What is societies obsession with carrying cash?

Some people think that cash is freedom.

Walking around plastic doesn't have the same ring to it as walking around money.

What were you buying, OP?

Cash is great altogether

One reason I like cash is because I can see how much I'm spending. Money in a bank account and spent with a card just isn't the same.

Cash means you own your money.

But you know you can spend €50 if you have it in cash if your statement says you have €50 you don't know how up to date it is.

Because they thinknits all a big conspiracy and that "de gubbermint" is out to get them.

Cash isn't dead, clearly, and there will always be some form of hard currency to be traded because of how the system is set up. I work hard to earn what i do, but a job needs doing on the house, I've 3 kids, can't be paying over the top for it. Cash baby! Builder is happy, I'm happy-ish.

I used to think I cared if he was paying all his due tax. **** that, i care about what i have left over. If i get a deal paying cash for something, you can be sure I will.

People like me will keep that gravy train running. C.R.E.A.M

What bollocks.

🤣

pro tip: Choice is a good thing.

I love cash, it holds up wokey little snots in the line behind me who think their time is more precious than other peoples and that this is enough to have an expectation that others should behave in a way that suits them.

Just look up your balance like a normal person.

I work in a retail based environment, I don’t see any issue with cash or card. I do prefer people who pay by tap or by tapping the phone if it’s over 50.

Some people are slow to get cash out of their wallet but more people are unable to use a card machine. Ages fishing for it in a wallet despite standing in a queue for 2 minutes knowing they’re paying very soon. Can’t get it out if their wallet cos it’s rammed tight with all other cards etc.

They have to be told to put in the card even though they’re looking at a machine that says ‘please insert card’. Putting card in upside, chip not going in first, not pushing card in fully, forgetting their PIN, have to be told to press the green button after entering it, have to be told to take the card out. Boils my piss so it does.

Amazing also how many people have their PIN written on a piece of paper in their wallet. One good reason for keeping cash is that around 3-4 times a year the card payment system malfunctions for maybe 2 hours. No option to make a transaction then only cash. Plus I would say the vast majority over 65 don’t have smartphones to pay or check balances. A lot of post offices and banks have closed in rural villages and towns.

The choice should always be there if feasible.

If you think about it for a while you'd see that banks and payment processors make an absolute fortune off card transactions.

The fifty euro you pay by card to the merchant instantly becomes fifty euro minus fees into the merchants account.

The merchant spends that via card and money becomes less again in the next persons account and so on and so on. The fifty euro is gone pretty quickly in this type of cycle in fees.

Fifty Euro cash is always fifty Euro cash.

This is more important and easier to understand the smaller the business you are.

There are other reasons as well, all outlined here but we need to be careful about where we are heading when it comes to this.

a pretty good article on the topic above which may outline the main point I make better than I have.

It doesn't though, if the charge is 1% then I lose 5c for processing a card fee, the next person doesn't lose 10c, then 15c, then 20, that 50 euro will always be 50 euro.

Right, but unless businesses are paying other businesses out of the till directly, that money has to be lodged, which comes with a fee.

Cash is great, when I was in the buildings you literally couldn't keep it spent, a handy nixer on a weekend would have 4 to 500 cash out of it, put enough through the bank to keep revenue happy and keep the cash a ton of coal, holidays, jobs around the house and a few pints now and again

I prefer cash because I can more easily keep track of my own spending, If I take out 50euro and limit myself to the 50 so I don't overspend, i've less chance of sticking to that limit if im trigger happy tapping my card. Also, if I ever did manage to get to the point were id be able to apply for a mortgage, id be persecuted for the amount of takeaway coffees and random little spends on my statement that eat into my money. You can always tell when someone is privileged and disconnected from from 'lower' economic classes because they dispute amenities, products, services ect that less well off people depend on. It might be surprise to you but theres allot of people who don't have bank accounts, homeless people and the elderly are often totally dependant on cash. Society has to cater to all people, not just those who are in good positions in life.

I prefer to use a card but if buying or selling used stuff on adverts or DD it has to be cash.

Because overspending when drunk never happened in the pre contactless days.....