I also have a MagSafe wallet. But if Washington state would support digital driver licenses and Seattle metro had a wallet based transit pay app, I wouldn’t really need that either.

I do still keep around $100-200 worth of Danish Kroner in cash in my bag, however, and I almost never need it, but it’s nice to always have enough for a night in a hotel, a really long cab-ride or groceries for those times where the systems break down.

When I arrived to Germany two decades ago, living on digital payments (debit cards) was already common practice in Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and France, so it was kind of shock the money only culture around here, that is still quite prevalent.

Have you been in germany this year?

And dont even try using a card in a restaurant or a bar, the terminal always, and i mean always just happens to be "broken" at this particular time.

People in Europe tend to only use a credit card for online purchases outside of their own country; most people don't have a credit card at all. Online purchases tend to be done with national systems like the Dutch IDeal (this even works with large international shops like Amazon and Steam).

There is no difference between the mechanics of paying with credit card and paying with a debit card, at least in Norway and Sweden. I hold up my card to the reader and sometimes enter my PIN. I'm not even sure if there is a way for person accepting the payment to tell if it's a credit or debit card I'm using.

I've seen Americans try to pay with a credit card in a supermarket in the Netherlands and have it fail.

I've had places fail to accept my Swedish debit card in the Netherlands. It's more to do with some places only accepting local cards rather than debit vs credit cards.

Maestro and Visa Electron are already or soon will be full discontinued. How can you even tell a debit and a credit card a part nowadays? The only distinction between my credit and debit Visa cards is a single word sign in a tiny font at the back (I live in a EU country).

So unless those Americans are trying to with Amex/Discovery/smth similar cards I'd find this really surprising.

Even a decade or two ago Germany was the only country I've been to where it was only possible to pay with these regional debit cards in some places. I really don't think this was an "Europe" wide thing for a quite a while now.

I don't know what the hangup is (maybe it needs to be reported to the Dutch government since it's obviously coming from a NL national?).

Until then, we'll have to keep using a low limit credit card or Paypal for many online purchases.

At least it is common in NRW to do so.

The solution is that you pay any of your disposable income to the government to compensate for this.

But to the point: Many merchants just want to skip the fees, it usually has nothing to do with taxes. Small business owners get riled up about CC fees sometimes.

Plenty of people in countries with functioning public services and social safety nets.

> Merchants refusing taxes are just as legit as those who chose to pay taxes

As a point of pedantry, they’re in fact illegitimate in the literal sense. (I don’t intend this point as serious argument, just thought your phrasing was bit funny in the context)

> Many merchants just want to skip the fees

I completely agree with you here, it can make sense for a small business to prefer cash for that reason (and it’s equally okay for a customer to choose whether to do business with them).

Gen Z's be like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpYyFuHjdB0

I have kids who will be that age soon. Wondering how much more true this will be in the next 3-4 years.

That's mostly valid for middle-class kids, but there's lots and lots of unbanked or "badly" banked (i.e. banking with what are basically pawnbrokers) poorer people, so cash going away or being tightly regulated will be a huge disadvantage for their kids going forward.

I happen to have a second Apple device on me at all times: my watch. Risk of this happening is low. Still a risk though.

I assume you keep all of your money at home?

Oh, you keep it at the bank. And withdraw it using a plastic card? Well then.

for the past decade most countries (china, india, brazil, eu, etc) have central bank issued APIs for instant payments.

without being a client of visa, apple, etc... anyone can instantly transter money around. some banks require an app, others allow via sms, etc.

the US seems like it is stuck in time, still swiping credit cards, and only having a glimpse of the world via toys their kids play with, until they are old enough to go back to the american way and start swiping cards.

Debit cards are practically never in my wallet unless I'm going out to withdraw cash. Way too risky to be carrying around a direct line to my primary bank account.