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> And needing to constantly go to ATMs just to keep notes on you is kind of ridiculous. Not sure how it is in Germany, but we have ATMs on every street corner,

• Tainnor 7y ago
  This is a bit difficult in Germany: First of all, some cities like Berlin (which might be the worst offender here) are ridiculous in terms of how cash-dependent they are. There are whole areas (e.g. Kreuzberg) where you can't find a restaurant that accepts (debit or credit) card payment, even if you eat for 20+€. So, going out for lunch can deplete your cash quite rapidly. Secondly, private banking is a huge cost centre for banks right now. This means that banks institute a lot of restrictions on when and where you can get cash. Many common banks (e.g. Sparkassen, Volksbanken) only allow you to withdraw money without charge from very specific ATMs, so you have to know where those are; if you withdraw from another ATM, you might have to pay a ridiculous amount of money (e.g. 5€), which is why you'd only use it for an emergency. Some other banks allow you to withdraw from any ATM without charge, but they have been starting to add more and more restrictions, e.g. you can only withdraw money 5x a month or something like that.