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It has to do with privacy. Germans are quite fond of keeping up personal information personal, and they just don't want that bank can keep track of their purcha

It has to do with privacy. Germans are quite fond of keeping up personal information personal, and they just don't want that bank can keep track of their purchases. That's the main reason why people here prefer cash as a method of payment. Of course, when paying or order something online, you need to provide your shipping address anyways, so credit cards brings at least a benefit of possible dispute if anything goes wrong.

PavlovsCat 13y ago
That's one reason. Another one, for me, is that I'd feel bad about being too lazy to simply withdraw some cash from the ATM and carry it around with me. To me it's like walking around with an umbrella in light rain, refusing to eat a piece of bread that dropped on the ground, or the recentish plague of luggage with wheels. I consider it the hobbitification of humans, and I'm not playing. Then there is the fact that people who pay digitally tend to hold up the queue. Just plop down some cash and take the change, will ya. Gah.
- danieldk 13y ago
  Another one, for me, is that I'd feel bad about being too lazy to simply withdraw some cash from the ATM and carry it around with me. It's the 21st century. I don't want to think about whether I should get 20 or 30 Euro from an ATM, let alone carry 100 Euro in my wallet. In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. Even worse is this 'digital wallet' that is required in some busses, etc., where you have to precharge the chip with a certain amount of money. Then there is the fact that people who pay digitally tend to hold up the queue. Just plop down some cash and take the change, will ya. Gah. That's because the checkout process in Germany is not optimized for bank card payments. Try to go to a Dutch supermarket (e.g. Albert Heijn in city centers) and it's usually cash payers who are slowing down the queues. Thank god, they have counters these days where they only allow bank cards.
  - mixmastamyk 13y ago
    I used to think like you, until I realized every aspect of my life was being recorded permanently by corporations and the NSA. Back to cash and anonymity, thank you.
  - levosmetalo 13y ago
    Of course, it's all fine and cool until health insurance starts increasing your monthly payments because you bought too much "unhealthy/non-bio" food. Or when you start getting longer TSA "treatments" because you purchased "wrong and dangerous" book. Or you "just" start getting super creepy targeted advertisement on your mailbox. No thanks, anything that technically allows tracking will be tracked eventually, if not already. Why would I provide that information free of charge to anyone? I respect my privacy, and I'm glad that I live in a country where people are at least aware of the privacy issues. Let's say that people's awareness of the privacy and need to protect private information is the only positive legacy from the memories of Gestapo and Stasi.
    - danieldk 13y ago
      Of course, it's all fine and cool until health insurance starts [...] Agreed. But digitalization of society is not something that can be stopped. Just by posting here on Hackernews, you left plenty of traces that can be mined. We should demand from our governments that laws are put into place so that our data is not only protected, but controlled by ourselves.
      - levosmetalo 13y ago
        I agree that we should push our government in that direction, but should also keep protecting our privacy ourselves whenever possible. If we can't avoid inevitable, we could at least postpone it for a decade or two. There's an old (Russian?) saying that goes like: "Pray to the God, but keep swimming to the coast!"
  - PavlovsCat 13y ago
    > It's the 21st century. So? I am me. Like some web frameworks I am opinionated, and unlike them I am not made of sugar, able to carry luggage, and able to carry cash around. > I don't want to think about whether I should get 20 or 30 Euro from an ATM, let alone carry 100 Euro in my wallet. In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. That's good for you, but I don't have to really think about that much. Of course I always want to have a few tenners in my wallet, no thought required, I just do that when I pass by the bank. I also would have no problem with carrying 100€ in my wallet, since I tend to carry 1000€ worth of stuff in my DSLR bag anyway, which I take anywhere except shopping and places after dark (not because I'm afraid I might get robbed, but because I can't be bothered to carry around a flash/tripod). So another 100€ means nothing, and the real hassle of having your wallet stolen isn't really the cash, it's all the other stuff in it, no? > In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. First off, technology is made by "me" for "me", I don't exist for it. It's not my purpose to give a specific technology a reason to exist - if I don't need it, and neither do others, it can just go shrivel up and die when the reference counter hits zero. Secondly, wildly varying technology exists for wildly varying reasons: to make live easier for yourself and/or everyone, and to make life harder for yourself and/or others; to exploit people, for escapism, and so on. What "mundane and boring task" do Farmville or heroin make unnecessary? How is it desirable to make the task of, say, mass murder or putting people in internment camps, easier? Doing simple calculations in my head, or knowing that I'll be making a bigger purchase soonish isn't "boring and mundane" to me, neither is rain or carrying luggage, which I find rather sublime and fun respectively, at least to a degree (heavy rain every day, or weights attached to my shoes, wouldn't be fun). Do you know the movie "Wall-E"? I could barely stand it for all the kitsch, but that stuff about the fat human blobs zipping around on trays seems slightly relevant. Walking is boring, eating is boring, defecating is boring, washing yourself is boring, taking care of friendships is boring... no wait, all that is in the brain of the beholder, and personally I think life is made up of little things, and the supposedly big things are for the most part just big delusions. Which seems to be confirmed by the fact that most people I see around seem kinda unhappy or hysterical in their happiness, and to never notice things like sparrows or clouds. I pity them, and I fully expect them to consider me "weird", with their digital watches and sneakers with lights in the heels. > That's because the checkout process in Germany is not optimized for bank card payments. Which is where I am, and which is also a place built above sea level, so that's where I'll stay :P Truth be told, the Netherlands aren't exactly the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the opposite of hobbitdom. I'm not saying that to be mean or snarky, but because that's what I honestly think. Seeing how this is about the reasons for Germans not using credit cards, and how I am one, here's my opinion, arrogant as it is. To be honest, I expected downvotes instead of upvotes, I think I would deserve them... wouldn't make me change my opinion though. Many people are already quite lame and getting lamer by the month, and like George Carlin I'm over here with this weird mixture of popcorn and hatred. > Thank god, they have counters these days where they only allow bank cards. Yeah, thank God for wall-to-wall tracking of every single expense I make, which happens every single time, while negative effects of carrying cash around are rather hypothetical.
skrause 13y ago
The other reasons is that cash always works. I once found out during checkout in the supermarket that my card was blocked by my bank (probably because I once used an ATM which was hacked). It's not fun to stand around blocking the whole checkout process because you can't pay. Since that day I'm always keeping enough cash in my wallet to be able to pay without any cards.

PavlovsCat 13y ago

That's one reason. Another one, for me, is that I'd feel bad about being too lazy to simply withdraw some cash from the ATM and carry it around with me. To me it's like walking around with an umbrella in light rain, refusing to eat a piece of bread that dropped on the ground, or the recentish plague of luggage with wheels. I consider it the hobbitification of humans, and I'm not playing. Then there is the fact that people who pay digitally tend to hold up the queue. Just plop down some cash and take the change, will ya. Gah.

danieldk 13y ago
Another one, for me, is that I'd feel bad about being too lazy to simply withdraw some cash from the ATM and carry it around with me. It's the 21st century. I don't want to think about whether I should get 20 or 30 Euro from an ATM, let alone carry 100 Euro in my wallet. In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. Even worse is this 'digital wallet' that is required in some busses, etc., where you have to precharge the chip with a certain amount of money. Then there is the fact that people who pay digitally tend to hold up the queue. Just plop down some cash and take the change, will ya. Gah. That's because the checkout process in Germany is not optimized for bank card payments. Try to go to a Dutch supermarket (e.g. Albert Heijn in city centers) and it's usually cash payers who are slowing down the queues. Thank god, they have counters these days where they only allow bank cards.
- mixmastamyk 13y ago
  I used to think like you, until I realized every aspect of my life was being recorded permanently by corporations and the NSA. Back to cash and anonymity, thank you.
- levosmetalo 13y ago
  Of course, it's all fine and cool until health insurance starts increasing your monthly payments because you bought too much "unhealthy/non-bio" food. Or when you start getting longer TSA "treatments" because you purchased "wrong and dangerous" book. Or you "just" start getting super creepy targeted advertisement on your mailbox. No thanks, anything that technically allows tracking will be tracked eventually, if not already. Why would I provide that information free of charge to anyone? I respect my privacy, and I'm glad that I live in a country where people are at least aware of the privacy issues. Let's say that people's awareness of the privacy and need to protect private information is the only positive legacy from the memories of Gestapo and Stasi.
  - danieldk 13y ago
    Of course, it's all fine and cool until health insurance starts [...] Agreed. But digitalization of society is not something that can be stopped. Just by posting here on Hackernews, you left plenty of traces that can be mined. We should demand from our governments that laws are put into place so that our data is not only protected, but controlled by ourselves.
    - levosmetalo 13y ago
      I agree that we should push our government in that direction, but should also keep protecting our privacy ourselves whenever possible. If we can't avoid inevitable, we could at least postpone it for a decade or two. There's an old (Russian?) saying that goes like: "Pray to the God, but keep swimming to the coast!"
- PavlovsCat 13y ago
  > It's the 21st century. So? I am me. Like some web frameworks I am opinionated, and unlike them I am not made of sugar, able to carry luggage, and able to carry cash around. > I don't want to think about whether I should get 20 or 30 Euro from an ATM, let alone carry 100 Euro in my wallet. In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. That's good for you, but I don't have to really think about that much. Of course I always want to have a few tenners in my wallet, no thought required, I just do that when I pass by the bank. I also would have no problem with carrying 100€ in my wallet, since I tend to carry 1000€ worth of stuff in my DSLR bag anyway, which I take anywhere except shopping and places after dark (not because I'm afraid I might get robbed, but because I can't be bothered to carry around a flash/tripod). So another 100€ means nothing, and the real hassle of having your wallet stolen isn't really the cash, it's all the other stuff in it, no? > In fact, I find you reasoning quite weird: technology exists to make mundane and boring tasks unnecessary. First off, technology is made by "me" for "me", I don't exist for it. It's not my purpose to give a specific technology a reason to exist - if I don't need it, and neither do others, it can just go shrivel up and die when the reference counter hits zero. Secondly, wildly varying technology exists for wildly varying reasons: to make live easier for yourself and/or everyone, and to make life harder for yourself and/or others; to exploit people, for escapism, and so on. What "mundane and boring task" do Farmville or heroin make unnecessary? How is it desirable to make the task of, say, mass murder or putting people in internment camps, easier? Doing simple calculations in my head, or knowing that I'll be making a bigger purchase soonish isn't "boring and mundane" to me, neither is rain or carrying luggage, which I find rather sublime and fun respectively, at least to a degree (heavy rain every day, or weights attached to my shoes, wouldn't be fun). Do you know the movie "Wall-E"? I could barely stand it for all the kitsch, but that stuff about the fat human blobs zipping around on trays seems slightly relevant. Walking is boring, eating is boring, defecating is boring, washing yourself is boring, taking care of friendships is boring... no wait, all that is in the brain of the beholder, and personally I think life is made up of little things, and the supposedly big things are for the most part just big delusions. Which seems to be confirmed by the fact that most people I see around seem kinda unhappy or hysterical in their happiness, and to never notice things like sparrows or clouds. I pity them, and I fully expect them to consider me "weird", with their digital watches and sneakers with lights in the heels. > That's because the checkout process in Germany is not optimized for bank card payments. Which is where I am, and which is also a place built above sea level, so that's where I'll stay :P Truth be told, the Netherlands aren't exactly the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the opposite of hobbitdom. I'm not saying that to be mean or snarky, but because that's what I honestly think. Seeing how this is about the reasons for Germans not using credit cards, and how I am one, here's my opinion, arrogant as it is. To be honest, I expected downvotes instead of upvotes, I think I would deserve them... wouldn't make me change my opinion though. Many people are already quite lame and getting lamer by the month, and like George Carlin I'm over here with this weird mixture of popcorn and hatred. > Thank god, they have counters these days where they only allow bank cards. Yeah, thank God for wall-to-wall tracking of every single expense I make, which happens every single time, while negative effects of carrying cash around are rather hypothetical.

skrause 13y ago

The other reasons is that cash always works. I once found out during checkout in the supermarket that my card was blocked by my bank (probably because I once used an ATM which was hacked). It's not fun to stand around blocking the whole checkout process because you can't pay. Since that day I'm always keeping enough cash in my wallet to be able to pay without any cards.