4 ms·

In Germany you can pay by card basically anywhere - with the phone or watch as well in most/many shops as far as I know. Not sure all this criticism makes sense

by mk89 3y ago

In Germany you can pay by card basically anywhere - with the phone or watch as well in most/many shops as far as I know. Not sure all this criticism makes sense (no I am not German). There are also historical reasons why Germans are concerned about the possibility of being tracked, which apparently not everyone sees the dangers of.

patrickk 3y ago
> In Germany you can pay by card basically anywhere - with the phone or watch as well in most/many shops as far as I know. This simply isn't true, outside of large chains or supermarkets. Many smaller businesses like pubs, "kiosks", barbers, non-chain restaurants, and so on, are cash only. It's a combination of tax avoidance and trying to avoid the insane level of paperwork needed for bascically every aspect of life, but especially if you have a business, no matter how small. Source: live in Germany, near a large metro area.
- mk89 3y ago
  > This simply isn't true, outside of large chains or supermarkets. Many smaller businesses like pubs, "kiosks", barbers, non-chain restaurants, and so on, are cash only. I have a different experience. I pay by card even for < 1 eur things almost everywhere (from time to time): sometimes I just have no cash with me anymore and I am totally ok. This has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, and I wish that the mainstream theme was different than "wooooow in Germany they still accept cash-only". Until now I only experienced this "cash-only" limitation in very few places. My recommendation, though, is to always have some cash on you, especially if you don't know where you're going. But I would do the same in any other country in the world.
  - mk89 3y ago
    > especially if you don't know where you're going. I meant: if you're not familiar with the place you're going to, or which way to take, etc.
  - slau 3y ago
    In Denmark, I can count the days I've had cash on me in the last decade on one hand.
    - flemhans 3y ago
      I remember seeing a 100kr bill a couple of weeks ago, thinking how weird/unusual it was to see it. I didn't really remember how they looked like.
- LargoLasskhyfv 3y ago
  Many smaller businesses like 'kiosks' acting as sort of post office for all the parcel services now, where you can get or send your packages(except letters). Meaning they have the infrastructure for cashless anyways. Like non-chain restaurants and so on, also do. Source: lived in Germany, at the outskirts of a large metro area, still visiting every few weeks to months into my own appartment, which I didn't abandon.
slau 3y ago
Last spring, I stopped at a nice brunch place in central Hamburg. The waitress spoke English and asked where we were from, etc. Usual touristy stuff. When it was time to pay, we were surprised to hear only local German cards were accepted. I couldn’t use Visa, Mastercard, anything. It never occurred to them to warn us. I had to walk around for 25 minutes on the hunt for an ATM to pay my due. What was a nice lazy Sunday morning turned into an annoying time travel back into the early 90s.
- mk89 3y ago
  This I have to say can be more common. Not entirely sure what the reason can be, but some places do not accept Visa/CC but only the EC card (which is essentially the local debit card). Meanwhile, more and more places accept NFC payment.

by mk89 3y ago

patrickk 3y ago

> In Germany you can pay by card basically anywhere - with the phone or watch as well in most/many shops as far as I know. This simply isn't true, outside of large chains or supermarkets. Many smaller businesses like pubs, "kiosks", barbers, non-chain restaurants, and so on, are cash only. It's a combination of tax avoidance and trying to avoid the insane level of paperwork needed for bascically every aspect of life, but especially if you have a business, no matter how small. Source: live in Germany, near a large metro area.

mk89 3y ago
> This simply isn't true, outside of large chains or supermarkets. Many smaller businesses like pubs, "kiosks", barbers, non-chain restaurants, and so on, are cash only. I have a different experience. I pay by card even for < 1 eur things almost everywhere (from time to time): sometimes I just have no cash with me anymore and I am totally ok. This has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, and I wish that the mainstream theme was different than "wooooow in Germany they still accept cash-only". Until now I only experienced this "cash-only" limitation in very few places. My recommendation, though, is to always have some cash on you, especially if you don't know where you're going. But I would do the same in any other country in the world.
- mk89 3y ago
  > especially if you don't know where you're going. I meant: if you're not familiar with the place you're going to, or which way to take, etc.
- slau 3y ago
  In Denmark, I can count the days I've had cash on me in the last decade on one hand.
  - flemhans 3y ago
    I remember seeing a 100kr bill a couple of weeks ago, thinking how weird/unusual it was to see it. I didn't really remember how they looked like.
LargoLasskhyfv 3y ago
Many smaller businesses like 'kiosks' acting as sort of post office for all the parcel services now, where you can get or send your packages(except letters). Meaning they have the infrastructure for cashless anyways. Like non-chain restaurants and so on, also do. Source: lived in Germany, at the outskirts of a large metro area, still visiting every few weeks to months into my own appartment, which I didn't abandon.

slau 3y ago

Last spring, I stopped at a nice brunch place in central Hamburg. The waitress spoke English and asked where we were from, etc. Usual touristy stuff. When it was time to pay, we were surprised to hear only local German cards were accepted. I couldn’t use Visa, Mastercard, anything. It never occurred to them to warn us. I had to walk around for 25 minutes on the hunt for an ATM to pay my due. What was a nice lazy Sunday morning turned into an annoying time travel back into the early 90s.

mk89 3y ago
This I have to say can be more common. Not entirely sure what the reason can be, but some places do not accept Visa/CC but only the EC card (which is essentially the local debit card). Meanwhile, more and more places accept NFC payment.