - I prefer to channel some of my compulsions in a way which will induce me to spend less rather than more, and I think if I used credit/debit cards by default, my spending would be higher. Haven't formally tested this though.

[jcb]

I only use cash for the laundry machines downstairs.

Ah, you're right. I used quarters for the laundry machines too at my last apartment. (As a side node, even these laundry machines accepted google pay, apple pay, etc.)

I rarely use cash anymore. Except maybe for the vending machines at work. Even recent models accept debit/credit cards now.

Yeah, that's a thing I've noticed that has changed in my lifetime. 20 years ago, vending machines accepted only cash. Nowdays, they accept cash, cards, and online payment methods (google pay, apple pay, paypal, etc).

Here payment by credit/debit card is through a terminal and a PIN code. When I was in the US back 2012 you still had to sign the bill instead. I don't know if that's still the case
The rest of Europe was hit or miss -- sometimes they asked for PIN codes, sometimes for a signature. AFAIK PIN codes are used everywhere now.

I think having to sign the receipt instead of entering a pin ended around 2012. I haven't signed a receipt in at least 10 years.

The big one is that credit cards aren't really a thing here. It's almost all debit cards.

The difference between the two used be less clear in America, but then Obama passed a law that forced my bank to ask me whether I wanted my card to be a debit card (reject transaction when low on funds), or a credit card (give credit when low on funds, but have to pay it back later, or else pay late fees).

In any case there's no such thing as a credit score in France.

Really ? Does everybody get the same interest rate and terms regardless of past credit history ?

[Man in Space]

I work for a bank in their compliance department, so I can speak to this.

A lot of people still use cash in some form or another. Especially since half the country has legalized marijuana in some fashion. It’s still federally illegal, but FinCEN has promoted rules for banks that want to provide services to MRBs. Most don’t, and I think all the major card providers treat it as radioactive, so it’s basically a cash-only market.

[malloc]

Almost never. The only times I've used cash over the past few years are for tipping places that ask for tips but don't have the option of tipping through the card reader. That rarely happens these days since I avoid such places unless I have ended up with cash available to tip in the first place.

[So Haleza Grise]

Hardly ever. I used to withdraw bills regularly and keep them in my wallet but I stopped during the COVID lockdowns and I haven't restarted. I don't even carry change in my pockets (another thing I always used to do for years) which is occasionally annoying. But for the vast majority of the time I don't need it.

[Ares Land]

I'm a little bit older than you, and I don't think I remember ever seeing anyone use checks.

We call them "cheques" round here, and my wife still gets them from her clients, many of whom are elderly and haven't yet migrated to digital banking.

It's not a cheques vs. digital banking thing here. Doing payments by simply telling your bank to directly transfer money from your account to someone else's account was the norm here long before digital banking became a thing among regular people (though I guess internally banks have long used computers for processing that kind of thing). You filled out little forms with the recipient's account information, the amount of money, and the reason for sending the money, and put those forms into boxes at your bank. You can still do it that way if you want. Or you could tell your bank to send X amount of money to this or that account each month.

Interesting. Before digital banking direct transfers were possible but complicated to set up (with some back and forth exchange of paperwork by mail and longish delays) so only worth doing for regular sums, like rent or energy bills. Direct banking has been widespread for a few years; before that checks were more practical.
Like alice reports, elderly people still use checks/cheques.

Really ? Does everybody get the same interest rate and terms regardless of past credit history ?

They still do some risk assessment. I'm not sure what kind of info they use. I think income, age and health conditions are the big factors. I don't know the specifics but I think banks' access to personal data is more restricted here.
Credit history isn't as useful as in the US because lots of people don't have any.

[hwhatting]

In the 2000s in Germany it looked like nobody ever used a card; everything was paid for in cash.

Until recently, that was still the case in Germany. It might have changed more recently, but I'm too much of an out-of-touch introvert to tell.

Yes, it has changed tremendously since COVID. Now almost every shop, café, etc. accepts cards; contactless payment has gone from being a curiosity ca. 2019 to being everywhere. Nevertheless, you still can pay with cash most anywhere, for amounts big or small; it's not like in Canada where (in my experience from visiting my daughter in Vancouver) they look at you funny when you try to pay upwards from 10 - 20 CAD in cash.
Signatures on cards: I haven't signed on paper for a card payment (debit or credit) in Germany for at least 15 years, but some shops still have systems where you have to sign on a pad, quite often independent of the amount. Otherwise it's normally PIN above a certain amount (20 - 50 €; I haven't found out what logic applies to these limits).
Cheques: I think we discussed that before, but last I saw people paying with cheques in Germany was in the early 90s and that was rare even then; I personally never used a cheque in Germany. You either use cash, cards, or quite often you can get a shop to print you an invoice and pay by bank transfer later - sometimes you have to retrieve the goods after payment, but quite often you can take them with you; they take your address and can sue you if you don't pay.
BTW, 1-cent coins still circulate in Germany; I haven't checked how recently they have been minted, but you still get them regularly as change.
I mostly shop at supermarkets, so I don't know if there are still places selling e.g. sweets in package sizes that sell for less than about 1 €. Cent coins are mostly used as change; 50 cent coins are also handy as deposit for shopping trollies (most systems accept 50 cent, 1 € and 2 € coins) or as fee in toilets where there is a caretaker present (they normally sit there with plate where you can put coins; 50 cent is normally considered the minimum fee).

[Emily]

yeah, i rarely use cash here (socal), really only at the laundromat when i have to go. everywhere except laundromats and the occasional cash-only taco shop takes cards. every now and then i'll end up with cash in my wallet and even if it's only a little bit it'll take me at least a week to spend it. apparently a lot of places take apple pay too but i avoid apple products so i have no idea how that works. not sure i've seen a regular business that takes cashapp or venmo but they're pretty common among small community organizations or like local musicians selling their merch or w/e

[MacAnDàil]

I try to use cash almost alll the time nowadays because you notice more what you spend, as mentioned in the book Dollars and Sense. Unfortunately, there is no cash machine in our neighbourhood any more. Only the rent, Jardins de Cocagne (basket of local organic fruit and veg) and bills do I usually pay by debit.

There was a time when I had no bank card (because it was sent to the wrong address) and I find that I handled money better then.