Asklemmy

Norway.

The only ones using cash here are the elderly, immigrant workers and contractors that skip VAT. Been like that a long time. A restaurant chain here stopped accepting cash (illegal), and there was barely some buzz in the media. Buzz so brief I don't know how it ended.

I almost never have cash on me. It's debit or credit always. Here's my thought process on paying with cash. If I buy something that costs, say $4.55, and I hand over a $5 dollar bill, that item has really just cost me $5.00 because what am I realistically going to do with the 45 cents in change?

Credit card for the rewards, paid monthly. Keep cash for tipping and small stuff.

US: Credit card only, almost exclusively using Apple Pay. If I somehow obtain cash, I deposit it so that I can spend it using a card instead and earn the rewards. I actively use about half a dozen cards, choosing the right one for each transaction to maximize rewards.

I can't even remember the last time I had cash in my wallet

Cash, because I try to keep at least some privacy.

Cash. feels better + Banks cant track me

USA - Cash a lot more recently. With how easy it is for my bank and stores to track my purchases with card, I've switched to cash as much as possible. Some stores say no cash but even those have never actually refused cash. I assume they're just trying to deter thieves.

The spark for this change for me was Target. I first looked into it cause I hated how they scanned my ID barcode when buying alcohol. Also, they openly track purchases even made without your account by your credit card number. In addition to what I've heard about intensive surveillance in the stores via high resolution cameras, enough to read phone messages, I have sworn off Target entirely.

EDIT: oh and to avoid tip creeping. I absolutely hate when non-tipped places ask for tips. Cash makes it a lot easier to avoid.

Interesting to see how common it still is to exclusively use cash, especially in European countries. In Canada, they put us in a prisoners dilemma situation where things cost the same regardless of whether you pay cash or card, but if you pay card, the merchant pays a fee and you get a portion of that fee, making it cheaper for you, while also raising the prices because they need to factor in this extra fee, so things are actually more expensive overall, and moreso if you pay cash.

Besides the monetary incentives, it's also much easier to track my expenses with a credit card.

Half cash, half card. I’m from Germany and I think that giving banks the level of control they’d have in a cashless society is one of the dumbest things a society can do.

Almost exclusively cash for groceries and outings. Most other things are ordered online anyway. You'd think that working in IT I'd be more progressive but I'm confronted with so much malfunctioning tech that I'd rather have a simple form of transaction I can rely on and keep track of easily. My bank probably has some sort of ancient database that nobody understands anymore since Larry who was maintaining it died of a heart attack two weeks before retirement and now nobody dares to touch it until it'll eventually fail and cause my card to lose functionality for 3 days. I'll stick with my coins.

I always pay with credit card whenever I can for the rewards, then pay it off fully.

cash is printed freedom

Germany: Credit card most of the time, using Apple Pay.

Some places only take girocard (formally EC), a special system in Germany that is cheaper for the vendor and more common, though some modern banks like N26 don’t give out girocards anymore which is why I have another bank account just for this. Super annoying.

Sometimes cash is still the only option, which is why I always carry 20-30 Euros with me just in case. Examples would be the local farm shop where I buy eggs and veggies, some small restaurants and pubs.

Card. Gotta get that cash back.

Cash, everywhere. It's been weird to see some places refuse cash, and I usually don't go back.

UK, card exclusively.

The charges on card is lifted some years ago and now there's no need to carry cash anywhere.

Card whenever possible. Faster and more secure in almost every aspect.

Germany

Cash and only cash. I live in Europe, so basocally wherever I decide to travel, my euros will be accepted, otherwise I'd rather get ripped off by an exchange than give a single piece of metadata to my bank :)

Travelling to places with a different currency outside the EU, I take my debit card and on the very first day withdraw some of the local currency from an ATM.

Do people still carry cash these days? Maybe if I was going to a garage sale or some private transaction... but even for those it's more convenient to do an e-transfer. Some businesses don't even have cash registers any more, just a card reader.

What is your post’s body saying?

cash. i don't buy much because i can't afford to, and what i do is purchased in a real store.

not even well fargo or boa would make a fake account using my data.

card for everything pretty much except drugs and tipping

card almost exclusively. local bakery or similar small shops doesnt work with cards and only do cash, so sometimes i have to work that way, but otherwise its card only.

Almost everyone uses their card or phone here in Sweden. A lot of places stopped accepting cash.

Carrying cash - particularly coins - is such a pain in the neck. I pay for everything on card whether I'm in this country (UK) or travelling abroad.

I'm almost at the point where I don't need to carry a wallet at all - contactless on my phone takes care of a lot.

Australia. Cash if possible, but only for small transactions like groceries.

Otherwise, EFTPOS.

Credit card only for some online payments I can't get around any other way.

Cash, new Zealand. Here we get charged a fee for cc that's 3% that's a scam in my opinion and there's probably a fee for eftpos as well so I just use cash.

Almost exclusively credit. And I don't even play the game where you move stuff around to maximize points and all the other Bullshit. I just use the credit card through my almost exclusively online bank. Every pay day, first thing I do is pay off whatever I've accrued on the card the past two weeks, so I never carry a balance.

Back when I would go to the bars a lot, I used cash often.

Credit card everywhere in South Africa for me - firstly safer, but I also settle it in full monthly so avoid bank costs and interest, and I get a lot of benefits back like 35% off fruit & veg, 75% off fitness devices annually, etc.

I haven't seen cash for many months now. I make my every transaction with upi online/offline. It's just in india. 😪😪

Belgium. Debit card most of the time. Covid was a turning point, as it popularized QR codes and this in turn led to more payments by payment apps. I rarely ever carry cash anymore.

Cash for small every day things. Otherwise some card for logging my budget. When I draw cash I log it to “everyday things”.

Germany

Card, mostly credit, sometimes debit. I rarely carry cash around as I only have a card wallet. I live in the US.

I use gold doubloons

Card for anything that could possibly be issue later on so I have protection. Cash for local businesses and my favorite chicken place that doesn’t take cards.

In the US, I mainly use card at stores, but I like buying things from FB marketplace and tend to use cash unless seller doesn't want to use cash.

UPI

cash for bus

Metro card for metro

When in Vegas, cash. Everywhere else, card.

in the US. almost always debit, rarely cash, never credit

India. UPI.

Apple Pay every day, and before that Google Pay. I haven't really used cash in years.

There's a very rare exception for like one store I visit that requires cash with an ATM next-door so I just pay by cash then but otherwise I'm using my phone/watch for all payments.