3 ms·

I noticed while living in Germany (this was just before the euro was introduced) that Germans love to pay for things in cash. I was in line at Media Markt wait

I noticed while living in Germany (this was just before the euro was introduced) that Germans love to pay for things in cash. I was in line at Media Markt waiting to buy something and was a bit surprised to see the person in front of me pay for a computer with cash. It cost 2200 DM (this would have converted to 1100 euros), and he gave the cashier two 1000 DM notes and a 200 DM note. I was surprised to see so much money in cash form, but the cashier acted like it was normal. I was told that transactions of this sort were common in Germany. Someone I knew told me they had witnessed someone paying for a car with cash, and although this was more unusual, it was not unheard of. When I cashed out my bank account, I ended up with a 1000 DM bill, with a nice picture of the Brothers Grimm on it. It was weird to have so much money in one bill. Deutschmark notes became larger as the demonination increased, so that 1000 DM bill was huge. It didn't fit in my wallet, that's for sure. I wonder if Germans still love paying for high value items in cash. I could certainly see them using 500 euro bills for purchases.

melvinmt 10y ago
The €500 note is quite big as well (would not fit easily in a wallet), here's a comparison: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/27/article-1246519-080223AF000005DC-508_634x396.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/27/article-1246519-08...
jpetso 10y ago
In all honesty, I think the messed-up banking system in North America distorts people's expectations. How is it a thing that in order to buy a laptop online, I am limited to: * credit cards, which are only available from for-profit companies that can and will deny a subset of citizens with bad or non-existent credit rating (which itself is provided by other for-profit companies with intransparent, unaccountable data collection & evaluation practices) and charge substantial fees to the vendor * or, if I'm lucky, wire transfer or cheques - the former being a blatant rip-off with unreasonably high fees, the latter a physical piece of paper that I have to send by snail mail, neither of them instantaneous, both with bank delays. I think it's quite reasonable to expect from companies at least one payment method that's available to anyone, under any financial circumstances, with no or only marginal cost to the buyer and near-instantaneous transaction time. In Europe, this has so far been cash for physical retailers. Websites often allow direct bank account transfers, which are possible because free, standardized, non-paper-based direct transfers from one bank account to another bank account are a thing - as opposed to North America where you have certified cheques, void cheques, email transfers, wire transfers, PayPal, Western Union, etc. These are all half measures in one way or another, covering up the lack of a universally available & universally accepted payment system. I'll be the first one to appreciate a move away from cash, but let's make sure people have a viable alternative, yes? To be fair, there are things like Visa/Mastercard debit cards which lighten the load a bit. They're still a middleman solution however, relying on contracts with individual payment providers and taking a substantial cut from the vendor on top of what a standardized, direct inter-bank network should be able to do. Cash (as well as SEPA, if short waiting periods are okay) doesn't suffer from that.

melvinmt 10y ago

The €500 note is quite big as well (would not fit easily in a wallet), here's a comparison: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/27/article-1246519-080223AF000005DC-508_634x396.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/27/article-1246519-08...

jpetso 10y ago

In all honesty, I think the messed-up banking system in North America distorts people's expectations. How is it a thing that in order to buy a laptop online, I am limited to: * credit cards, which are only available from for-profit companies that can and will deny a subset of citizens with bad or non-existent credit rating (which itself is provided by other for-profit companies with intransparent, unaccountable data collection & evaluation practices) and charge substantial fees to the vendor * or, if I'm lucky, wire transfer or cheques - the former being a blatant rip-off with unreasonably high fees, the latter a physical piece of paper that I have to send by snail mail, neither of them instantaneous, both with bank delays. I think it's quite reasonable to expect from companies at least one payment method that's available to anyone, under any financial circumstances, with no or only marginal cost to the buyer and near-instantaneous transaction time. In Europe, this has so far been cash for physical retailers. Websites often allow direct bank account transfers, which are possible because free, standardized, non-paper-based direct transfers from one bank account to another bank account are a thing - as opposed to North America where you have certified cheques, void cheques, email transfers, wire transfers, PayPal, Western Union, etc. These are all half measures in one way or another, covering up the lack of a universally available & universally accepted payment system. I'll be the first one to appreciate a move away from cash, but let's make sure people have a viable alternative, yes? To be fair, there are things like Visa/Mastercard debit cards which lighten the load a bit. They're still a middleman solution however, relying on contracts with individual payment providers and taking a substantial cut from the vendor on top of what a standardized, direct inter-bank network should be able to do. Cash (as well as SEPA, if short waiting periods are okay) doesn't suffer from that.