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Your economy is much more stable than mine in the UK yet anecdotally I've observed we use cards to pay for everything. Even silly little things that only cost a
by laumars 9y ago
Your economy is much more stable than mine in the UK yet anecdotally I've observed we use cards to pay for everything. Even silly little things that only cost a couple of £.
In fact it is rare that I ever carry cash. The same is true for a fair number of my friends and family as well.
- macspoofing 9y ago>Even silly little things that only cost a couple of £. I use a credit card to pay for a $1.25 coffee. I never have cash, partly because I forget to take some out.
- arjie 9y agoContactless is faster than making change, so it's just far too convenient to use a contactless card.
- dspillett 9y agoSame here, though I think a lot more recently than a few years ago because of the growing ubiquity of contactless options which are very convenient for those small payments. Is that payment option as common in those countries at this point?
- oneeyedpigeon 9y agoI'm pretty sure I used my UK (debit) card, the other day, to pay for something absurdly cheap - maybe 49p? I was about as surprised that they accepted it as I am when a shop requires me to pay a huge minimum - e.g. £10 - and it's not quite as straightforward as "big shops do this, small shops, that".
- laumars 9y agoThe "I only have my debit card on me. What's your minimum spend" conversation used to be annoying. Thankfully that's been less of an issue since contactless as shops now often expect you to pay for small items on card.
- oneeyedpigeon 9y agoContactless is wonderful, especially now the receipt for smaller items is effectively being phased out; couldn't the receipt-handling just get handed over to banks, ultimately? That could be really useful... I still use cash, probably more than the average. There are just a handful of situations - paying for a newspaper, or at my local bakery - where it feels more 'natural' to me to use cash, but I'm sure that feeling will go eventually!
- jk563 9y agoI second this anecdata. I carry an Amex (credit) and a Mastercard (debit) backup. I don't carry any cash unless I know I have an imminent need.
- djtriptych 9y ago"Always carry enough cash to get home" - my dad. But otherwise I'm in the same boat. Amex for everything I can possibly use it for, Visa for places that don't take Amex, Visa debit when I'm under a CC limit.
- lmm 9y ago> "Always carry enough cash to get home" - my dad. In London you can't pay for a bus with cash any more.
- 101km 9y agoYou can still buy the oyster card with cash however, right? Now try catching a bus late at night after the shops close - what a silly system.
- lmm 9y agoFinding an operating cashpoint late at night isn't especially easy either (and the reason most are shut down is that operational ones tend to attract muggings). It's a pretty practical system IME; having a payment method on you is no harder than having cash; indeed in this age of phone payment it's easier.
- Symbiote 9y agoI never came across a cashpoint in Britain that was closed at night. Is this a recent change?
- laumars 9y ago> You can still buy the oyster card with cash however, right? You don't need to buy an Oyster card as contactless bank cards work on Oyster systems as well. > Now try catching a bus late at night after the shops close - what a silly system. London is a 24 hour city. :P