Germany's broadly a hold-out. Particularly a lot of restaurants, bars and clubs are still cash-only, and some smaller shops definitely prefer cash. Used cars are, interestingly, almost always cash-only. Person to person transactions (i.e. buying something you pick up in person) are almost always cash. Open air markets (produce, flea markets) are always cash.
Electronic payments are becoming more accepted, but it's wise to almost always have some cash on hand.
Cash retains a certain appeal for privacy reasons, and, let's be honest, for businesses avoiding paying their taxes. I'm actually happy cash remains. I don't like the idea of everything I ever buy being recorded. I also don't mind when e.g. going out that I have to consciously get more cash from the ATM when I've blown through my evening budget.
This is in amusing contrast with my trip to Sweden last year, where I pulled out the equivalent of €100 for emergencies, and had trouble getting rid of it in the week and a half there since most places didn't seem to even take cash.
Overall, our experience is that it is impossible to be out and about cashless in Germany as there is no telling which bar / beergarten / restaurant / shop only accepts cash.
Using cash, we only spend 70% of what we spend using electronic payments
and the other one was privacy-related. I agree with both of them and your comment that it's easier to keep track of your expenses with cash.I prefer using credit card, as it's easy to lose track of how much I'm spending with cash. With card, I have a statement at the end of the month so I can see what I have spent.
On the other hand they still prefer paper money, fax machines and paper forms instead of their electronic versions.
Even street vendors have debit/pin machines (Zettle/SumUp etc), and with mobile phones starting to be able to act as a receiver there would be no reason to use cash at all. I don't like the privacy implications but it's immensely practical.
For sending money to others, sharing bills etc you use Tikkie which generates a link or QR code that anyone can use to pay you via iDeal (debit).
It's interesting to see how it varies in other European countries. In Germany and Belgium you kind of have to carry some cash or you will find yourself unable to pay at many small restaurants and shops.
On the other hand, in Sweden, Spain, UK, etc., I also never touch cash. I have been to Sweden multiple times and I have no idea what Swedish money even looks like.
I pay everything through contactless payments through my phone or my debit card barring that.
Some shops don't even take cash anymore because of how few of their customers paid in cash compared to how risky carrying that cash to the bank is. I'm not very happy with that development, but I can understand why they do it.
Some people prefer cash, some people prefer using their debit card (chip + PIN is generally very secure, of course!).
I moved here a few months ago from Ireland where cash was still around but a fairly small percentage of retail transactions, but _very_ common for paying for services. Every tradesperson I used wanted me to pay cash and would charge me more if I didn't (they were committing tax fraud). At one point I was expected to have €3,000 in cash just lying around for a stonemason.
I still don't think I can pay for my groceries with my credit card, but that's clearly indicated at least. I expect the companies refusing the huge processing fees to block credit cards for years to come until the fees go down. That's unfortunate for tourists and immigrants, but mobile payment (bank specific/Apple Pay/Google Wallet) should work over the standard protocol and otherwise there are still ATMs you can use.
Central Bank will test digital Ruble asset in the recent time, it's some sort of limited conversion currency, like you get a payment for child care and it's possible to use only for limited products to purchase.
Please note that card payments are not at all popular in India and UPI is the most common means of digital payment.
Edit: I meant card instead of cash
This is false. https://www.orfonline.org/research/indias-upi-market/ (article from last month, citing the latest figures available to it.) "While India has recorded a significant increase in digital transactions, cash is still the dominant payment mechanism, with cash usage accounting for 59.3 percent of transactions volume in 2021."
This is a very privileged (and personal) view.
In terms of objective hard data, the percentage of Cash in Circulation to GDP (CIC/GDP) in India is about 12.7% which is about the same as 2005-2015 figures (12.1%), in fact it’s slightly higher.
Essentially the ratio of cash in circulation to the total economy hasn’t changed materially, in fact it’s gone up slightly, measured over a decade.
Note that CIC/GDP did rise to 14.4% in 2021 due to GDP shrinkage post COVID, so it’s fallen from then, but that was a one-off blip.
Why CIC/GDP has not fallen further needs more investigation, but an interesting nugget is that most UPI transactions are very low value, 2/3rds under INR 500 ($6).
It’s also worth considering the impact of internet shutdowns, which can be long and sustained. People living in New Delhi won’t realise this, but many parts of the country have experienced this. Of course UPI now has “offline mode” (Lite) but it’s limited to small-value payments.
Some of the stats above was drawn from here[1], the writer is quite well known in finance journalism circles.
[1] https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/sorry-cash-isn-t-going-...
smartphones are necessary to pay via UPI
smartphones--bank accounts--aadhaar card
in case of some low income workers, smartphones are not universal
in case of some migrant workers (including those that come from neighboring countries in search of jobs) .. aadhaar or bank account may not be immediately available
while digital payments are definitely becoming common cash is still accepted
in some cases autorikshaw drivers either avoided UPI (because something went wrong previously and their account went into negative balance ..so any payments they accept there will be swallowed by the app) ..or sometimes ask for cash as preferred mode because for them it is easier to spend immediately (sometimes even for sentimental reasons like first ride of the day)
Cash creates a problem of giving change that end up dissatisfying the customer or the customer just leaves. Only after UPI people understood this so now they want you to buy it as payments are not a hassle. Rickshaws in cities have lost interest in random hires. I have waited 45 minutes for rickshaws. Everyone is on Uber or Ola cause they will show up and say cancel the request and give me little less money instead. Pretty common. So they don’t have the option to say no to UPI. They try to give you reasons why it’s not working but they just want cash for obvious reasons.
UPI also allows people to have multiple accounts in family to accept payments. This way they can avoid any tax payments as small amounts in small villages are not scrutinised by the income tax department.
UPI has created more and easier transactions. Small village or big town, I’ve never seen a shop without a QR code in the last year or so.
(I don't have an Aadhaar, and it works fine across multiple banks)
No.
[1] UPI money transfer without Internet or smartphone; know how to do it - https://www.businesstoday.in/industry/banks/story/upi-money-...
I was just in India, and while I didn't do very many of the transactions that a resident would, I used cash for almost everything (except for supermarkets where I paid with my non-Indian credit card).
It didn't feel at all difficult to get by with cash.
Delhi != India. Cash is still very popular in India and many shopkeepers groan when I ask them to show their QR code for payment.
Isn't it causing you an uncomfortable feeling, that one company gets all the data about every single thing you buy?
And via this also everywhere you go and when you go there?
So you are a 100% "see through" person to Apple, Google and/or Visa?
I think what I've realised (at least personally), is that we only have a short time to live on this planet, and if life can be made more convenient by offering up my data, allowing me to spend my time doing stuff I actually care about, then I'll do it.
Personally, I'll stick to using the special transport card or cash on public transportation as long as I can. I hate the idea of all my movements being sold to advertisers (or, actually, anyone paying some moneys).
I feel much more comfortable spending money, knowing that;
1. It's the banks money, I can contest any changes on my statement before any money leaves my account. (consider paying for a bathroom renovation and the builder runs off with money or goes bust. The bank takes the hit, not me.)
2. That mass-data helps protect me, such as, abnormal usage can be queried for protentional fraud automatically.
I find it funny when crypto bros were claiming it was about "banking the unbanked", when it's not a problem at least in a third-world country in Brazil. Banks are obligated to open at least a very basic bank account for basically anyone.
There are tons of “fintech” companies backed by VCs, each trying to capture a chunk of the market with heavy competition. They sometimes partner with traditional banks to offer services.
Meanwhile, the linking of the so-called unique number given to residents (not just citizens), called “Aadhaar”, with bank accounts has resulted in more frauds and thefts through biometric scams (gummy fingers). The Aadhaar number as well as fingerprints are obtained from property registration documents, which are publicly exposed.
With UPI, there is a “payment request” mode too. Since digital literacy is extremely low in India, a lot of people have been losing money through various vishing and phishing scams. Getting the money back may also require greasing the palms of law enforcement.
As for me, I encourage people to use cash. I use a combination of cash and online payments. I carry all combinations of currency notes and coins to pay for any amount. I also have a rough idea of how much I’d need.
Whenever more people realize that the government is tracking their spends (including the push for a retail CBDC), they’ll start switching to cash mainly to evade taxes. So far though, most people have neither realized nor understood privacy concerns, give surveillance, etc. (I’m not blaming the poor and vulnerable sections, who already have a lot more to worry about)
However, if one private person is selling something to another private person, and they don't know each other, then it's nearly always cash because most people aren't set up to receive digital payments, don't want the hassle of setting it up just for one odd item, and in any case wouldn't trust the technology and companies involved for a large sum so people quite frequently pay for a second-hand car in cash if it's a private sale.
In London. You can do just fine with only a card. Quite a few coffee shops and lunch places only accept cards.
In Nottingham I've not seen a place that only accepts card. The Buses still accept cash
Paying businesses can also be done by using services called Bankgiro and Plusgiro. These are done directly via your bank account and if done after 10 AM are processed the next business day.
I have been living in Athens for a few months now. Most brick-and-mortar places, if not all, accept cards but when you go to an open street market, it's cash-only. Also, if you buy something like tobacco, they only accept cash even though they have POS systems in place. It has something to do with the taxes (or circumventing them?).
The govt endgame seems to be forcing most of the cash out of circulation, a ban on cash purchases of more that $10000 (with some exceptions) is already in place.
https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-10/28454_fa...
In addition using cash often saves you money. A lot of restaurants will literally give you a discount if you pay with cash.
In Bogota, well, much of the country is unbanked or underbanked. You can pay ANYTHING in cash through the ubiquitous "cash payment" officies (like Pagatodo). You give them a reference number the service gave you, and cash, and they mark your bill paid. This works for a five-dollar power bill, internet bill, evenfor as a thousand-dollar flight you booked online.
There's a paypal-like phone app, Nequi, that almost every colombian has as well, far more common than credir cards. While big stores and restaurants will accept cards, a small (and not licensed) street vendor will often have a QR code to pay by Nequi. This needs no special equipment and no special permits, apparently.
There are many signs "cash only", and many signs "cash and nequi, no cards", especially in small stores.
Nequi, however, is not available to foreigners, even to those who live in Colombia with permits. Cash is everywhere.
Most places still accept cash, but approximately no-one uses it. Store staff almost always assume tap-to-pay, and have to cancel the transaction if you pull out cash.
Bill payment is done with a pre-authorised debit transaction, credit cards, or using an Australia-only (I think?) system called BPay. Most utilities, etc, have a BPay number, and most (all?) bank apps and websites support BPay payments.
Person-to-person payments used to require entering bank (called BSB: bank, state, branch) and account codes, and took 2 days to transfer. In the last few years there's a new system (called PayID) that uses email or phone number identifiers, and offers instant settlement.
So ... basically anything legal is now done electronically.
During COVID, many stores stopped accepting cash, and some of those never started again. At this point, it's only a small proportion, but I imagine it will grow over the next few years.
I worked on a BBQ stall at my child's school fete recently. To take electronic payments, you had to go to a different designated stall and pay for tokens, and bring them back to the BBQ stall to exchange for food. I noticed that many people carried an "emergency" $20 or $50 tucked in their phone case, and broke it out rather than do the extra steps to get tokens.
I personally withdraw a few hundred dollars every few months: one of my favourite restaurants is cash-only (very rare!) and the farmers market vendors seem to prefer cash too. But that's about the only times I use it now.
Previously, all banks had a network of "first party" ATMs, and fee-free deals with other banks meant you could mostly withdraw from any bank-owned ATM free. There was a small group of non-banks ATMs that charge a $3 fee for a maximum $200 withdrawal.
Now the major banks have outsourced their ATM network to an armoured car company, removed most of their first-party ATMs, and the only bank-owned ATMs are now in branches. And there's not a lot of branches still around these days.
So actually getting cash is no longer as easy as it was.
The original argument, that it saved them the costs of handling cash, seems to have faded.
P2P payments - MBWay, has taken over by storam and is the defacto method for transfering smaller amounts of money between peers. For example, rent can be payed to landlords via MBWay, cleaning lady, etc. ATMs support it to.
Almost every business allows payment with cards and the central bank is rumored to want to enforce digital payments for every business in the future.
Personally, I hardly use cash now, heck, I hardly use any cards now. I use my phone for almost all payments.
(although the b2c charges for the businesses are quite substantial...)
The thing that is the most glaring difference between the western countries and the east Asian ones is that in the US and Europe, there is an ultimate goal of try to force people to use e-payment systems to get some kind of regulatory benefit. Therefore people also constantly push back for fear of excess control, and the government tries to mandate it to force only digital payment.
The approach in the Asian countries seems to be the exact opposite. From mpay in Macau, to Suica/Pasmo/PayPay, 街口支付/easycard in Taiwan ....
Most of them had their origin in transit card system(China is different). But they then had a proliferation of QR code payment systems that competed with each other for dominance.
The difference between the east Asian approach and the western one is that the east Asian one never needed to try to ban cash to push for e-payment. It offers so much convenience and other benefits that people don't really think about it in those terms. Want to pay your parking bill? The license plate scanner is connected to the machine at the front. Is privacy compromised? For some parking lots yes, for others no, but the speed of processing is so much better than anything I've seen in Europe.
Nobody is talking about banning cash here or in those other societies, but many people will not use cash, because its too much of a hassle.
EDIT: I guess I don't know enough about the smaller EU states since someone below just mentioned MobilePay.dk
But regardless, there is a level of competition in those Asian e-payment systems that does not seem to exist in "the West"
Maybe I misunderstood something but it's not my experience at all. People use e-payement because it's convenient. Contactless + small amount payements was the last nail on the coffin. I haven't used cash for years but I think people can still do it if they wish.
> Therefore people also constantly push back for fear of excess control, and the government tries to mandate it to force only digital payment.
Haven't noticed much push back form general public (besides in some circles like HN)
Debit or credit cards for businesses. I keep a $20 on me plus a debit card w/ atm access and checking account that reimburses atm fees. Just for those super rare purposes that cash is needed. Although most of the time, I will just not buy from that merchant.
I'm not trying to complain; I just want to say that I hate cash and love digital payments because I do not like to pay commissions and fees. I believe that in the EU banks also can offer such services but as I've read even EU citizens pay a big commissions and fees and not all banks offer an online banking.
I used to carry some cash for my nearest automatic laundery machines, but even that one now features a contactless payment dongle, so it's nearly useless for me.
† I say "credit card", but most plastic card WE carry on France are actually debit card, i.e. there is no specific credit card balance to top or anything, it's directly withdrawned from your account. (There is something hybrid called "differed debit card", that mimic some of the credit card experience, but it's basically buffering your withdrawals, without any "true" credit happening).
Canada’s got the Interac system owned by the banks which has merchant fees lower than credit cards and also provides an electronic money transfer system (email or sms based) for the public.
But yeah. Bank-to-bank e-transfers through Interac are well-used as well. I pay my rent with it. I pay back my friends with it if we need to split a bill, since there's no Venmo here.
[0] https://www.norges-bank.no/bankplassen/arkiv/2021/husholdnin...
We have rules saying that accepting cash as payment is "mandatory", but the way the rule is written makes it so that it's only mandatory for settling debt. Aka the service is already rendered, and now you need to pay, you can demand to use cash. But when the service isn't rendered yet, a store could claim that they only sell to people using card, for instance.
Few years ago most people used cash, so this is recent development.
Of course cash is accepted everywhere, it makes me feel uneasy that somewhere in the world digital just replaced cash. Everyone must accept cash by law, at least in ordinary shops.
Bank cards are not accepted everywhere, but in big cities you can expect to pay with bank card in a majority of cases.
Local bank app is accepted almost everywhere, its adoption is tremendous last years. I've yet to find a place which does not accept it.
Big purchases (cars, houses) are mostly done with cash I think, though I don't have statistics. I, myself, don't trust banks with more than few hundreds of bucks. It's convenient to pay for milk with smartphone, but that's about it.
Even smaller payments, like paying 10 THB (US 25 cents) for a bottle of water, are done digitally. It’s so prevalent that I hardly even use a debit/credit card anymore unless I have a specific reason.
The payments are done by scanning a QR code at the shop, or in the P2P (person-to-person) scenario by scanner the other person's QR or entering their mobile number. All banks support these payments and for the P2P scenario, you basically link your mobile number with the national switch and point it to one of your bank accounts.
In general, I simply use a card (phone), and have used over the past N years in Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus.
Sometimes I struggle to pay with cash, if I have to. Cashiers cannot return change, or seem to be disgusted if they have to.
ATMs are getting less attractive. Are in less places, are old. I feel like everything goes to phone/NFC. I have a problem with that. I prefer card & ATM solution.
Thailand - mainly cash, QR payment, bank transfer, when paying by card: +3%
Cambodia – cash, cash, cash. Dollars and Riel. When paying by card: +3%-5%
Laos – cash, cash, cash
Malaysia – card and cash, sometimes QR payment, fast transfers,
Indonesia – cash, QR codes, transfers, card in large stores, but the transaction takes a lot of time (they don't know how to use contactless payments)
Palau – cash/card
Taiwan – cash/card
South Korea – cash and metro/city cards. Regular (non korean) cards only accepted at 7/11
Japan – mostly cash. Cards accepted at 7/11 stores and other large stores
Poland – cashless everywhere. Cash is almost non-existent these days
This is the case even at small markets etc. Over the last two years mobile NFC machines have become widespread.
The only area where I personally feel like I need cash is with car guards (literally people who stand and look after cars in parking areas). I'm not a fan of the profession, but it's culturally common place and many folks tip in small denominations of notes or coins.
I don't really understand why, from the merchant's perspective. It's like these businesses like reducing their profit margins by paying 2% interchange fees. Baffling.
When COVID hit, I didn't want to touch other people's grubby coins and neither did stores. Day to day everything is card or Apple pay. Nowadays even more with Apple Pay since it doesn't have a spending limit like NFC cards do. Can't be arsed with Chip&Pin any more.
I still have enough cash to get me back home with a taxi at any time of the day on me, but I haven't needed it yet.
Everything is now done through digital payments either Wechat Pay or Alipay, and all shops in the country accept them.
In Brazil, pix (the central bank digital payment system) is already bigger than any other payment method, removing a big revenue stream from Visa and Mastercard. The cultural changes happening because of the easiness and cheapness of these transactions are amazing. I'm very optimistic for the next few years of tech development with the advances happening in the fintech market here.
UPD: But cash is still accepted in most cases. Have no idea why some people still use it.
Travel frequently and even in very small towns I’m able to use Apple Pay. Adoption actually seemed faster with some small merchants compared to large holdouts like Walmart or Target which seemed to drag their feet.
Some bars are holdouts accepting Cash only but for the most part I very rarely need to pull out my card.
Some fuel pumps still require inserting my card, but that’s changing too compared to just a few years ago.
There are a few holdouts (e.g. I took a bus in the country side last week that only accepted cash payments), but that's about it.
It's a shame, people just have accepted the modern surveillance society.
I never use cash, and I’m annoyed by people who pay with coins.
some merchants use the excuse that their POS is currently “not working”, or there are “connectivity” issues. with recent laws coming into effect every merchant has to accept cards, or be fined (ridiculous percentage..)
i always got some cash on me in case I stumble upon those ingenious and cunning merchants, but it’s getting less common that I actually don’t really need it
A honest question, why?
Sounds like you have an axe to grind. Lost serious money?