I had two reasons, the first is because i found it way too easy to spend on my card without thinking, and the second because I wanted to regain a bit of privacy alongside everything else I’m doing. Ive set it up in my bank that on payday, an amount of my salary automatically goes to the bills account, some goes to long term savings, some to short term savings, then the rest I take out in cash.
It really does change my perception of spending I think: Ive found myself not buying things because I didnt want to break a note and carry change. I can physically see how much I have left. I can take £20 to the pub and leave when its finished. Plus it feels really good knowing every single transaction isnt stored forever. I have a small amount of money on a contactless ring for emergencies like a bus fare or somewhere that unexpectedly only takes card.
Is anyone else still predominantly using cash day to day?
“Is anyone else still predominantly using cash day to day?”
Yes. Germany.
Man, Japan and Singapore too.
Lots of heavy cash flow dense countries seem to still be a fan of the paper, honestly.
Heh, Germany isn’t a good example. Its really hard to find a German bank that doesn’t charge you money to let you take cash out of your own account.
Most countries in South America use cash for most transactions.
This is one thing the UK is really good for, all bank owned ATMs and most public ones are completely free to use for any cardholder of any bank. My bank doesn’t even have physical branches but I can still use the ATM of any bank lobby for free. There are some paid ones run by private companies but the fee is usually a flat £1-2 max. I’ve been to ATMs in Europe that have tried to charge me something like 10EUR to take out 30.
A lot of the convenience of the modern UK high street baking sector is because of Girobank, the 1960s Government’s successful attempt to force modernisation on the banking industry. When I hear about the ass-backwardsness of other country’s banking arrangements (especially the US) I give a little thankyou to Girobank.
Edit: Also, yes, tourist ATMs are predatory bullshit.
huh, thats not common in my experience. Most people are with Sparkasse or other mayor banks which allow for free cash withdrawals, at least in their network. You can also get cash in supermarkets o.O
Was, das habe ich noch nie gehört? Ich habe bei der Sparkasse, Commerzbank und Santander ein Girokonto, keine davon verlangt Gebühren fürs Geld abheben bei Automaten der eigenen Bank. Bei der Commerzbank und Santander kann ich sogar 3 mal im Monat kostenlos bei Automaten einer fremden Bank abheben.
Außerdem kannst du kostenlos Geld abheben, wenn du im Supermarkt per Gieokarte (aber nicht Kreditkarte) zahlst
I’m starting to use more cash for daily spendings. The rise of surveillance pricing is terrible, better to hide qt least some of information from my bank.
I’m finding supermarkets locking their regular prices behind an app or loyalty card is getting out of control. Out of all the major supermarkets, ONLY Aldi has nothing of the sort currently.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s will often have a £3 item that costs £6 without their loyalty card. Of course it’s £3 in every other shop: it’s not a special offer for members, it’s a punishment price for those who don’t give away their data.
Wow, I’ve never seen pricing that bad without a loyalty card in the US. Not saying it doesn’t happen, quite often it’s a 20-30% discount for the loyalty card, and occasionally more if you use the app (which I refuse, since I use Jenny’s number for the loyalty card).
You’re right to call it a punishment. Wonder if we can aggregate the loyalty app program somehow, like host the app in an Android VM on a VPS that anyone can then access, so the data they get is muddied.
I usually ask other people in line for their loyalty cards. Or, in case there are none (which is rare) - I have found usable photos of random cards’ barcodes. It was mostly from the respective loyalty programs’ reviews, but I believe I saw a group that specifically shared theirs to get extra points.
But say you only use that card for that store, where’s the privacy invasion? It wouldn’t be much right? Trying to find a downside of a store card.
two words: data aggregation.
They know it’s you. They can match it everywhere else.
Not only that. Companies are now charging people extra for using cards, passing on their processing fees to consumers.
Apparently there has been an uptick in people using cash in the UK because it helps with budgeting. Which has become more necessary since 60% of inflation started coming from corporate profiteering and four people became able to outcompete twenty million others in the market.
I’d love to but since tons of credit cards charge fees to the store, shops increase their prices on menus and items to account for this. On top of the fact that I receive points for purchasing, I’d be losing money if I were to be using cash alone.
since tons of credit cards charge fees to the store, shops increase their prices on menus and items to account for this.
why does this stop you from cash? you’re still charged the same
Like Orange said, I’m not getting a discount by using cash. Prices are higher because of credit cards so I might as well use them to get 2 - 5% cashback/discount. Doesn’t sound like much but it leads to hundreds of dollars in a single year for me.
oh i see, i was tired haha. i’ve never used those card benefits much myself
Depending on the business, some actually charge less if you are upfront on paying cash
I’ve only seen small/local businesses, sometimes big gas chains, give a cash discount so naturally it makes sense to use cash when I can but it is very few shops still.
Yup, but those are exactly the places to use cash and it’s amazing what even some of your meals being in cash and it influencing your budget does to your purchase habits.
I agree fully with using a cash back credit card for the big places and purchases and cash when around town locally.
Kinda feels like I’m doing what my grandparents did but hey it kinda works
I would consider paying with cash again IF $100 bills weren’t so much trouble.
It’s hard to get a $100 bill. ATMs just don’t spit them out. Many places refuse to take them. It’s just hard to carry over $100 in cash without quickly having your wallet explode in size.
Back in the day $100 was like caring $1,000 now. You could get a lot done with $20 bills… You can burn through the majority of $100 just going to dinner and I also have no desire to manage all that cash at my house or hit up an ATM every other day.
Interesting, we have £50 notes in the UK but they essentially don’t exist for most people. No cash machines will give you one, and shopkeepers mistrust them, although generally accept. 20s are the highest people deal with here usually.
We also have 50s, they have the same problem as 100s.
There are definitely places that will take the 50s and 100s but the number of times you can get burned by it is too high for my liking. I once was on vacation and a state park (I think it was) wouldn’t take anything bigger than 20s for their admission fee.
I think I only had 50s so I think I ended up having a stranger help me out.
Yeah I do agree that American cash doesn’t stretch as far. I’m definitely having to hit the ATM or cash back option way more than before for how much things cost. 50s are good for restaurants and the like but 100s are so weirdly distrusted and a pain. But I rarely get back 5s and 10s cause seriously inflation is just so good damn high.
I keep thinking I’m gonna pull out a bunch of cash to have but then… Yeah I am not one to stuff it under my mattress and it being available electronically is so useful… Sigh…
Trying. It’s all we can do until things change for real.
