4 ms·

If I send you an email for my healthcare service and you click on a link in it, you confirmed your (free? most likely?) email address. If I send you a letter f

If I send you an email for my healthcare service and you click on a link in it, you confirmed your (free? most likely?) email address. If I send you a letter for the same service and you enter the code within, you confirmed your address. Different things and the former is usually considered useless, the latter interesting to the other party. I'm a German, now living in Singapore. I used as much cash in DE as in SG: Only where needed and somewhat rarely. In DE it's usually a small shop (kiosk), local public transportation (sometimes) or events. In SG it's food courts/hawker places and events. Everywhere else cards work, Singapore or Germany (or Israel for what it's worth) work the same in my experience.

TulliusCicero 8y ago
Well, I'm in Munich and have to use cash all the time. Lots of restaurants and little shops like kiosks/bakeries seem to be cash-only. And a lot of places that take "cards" only take, like Germany-specific debit cards (or maybe Europe-specific? Not certain). In comparison, in the bay area, and to a slightly lesser extent in other parts of the US I lived in, even little kiosks or food trucks, hell even farmer's market stands almost always take credit cards. I had to use cash in the US maybe once or twice a month on average. And again, it's not a "well they only do this in cases where privacy is actually really important (like healthcare"), because why does Alditalk care so much when the purpose of the address verification is solely for putting more money onto the account? Are they worried a random stranger is going to give me money?
- darklajid 8y ago
  Restaurants surprise me. Small shops I know and that can be annoying. Bavaria is kinda backwards even in my mind and a traditional family run bakery might be cash only, "Backwerk" etc. accept cards I think. The _kind_ of cards doesn't matter for the article, I think. Cashless is cashless, debit card or credit card? Credit card adoption is a different problem (they aren't popular) and only recently rose quite a bit. You can pay at McD or Aldi with Visa Paywave / Google Pay. The whole contactless method seems to be a motivator for CC adoption afaict. If you complain that a CC is not accepted then get a local debit card :-) No idea about address verification just for top ups. For me it was paying for a voucher, call a number, enter code, done - but I haven't been on prepaid for a long time.
  - TulliusCicero 8y ago
    Bavaria is a bit more conservative, it's true, but still, Munich is a major international city. I'm not out in the sticks here. > You can pay at McD or Aldi with Visa Paywave / Google Pay. Wait, you can pay at Aldi with Google Pay? I admit I haven't noticed that...although Aldi Sued is a different company so I guess I'll have to check. > If you complain that a CC is not accepted then get a local debit card :-) Oh, I've had the local debit card for a long time now, but even that often isn't accepted, and I admit that having to use it so much bums me out a bit. US credit cards are really nice if you can use them responsibly.
    - darklajid 8y ago
      Aldi should support CCs and Google Pay. Haven't tried for a year and don't quite know if it was north or south, but yeah. Paywave or Google Pay worked fine to buy your groceries..

TulliusCicero 8y ago

Well, I'm in Munich and have to use cash all the time. Lots of restaurants and little shops like kiosks/bakeries seem to be cash-only. And a lot of places that take "cards" only take, like Germany-specific debit cards (or maybe Europe-specific? Not certain). In comparison, in the bay area, and to a slightly lesser extent in other parts of the US I lived in, even little kiosks or food trucks, hell even farmer's market stands almost always take credit cards. I had to use cash in the US maybe once or twice a month on average. And again, it's not a "well they only do this in cases where privacy is actually really important (like healthcare"), because why does Alditalk care so much when the purpose of the address verification is solely for putting more money onto the account? Are they worried a random stranger is going to give me money?

darklajid 8y ago
Restaurants surprise me. Small shops I know and that can be annoying. Bavaria is kinda backwards even in my mind and a traditional family run bakery might be cash only, "Backwerk" etc. accept cards I think. The _kind_ of cards doesn't matter for the article, I think. Cashless is cashless, debit card or credit card? Credit card adoption is a different problem (they aren't popular) and only recently rose quite a bit. You can pay at McD or Aldi with Visa Paywave / Google Pay. The whole contactless method seems to be a motivator for CC adoption afaict. If you complain that a CC is not accepted then get a local debit card :-) No idea about address verification just for top ups. For me it was paying for a voucher, call a number, enter code, done - but I haven't been on prepaid for a long time.
- TulliusCicero 8y ago
  Bavaria is a bit more conservative, it's true, but still, Munich is a major international city. I'm not out in the sticks here. > You can pay at McD or Aldi with Visa Paywave / Google Pay. Wait, you can pay at Aldi with Google Pay? I admit I haven't noticed that...although Aldi Sued is a different company so I guess I'll have to check. > If you complain that a CC is not accepted then get a local debit card :-) Oh, I've had the local debit card for a long time now, but even that often isn't accepted, and I admit that having to use it so much bums me out a bit. US credit cards are really nice if you can use them responsibly.
  - darklajid 8y ago
    Aldi should support CCs and Google Pay. Haven't tried for a year and don't quite know if it was north or south, but yeah. Paywave or Google Pay worked fine to buy your groceries..