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While many people claim to be using cash for privacy reasons the same people often are absolutely fine with using a digital loyalty card called Payback (I'm not

While many people claim to be using cash for privacy reasons the same people often are absolutely fine with using a digital loyalty card called Payback (I'm not making this up. This is the actual name ...), which is widely used in Germany. So, I suppose this is not so much about privacy at all but rather about laziness or stubbornness.

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rndgermandude 8y ago
It also seems to be fear of losing money. Most of my family use mostly cash, because as they say they don't trust shops to keep their card info secure and fear that "some Russians will steal their money". Payback, however, cannot be abused to steal your money, so even my tech adverse grandma had one when she was still alive because "not having one is like leaving money on the street".
- BjoernKW 8y ago
  Yes, the Weimar Republic and its runaway inflation problem is often cited as a cause of this. However, most people who actually lived through that are dead by now. I find it baffling that for some reason this still seems to be such a deeply ingrained aspect of German national identity.
  - rndgermandude 8y ago
    Well, it's something that was "thought" by the older generation to the younger generations. My grandparents grew up post WWI in the Weimar Republic and then lived through WWII, had to repeatedly flee, losing most of their possession because of it. Other families had the same experience, or lost their stuff due to bombings etc. That heavily informed their decision till the day they died, and of course also to some extent influenced/influences my parents' behavior, which in turn influences my and my siblings' behavior to this day. I'm not saying it's rational, but it's very human still.
sveme 8y ago
I doubt that the privacy-conscious would use payback - that‘s mostly used by seniors and moms. That cash-paying people use payback does not imply that privacy-conscious people that pay cash use payback. Non sequitur.
- BjoernKW 8y ago
  I have no exact numbers but from personal experience I can tell you that it's by no means just seniors and "moms" but people of all age brackets who use this. Then again, privacy-mindedness isn't necessarily related to age anyway.
- freeflight 8y ago
  > that‘s mostly used by seniors and moms And by people who have to make ends meet and thus take anything they get for "free" they can.
tannhaeuser 8y ago
It's both actually. Being able to pay only cashless is viewed as taking away power over your property. Re "Payback": use of cheesy pseudo-English (mostly created by the ad industry) and sometimes pseudo-French and pseudo-Italian as well is a mass phenomenon in German to the extent you could fill entire "Denglisch" word books from it. [1]: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germans-invent-english-words-for-themselves/40792#40792 https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germ... "Why do Germans invent English words for themselves?"

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rndgermandude 8y ago

It also seems to be fear of losing money. Most of my family use mostly cash, because as they say they don't trust shops to keep their card info secure and fear that "some Russians will steal their money". Payback, however, cannot be abused to steal your money, so even my tech adverse grandma had one when she was still alive because "not having one is like leaving money on the street".

BjoernKW 8y ago
Yes, the Weimar Republic and its runaway inflation problem is often cited as a cause of this. However, most people who actually lived through that are dead by now. I find it baffling that for some reason this still seems to be such a deeply ingrained aspect of German national identity.
- rndgermandude 8y ago
  Well, it's something that was "thought" by the older generation to the younger generations. My grandparents grew up post WWI in the Weimar Republic and then lived through WWII, had to repeatedly flee, losing most of their possession because of it. Other families had the same experience, or lost their stuff due to bombings etc. That heavily informed their decision till the day they died, and of course also to some extent influenced/influences my parents' behavior, which in turn influences my and my siblings' behavior to this day. I'm not saying it's rational, but it's very human still.

sveme 8y ago

I doubt that the privacy-conscious would use payback - that‘s mostly used by seniors and moms. That cash-paying people use payback does not imply that privacy-conscious people that pay cash use payback. Non sequitur.

BjoernKW 8y ago
I have no exact numbers but from personal experience I can tell you that it's by no means just seniors and "moms" but people of all age brackets who use this. Then again, privacy-mindedness isn't necessarily related to age anyway.
freeflight 8y ago
> that‘s mostly used by seniors and moms And by people who have to make ends meet and thus take anything they get for "free" they can.

tannhaeuser 8y ago

It's both actually. Being able to pay only cashless is viewed as taking away power over your property. Re "Payback": use of cheesy pseudo-English (mostly created by the ad industry) and sometimes pseudo-French and pseudo-Italian as well is a mass phenomenon in German to the extent you could fill entire "Denglisch" word books from it. [1]: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germans-invent-english-words-for-themselves/40792#40792 https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/40586/why-do-germ... "Why do Germans invent English words for themselves?"