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?
Some credit cards offer 2% cash back… (Not points) So it’s hard to give that up when you get 2% off for just about every dollar you spend. Why wouldn’t you put every dollar on card you would normally spend.
This doesn’t work well if you are paying interest…
If you’re fiscally savvy and don’t overspend and can pay your balance in full every month and are not paying interest, this is a strong vote for choosing over cash.
However, without that…I see no benefit and would use more cash for all reasons in this thread.
This is sort of a scam though. Credit cards give rewards, but then charge the business for the processing fees. So the business needs to raise prices to cover the fees. So really no one is getting that 2% except for the card network. And if you don’t use a card you lose 2%.
It is basically a protection racket. “It would be a shame if you didn’t use our credit card and had to pay 2% more everywhere”
Yes, I know it is complicated. Handling cash also costs non-trivial amounts. I know that the EU has limits on fees (and that is why basically no credit cards have rewards there). I also know that some businesses see the fee as more of a marketing costs because higher spenders tend to use cards and people tend to spend more on cards.
Out in NYC, the bodegas all have a little plaquard saying that either 1: listed prices include a 2% credit card fee and you can save by using cash, or 2: listed prices may not match your final charge because they add a 2% fee on top for credit cards.
Which is the same thing effectively but it can be sometimes confusing if you’re trying to watch for the fee.
Anecdotally, I have sometimes noticed the cashier will say a price, and then say a slightly different price when I pull out the card. So it’s not like they always apply the fee regardless. At least some of the time anyway.
Not universal of course. I don’t remember if that’s also true for grocery stores, and it’s probably not the case for big chains but honestly I don’t know.
You’re also paying in the data they sell on you
Indeed. Its very uncommon to get flat cashback options in the UK for this reason. I think I had AmEx that gave me 1% for a year and nothing after that.
Well that’s the way it should be. If they’re selling your data, they should compensate you for that in some way. Then it becomes a personal decision as to how much it matters to you.
As an aside, this is why I recently degoogled, having been all in on Google products for 10 years. 10 years ago you got amazing value for your data from Google but now every single useful product has been enshittified or shut down and they collect more data than ever. The sums just don’t add up any more.
I use Monero primarily
I’m interested in this, I did buy a small amount but struggling to spend it anywhere? Even when I bought a Trezor hardware wallet I had to use LTC… I know I can pay for Mullvad with it when my subscription expires in two years lol
I also can’t find any no-KYC place to buy it now LocalMonero is closed.
Xmrbazaar.com is a place to request a product/service or sell a product/service for monero. Here is my store for example. https://xmrbazaar.com/user/shortwavesurfer2009/ and https://haveno-reto.com is where to buy/sell since LM is gone. Please note you need at least 0.11xmr to use it though as a security deposit you get back after a successful trade
The main question is - where would you get that deposit first…
https://xmrbazaar.com and offer to drop ship something. Here is my store for example and how I earn Monero. https://xmrbazaar.com/user/shortwavesurfer2009
That sounds like “getting money out of thin air”, have my doubts that money is guaranteed… Also wouldn’t dropshipping require some setup?
Actually, I don’t think drop shipping is the term I am looking for. What I do is simply take an order from somebody and then immediately go to eBay and ship the item to them. The main difference is that I’m doing it in another currency and I want to get rid of the dollars and get that other currency and not come back.
Ah. Especially if the exact item can be requested by the buyer - then ye, fair plan)
Use haveno
The problem is, that none of the grocery stores or street markets or supermarkets in my area accept Monero 🤷
Even if they were, that would likely require you to carry a smartphone everywhere, which is not very privacy-friendly either.
While it is most definitely true that they do not accept it directly, they very likely do accept it with gift cards, which you can purchase with Monero. That is how I have been buying my groceries for the past year and a half.
When I lived in Europe and North America, this is also how I bought most my groceries.
Except I used bitcoin because the monero gift card vendors are terribly insecure.
Please elaborate on your claim of them being terribly insecure. It’s not something I’ve noticed, but I could be missing something.
They send the card details over email. If you know of one that doesn’t, please let me know
What do other merchants do? Because when I was still using Bitcoin back in like 2015, that’s what Bitcoin gift card merchants did as well. So what’s different these days?
They show it to you on their website.
I rarely use cash. Nearly everything I spend is on supermarket and they know exactly what I buy because we’re forced to use their “loyalty” programs anyway.
Then traveling: dealing with other currencies, coming home with unspendable money. And there’s no interest on cash lying around.
But I hate the tendency for places to not accept cash at all, there should still be a choice.
One bonus is that I keep finding money on the streets in countries that love cash.
In what country are you forced to use loyalty cards?
I’ve never had a cashier tell me I couldn’t pay without a loyalty cars. Usually I ask them to swipe their card, which 80% of the time they do because they get free gas or whatever
Czechia. In many supermarkets “discounts” only apply when you have a card/app. Essentially the “discount” is normal price, otherwise you’ll pay nearly double.
And the cashier doesn’t swipe their own card if you ask them politely to do so?
I really doubt that.
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I’m using fake names on all those things, but prices without loyalty are often insane. It’s basically an extra tourist tax.
They also usually tie loyalty cards to phone numbers. So tell them 555-555-5555. Chances are high that someone already registered a card to some bullshit phone number, and many people are using it simultaneously
I actually started with it this week. It is partially due to privacy but also because I lost a sense for value. It is really easy to press a button online and pay say 20 euro. Not that I am irresponsible with money but the numbers on your bank account feel so meaningless.
All day, everyday! Freedom over convenience!
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 fantasize about getting it together enough to pull off what you are doing. Good for you — keep inspiring us.
Being able to use cash is a privilege, and we should not let governments take it from us, since then they can monitor and control everything money-related.
In the US, I’ve noticed several places, mostly restaurants that now charge a convenience fee for credit card transactions. Double bonus for cash. I’ve even started using checks again as they don’t have a fee.
That’s actually illegal in the UK, to charge a fee for card use. Just means everyone pays more in increased prices, although most people in the UK use card for everything so for the population as a whole its probably a money saver, if not a privacy saving policy.
IIRC that rule applies to debit cards only, which most businesses pay a flat monthly fee to handle, as opposed to credit cards which charge a percentage. Also, fuck AMEX.
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.
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.
Tesco now even has stores in the UK where you scan your loyalty card on the way in, pick up items off shelves, and walk out and it charges you accurately. The amount of cameras and sensors on the ceiling was uncanny. So not only do they have your purchasing profile but they now know what you look like, your gait, and any other identifying information they use to make that work
(OK it might be just lads in the Philippines following you on CCTV like Amazon did but still)
Cause I’m looking at signing up for an REI credit card and haven’t found much downside researching it online. I do find it sus that all the employees are pushing it though. Asking if we are members and have the credit card and stuff.
Because then REI gets to be the one selling your purchase history and credit report.
Hmm I don’t think I would like that.
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.
Safeway. That’s only one of the several good reasons why I don’t shop there.
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A nice way to understand how much your data costs
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.
Now they have your fingerprints. Good job.
Just never go outside without leather gloves and a ski mask
Follow me for more excellent tips that definitely won’t make you look like a serial killer to everyone
Ski mask isn’t enough. You need to remove your face.
You should also shave all of your body hair. Without eyebrows you may look like Mark Zuckerberg. Who wouldn’t want that?
This is all perfect when you live in a responsible country where people pay their taxes. Instead, when you live in a place where paying your taxes is seen as something stupid, the less cash, the less space for tax evaders.
I loved it when COVID came and the government started giving all these businesses owners (bars, hairdressers, etc) a subside based on the profits they declared the year before COVID and they all went mad because they were getting 600€/month (which, ironically is the amount they declared to have earned monthly the year before COVID).
Plenty of cash only businesses in the UK that engage in this, although of course just because a business is cash only, doesn’t mean they’re a tax dodge.
IMO the two things are separate: it should be the tax office that does audits to catch this. It’s not very hard to see a vape shop that makes £500 a month with two top model BMWs outside might be dodgy.
I agree. But I’m not sure it’s possible to have enough tax auditors to combat something that is so prevalent in my country.
Thank God, taxation is theft. If your country must have tax auditors, let them have exactly one tax auditor for the entire country.
Least edgy libertarian. Hope you don’t like driving on roads or using the internet fibres
You do understand that most tax evasion happens a ultra wealthy and mega corps level, not peasants buying food and beer for cash?
And this tax evasion happens with in our banking system, money too big for cash.
I do. But so what? Since they are small businesses we should let them evade taxes? Tax evasion is a problem, and I agree we should go against all those billionaires, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the smaller evaders.
Taxation is theft.
Tax authorities need to enforce laws on the books as is, going after cash usage is not enforcing tax laws.
Going after cash in anyway is not the way… you are literally fucking over peasants as social level to gain marginal revenue that likely won’t even come.
I visited the UK back in 2022 and I was pretty baffled at how you can universally “tap to pay”. We visited a pub on the coast of Dorset where they wouldn’t even accept cash as a mean of payment. All in all it was nice, because it meant not having to deal with a foreign currency at all, we spent 10 days just using electronic payment, so as a tourist I think it was a good experience.
In Germany, where I live, you’re basically getting nowhere without cash, it’s still very difficult to eat out or buy small food items like bread or a sandwich. There’s also a culture of paying cash for many things, including pricier items like a second hand car! Shop cashiers usually don’t even blink if you try to pay with a 100€ bill (except if you’re coming super early and they don’t have change available yet). It’s not unusual for me to end up drawing a quarter to half my monthly salary in cash.
I first disliked it when I moved from France, but now I think it’s actually good for the society. You always have some change to tip a waiter or give to a beggar, a coin for the cart at the supermarket, get something from a vending machine… Also I live in a very quiet area so getting mugged is very unlikely, making it not so scary to carry cash around.
I live in Germany too without using cash for a few years now and it’s no problem at all.
I agree, cash is fun in Germany. I think it really helps that the 1 and 2 euro coins are available and used in circulation. It was so nice going into the Späti and buying a beer with a single coin.
Change feels unnecessary in the States since the highest denomination that’s widely circulated is the quarter dollar. There are dollar coins, but they are hardly ever used.
Haha don’t get me started with US coins, I also have a fun story there: we arrived fresh off JFK Airport in NYC and headed to our rental apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn. It was pretty far from the a subway station so we got a connecting bus to get us closer.
The next day, we thought of taking the same bus line to head to Manhattan, except our party of four ended up being expected to pay 4x $2.75 in a machine inside the bus… in coins. That’s 44 quarters. Yup, don’t have that on day 2 of my stay. So we walked 6 blocks.
€1-2 for a beer? Germany truly is more advanced than the US
Some are only 30 cents! At least they were…
I find it interesting that Germany is so far behind when it comes to IT and modernization. It’s like you’re stuck in 1990, even though you’re surrounded by countries that have used chip payment cards since the early 2000s and contactless payments since the early to mid 2010s. Nobody here in Denmark has touched a fax machine in the last 15-20 years, and apparently Germans still fax things sometimes to this day??
hey don’t belittle technological advancements in germany, people here at are the forefront of innovation: https://simple-fax.de/fax-ki
:'D
Canada has universal tap to pay also, but what surprised me about the UK—at least in the London area—was how quick it was? The payment processing was near-instantaneous. In Canada, I think the machines make a phone call behind the scenes to a bank or something? There’s a significant delay before it goes through.
They use mobile data over here so it can be very slow in spotty areas, but most populated areas in the UK have full 4G/5G.
Ah that makes sense.
I think another thing that might be uniquely Canadian is when you’re paying at a drivethru and you see the machine emerge from the pickup window taped to the end of a hockey stick. That was a big thing during the pandemic for social distancing. I guess more recently, they’ve been moving to less improvised solutions, which is a shame. I really liked the hockey stick!
Yes, even the buses and vending machines and car park meters and public toilets have tap to pay. It is certainly very convenient but I think it does encourage spending more, and of course it means literally everything you do is tracked. Luckily I’ve found that most places still do accept cash but there are definitely a few who don’t.
Breaking into those machines and robbing cashless shops also doesn’t have the incentive of immediate cash reward.
I love the occasional “thanks for not requiring change!” that comes from it.
A small addition to the discussion - I pay in advance with cash for 10 coffees at a cafe I go to several times a week. Its an informal arrangement, and a very small independent cafe (these are common in my country). If you have a regular spend somewhere ask if they could do this. Obviously it doesn’t work for all things. I wouldn’t do it as a pay later type of tab though otherwise you’re back in credit land. It works for me as its the best coffee in my area, an indie outlet, and they threw in 1 free per 10 paid for. They get my loyalty I guess and money in their bank (or cash in the till)- also bypassing the 3 or so middle men orgs between my bank and their bank by way of visa etc. which is another big motivator for me - we are being reamed in our country with up to 3% charge for using a credit card. Maybe thats common globally?
