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Post by Webs on Sept 10, 2023 20:13:30 GMT -5
after sandy, many businesses went to cash only I don't like using my card at street carts in new york. I also need cash for the laundry room in my building. Funny enough, I never have quarters for parking meetings. So I expect to get a parking ticket one of these days when do I a quick run in.
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Post by fishface on Sept 10, 2023 21:02:15 GMT -5
The only place I use cash is in the office. Vending machine or someone selling a chocolate bar to fund a child's school trip to an event or whatever.
I have coins in a money tin on my desk and I have a $5 note in my emergency supply pocket in my bag. Ie the place I keep emergency hair tie, sanitary pad, antihistamine etc. The $5 note is in case I leave my travel card at home or my phone is dead (so I can't call an uber or whatever).
I have cash at home though. That's my earthquake money.
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Post by kneazle on Sept 10, 2023 22:03:32 GMT -5
I usually only have cash when my parents have paid me back for something and even they are more likely to transfer using the banking app.
I emptied all my change into a charity box a few weeks ago.
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Post by lisamnz on Sept 10, 2023 22:14:28 GMT -5
And then there's that other form of currency. I've just added up the bottle return vouchers in my wallet and find that I have $28.60 available next time I visit the supermarket. Groo, would you mind reminding me or PM me what state you are in? container return schemes is something we've done quite a bit of work on.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 10, 2023 22:37:07 GMT -5
Hahaha yeah Germany. I used cash 3 times today. My dad has a volunteer job (in the Netherlands) driving a bus. (A route that doesn't have enough passengers to justify regular bus service.) The area tends to get a lot of German tourists. Almost every time, payment is an issue. Passengers can pay by transit pass, bank card, or credit card, but not cash. And German tourists, almost universally, only carry cash. I can imagine this. I'm sure all those people do actually have a bank account by the way ;-) but some German banks actually charge customers for using their debit card so you'd understand why they wouldn't do it for a small transaction. Someone got quite aggressive with me on twitter recently for suggesting they change bank for this reason. It's bizarre that we're so out of step with basically every other European country. Partly it's the oddity of our banking system, partly it's a deeply conservative attitude to debt (many people don't have a credit card), for some it may be the concern about data protection/government control that sprite mentioned. The pandemic did move things on somewhat, by the way. There are bakeries that I can pay with a card now that I never could before.
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Post by whothingie on Sept 10, 2023 22:55:18 GMT -5
Cheques have been discontinued here for a couple of years now. Most atms only give 20 or 50 notes. I keep a few dollars in my emergency pocket in my phone and wallet but so far haven't needed them. Debit cards are my go to.
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Post by groo on Sept 10, 2023 23:07:49 GMT -5
And then there's that other form of currency. I've just added up the bottle return vouchers in my wallet and find that I have $28.60 available next time I visit the supermarket. Groo, would you mind reminding me or PM me what state you are in? container return schemes is something we've done quite a bit of work on. NSW, Lisa. The only problem is that the reverse vending machines do not accept wine bottles. returnandearn.org.au/how-it-works/
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Sept 10, 2023 23:10:44 GMT -5
I worked out years ago that it was cheaper to pay for a bank cheque or money order from a post office the rare times I needed one, rather than having a cheque account which charged a fee on any withdrawal, even if it wasn't with a cheque. I think banks have now dropped that fee, and I could get a cheque book with my account, but I don't really need one at all.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 10, 2023 23:16:06 GMT -5
I've never seen a German cheque, and I've been here 15 years. On that, at least, we have moved on!
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Post by Queen on Sept 11, 2023 2:13:06 GMT -5
I've never seen a German cheque, and I've been here 15 years. On that, at least, we have moved on! I've only seen one in the Netherlands in more than 20 years that I've lived here. And that was presented by a woman in her eighties to pay for a family meal I was invited to. No account I've had here ever had one. Before we all went digital we had something called "acceptgiro" which was a paper instruction to the bank to pay someone. (Rather than a paper instruction to someone to enable them to get money from the bank). I think that made it more secure at the time and possibly easier to move people to digital when the time came.
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Post by fishface on Sept 11, 2023 2:24:34 GMT -5
I usually only have cash when my parents have paid me back for something and even they are more likely to transfer using the banking app. I emptied all my change into a charity box a few weeks ago. That's how I get my cash. I tell mum I don't need her hardcopy money after i buy her a coffee or whatever. But she gives it to me anyway. It then goes to my work piggie bank.
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Post by tucano on Sept 11, 2023 2:25:43 GMT -5
I still prefer to have a paper train ticket rather than buying one online, in case my phone battery dies.
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Post by sprite on Sept 11, 2023 3:38:24 GMT -5
The only place I use cash is in the office. Vending machine or someone selling a chocolate bar to fund a child's school trip to an event or whatever. I worked in a very hi-tech building this summer, which is classrooms for students doing very cutting edge tech/engineering classes, and a hub for innovation support. All the vending machines are cash only. Why? Who do they think is going to use them? My neighour's 8 yr old runs a little bake sale every couple of months, and even SHE has a card reader.
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Post by riverhorse on Sept 11, 2023 4:36:53 GMT -5
I still prefer to have a paper train ticket rather than buying one online, in case my phone battery dies. There was a group of women in the train yesterday who couldn't open their Deutsche Bahn apps to show their tickets to the conductor, because they were in an Internet black hole. PG and I always take screenshots of our tickets, and a photo of each others, to avoid this. Yesterday PG's phone battery was nearly dead just before the conductor came round. It just managed to keep going, but I had a photo of his on my phone just in case.
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Post by riverhorse on Sept 11, 2023 4:38:40 GMT -5
Re the cash thing, I was pleasantly surprised at the big flea market in Aachen yesterday that quite a few stalls had signs saying that they accepted payment by PayPal. Germany is slowly being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 11, 2023 5:03:26 GMT -5
Yes, I'm writing this from the canteen of the Deutsche Post headquarters where I now get to pay with a debit card instead of loading a prepaid card with cash!
I still get a moment of surprise when I check my bank statement and wonder what I bought at the post office, before remembering it was lunch.
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Post by Liiisa on Sept 11, 2023 5:17:59 GMT -5
I still have a checking account but only use checks because my job deposits money into my checking account in Bank A, but our joint account and my savings accounts are in Bank B. I know I should be able to figure out how to move money from Bank A to Bank B electronically, but I haven't yet so once a month or so I take a photo of a Bank A check and upload it to Bank B.
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Post by sprite on Sept 11, 2023 5:36:16 GMT -5
I goofed up and sent my inlaws money instead of my partner, and in the end I had to download an app for our joint account and take a photo of the cheque. It was so stressful, I really wish i'd just gone to the post office and deposited it there. (Here, the Post Office also does bank services.)
It take about 4 minutes to set up a recipient on my online bank, so I pay everything possible that way--even the kids who deliver eggs on Thursdays.
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Post by Queen on Sept 11, 2023 7:09:18 GMT -5
I still prefer to have a paper train ticket rather than buying one online, in case my phone battery dies. There was a group of women in the train yesterday who couldn't open their Deutsche Bahn apps to show their tickets to the conductor, because they were in an Internet black hole. PG and I always take screenshots of our tickets, and a photo of each others, to avoid this. Yesterday PG's phone battery was nearly dead just before the conductor came round. It just managed to keep going, but I had a photo of his on my phone just in case. Yep, I'll screenshot the ticket and zoom on any bar code or qr code and take a second screenshot of that. But I don't know of any internet black holes here, one advantage of being in a densely populated country!
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Post by sprite on Sept 11, 2023 7:50:16 GMT -5
I take screenshots, but also keep my phone in airplane mode quite a lot of the time to save the battery.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Sept 11, 2023 7:59:16 GMT -5
Our country trains don’t have wifi, and there’s no reception for most of the journey between here and Sydney. I still print my tickets! Even the train crew have trouble with the apps they use to manage passengers!
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Post by romily on Sept 11, 2023 8:05:58 GMT -5
Yes, the last time I used cash was when I was in Germany in May – most shops only accept EC-cards, not Visa or Mastercard – no matter if debt or credit card. If they accept card payment at all. Still baffles me. Have never seen a cheque in my life – but we used to have paperslips for money transfers – stuff that I assume is now being done online, like with my German bank account. I have to admit I was baffled the first time I saw a cheque in the UK – on the one side everybody had credit cards, but then they pay a plumber with a cheque? Always wondered f there is some tax avoidance going on, in Germany the plumber would send a bill and we (back in the day) pay with the paperslip we give to our bank for an electronic transfer, nowadays online. My nephew is 14 and I asked him if he has a bank card and he was astonished I even asked – clearly it is not the done thing, or even legal? Back when I was young you had to 16 to get a debit card and with a lot of restrictions.
Proof for me that I never need cash was that I could pay for the toilets in Camden market by card only.
Only exception are some car parking ticket machines who still demand coins, but I think they are dying out. I mean, I would have to take money out an ATM, then buy a small item at a supermarket at one of the few self service tills that accept cash, to then get change, to then park my car…
Having said that, you can still pay cash in most places if you want to, all major supermarkets and petrol stations. I had to get rid of £300 earlier this year and it was quite easily done, a few tanks of petrol and some grocery shops.
In many online shops in Germany you can be lucky if you find a paypal option, otherwise its against Invoice and prepayment with bank transfer, Klarna (instant bank transfer)…All very 1980 still. Obviously amazon being the exception!
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Post by sprite on Sept 11, 2023 8:45:42 GMT -5
In Canada, we only got a few free debit transactions each month, unless we upgraded to a more expensive account or carried a high miniumum. Despite this, we were one of the first countries to really get going with debit cards, and were one of the most enthusiastic about it worldwide. We also had to pay for ATM withdrawals after a couple of freebies, so I had to carefully work out how many of each free transaction I'd get. The best technique was to buy a big batch of groceries on the card, but also get a cash advance (only that's the wrong name!), to delay needing to get cash from the machine. For about a year, I carried $ 1000 in my normal account just to avoid paying fees--I saved more on fees than I would have earned in interest.
So when I moved to the UK, it was a relief to find out these transactions were all free, no matter which bank's machine I used, on an account with no monthly charge.
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Post by vinnyd on Sept 11, 2023 8:59:55 GMT -5
Many of the farmers at my farmers' market have signs saying that they prefer cash; i suspect that the others do too. Anyway, I use cash there.
And I try to keep a supply of coins in the car for parking meters. If you aren't staying long, it is a lot quicker to use coins than a credit card.
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Post by wombatrois on Sept 11, 2023 9:05:27 GMT -5
I still use cash if I have it on me - everyone charges to use cards here now, which really pisses me off - they should build it into their prices, not add extra at the machine gggrrr. Which is why I'll pay in cash if I have it. There was a segment on a current affairs program last week about a young woman who had devised a way to put $s into plastic pouches to help her budget - reminds me that there is nothing new in the world (we used to do this when we first started working / living away from home)
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Post by romily on Sept 11, 2023 9:12:15 GMT -5
In Germany you still pay hefty fee's if you take money out of the "wrong" ATM - certain banks work together others don't. I noticed it when I took cash out of my german account and was hit with a €5 fee...
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Post by sophie on Sept 11, 2023 9:36:48 GMT -5
I pay cash to my domestic goddess.. I suspect cash is king when no trail is wanted
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Post by psw on Sept 11, 2023 9:45:23 GMT -5
I use cash for small purchases. Anything over US$20 goes on the credit card. Last cash I spent was a couple of days ago for a grapefruit and some bananas at the greengrocer. I like to have at least $50 cash on me at all times.
When there's not a line behind me I try to lighten my load of change.
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Post by lillielangtry on Sept 11, 2023 9:49:56 GMT -5
In Germany you still pay hefty fee's if you take money out of the "wrong" ATM - certain banks work together others don't. I noticed it when I took cash out of my german account and was hit with a €5 fee... Yes, and it baffles me that this is accepted - it used to be the case in the UK, I remember when I used to go into town with my friends from school searching for the "correct" bank machine. They changed it, with all the banks agreeing to accept each other's customers, sometime in the mid-90s, I guess. Why is it 30 years later and customers are still accepting traipsing around town searching for a Deutsche Bank/Sparkasse or whatever as if this isn't an inconvenience... Paypal is really catching on for online payments, though.
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Post by psw on Sept 11, 2023 10:07:39 GMT -5
Paypal is great - especially for the occasional international transaction.
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