Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by _Codemonkeyism on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @12:40PM
(#14959623)
Every evening I put all spare change from my trouser pockets into a large glass jar next to the door. Once a year I reedem the money and have a really nice dinner.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by pmoriarty on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @12:47PM
(#14959703)
Do you count the change before you redeem it? That is a huge time-suck for me, and I hate doing it.
Also, I feel really bad for the cashiers that are unlucky enough to have all that change dumped on them and are forced to count it all. Some banks have change counting machines, but surprisingly, many don't and the change is still counted by hand while you wait.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by nstho9834nhtnt on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @01:22PM
(#14960084)
Are you serious? If you take it to the bank, they have change counting machines. Depending on how much you bring in, it takes about 1-5 minutes for the machine to count. In the US we have a company called CoinStar that has kiosks in every major grocery store chain which does the same thing. They take a small percentage, but we're talking about coins here, so it's probably less than a dollar per transaction.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by comex on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:21PM
(#14960873)
CoinStar’s fee is 11.9%, according to their website[1] - I wouldn’t call that small.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by mod on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:32PM
(#14961002)
Not small by percentage, but the cost for the time saved is small. Might cost you $15 to save 2 hours or more.
Of course, just take it to the bank and they'll do it for you for free.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by pmoriarty on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:20PM
(#14960866)
I've taken change to banks that didn't have change counting machines. The tellers counted the change by hand. I was shocked.
On the other hand, if you use credit cards, you would ideally be keeping receipts and then reconciling them to the statements you get from your credit card company to make sure there's no fraud and no errors in billing. Some people have the discipline to do that, but many don't.
With credit cards it's easier to overspend. Not only can you perhaps too easily borrow more than you have in the bank with a credit card, but temporarily giving someone a card that you get back right away or giving them a credit card number doesn't have the same psychological impact as permanently and irrevocably giving someone your hard-earned cash. So people are tempted to spend more when using credit cards.
Finally, there's the issue of being tracked. When you use credit, at the very least the credit card company knows where and when you shop and possibly what you buy. With cash you could have more privacy in this respect.