I’m a sort-of Luddite-ish person, so I was very slow to take up non-cash electronic payments, gradually over the last 10 years or so. I pay nearly all my bills now either via on-line web sites or by telephone. (You should try paying by phone. I think it’s the fastest and simplest way.) I found one BIG advantage over paying by snail-mailed check that won me over: I can confirm with my bank within just a day or two (also by automated phone call) that the bill was paid. Otherwise, I would have had to wait until my next bank statement to see it confirmed. Being able to get such rapid confirmation of bill payments was the big deal-maker for me.
I think “cash is king” get misinterpreted just like “the customer is always right”. Neither phrase is actually saying what they appear to be saying, “cash is king” doesn’t mean cash is always the best way to pay, but in certain situations cash will get accepted before credit. Like when selling a house, a cash buyer is king and the deal can get done quicker with less risk then waiting to see if someone can get approved for a loan.
Just like the customer ISN"T always right, but if you have a customer that is set on buying lime green pants and oranges shirts, the customer is right that this is what they want and it’s not your job to talk them out of it. Make that sale and then try to get them into something nice.
We haven’t paid interest in forever, but even if I chose to let a balance ride for a while, the interest would be paid with free money, so why not?
In Canada, our banknotes are made of plastic, so I guess we’re plastic always whether we use card or not… 
That said, I keep a couple of twenties in my wallet for those odd edge cases where I can’t pay with card or email transfer, like putting cash in a birthday card. One of those may come up in the next little while: the self-serve car wash only takes coins. I do not yet know what kind of change machine they have. The last time I used it, I paid with some of the $6 in two-dollar coins that I got from a guy at work when I used my card to buy something from the cafeteria for him (they take card only, either directly or via an app).
I am trying to remember the last time I paid with actual cash in a store. Definitely pre-covid. Everybody and their brother takes The Tap these days, either Interac debit or Mastercard/Visa credit, for in-person purchases. For most interpersonal transfers, up to and including paying my room rent to my friends, I use Interac email transfer to and from my chequing account.
I don’t use my debit card anywhere except my bank’s ATM. If someone else uses my debit/credit card, I can avoid virtually all liability by promptly notifying the issuer. My CC has been compromised a few times, and I’ve never had to pay for any of the fraudulent charges.
And that is the beauty of the CC. It protects us from fraud. And if it is stolen, report it right away and the bank puts a stop on it and issues me a new one. Plastic protection.
Stores and gas and online, I use a credit card. But there is a “local” economy that isn’t set up for credit cards and checks are a bit too risky, and that’s where cash comes in. Some lady in the next town selling an old hay elevator for $75? Ten laying hens raised by a neighbor at $20 per hen? The guy who comes around with his snow plow? Under about $500 I pay with cash.
Selling cars privately is another cash transaction (though we go to the bank together for that one).
I have a debit card but I rarely use it for anything. If I need cash I generally go into our local branch, they have free coffee, a local news bulletin board, a Little Library, and that’s where the church ladies have their bake sales in winter.
That sounds pretty cool. If that’s available her (USA) I have no idea how to go about it.
If someone mugs you and gets your credit card, presumably you report the lost card as soon as you’re able to do so. And assuming you do so within two days, your liability, in the US at least, is limited to fifty bucks. So what’s the “a lot more” that you think you can lose?
My debit card was hacked a few years ago. Although the money was eventually returned, for a short time those funds were GONE from my checking account. Since then, I don’t use that card for anything but getting cash from one of my bank’s ATM machines. For retail purchases, I use one of my three credit cards.
Interac is a Canada-only thing.
All the big banks* got together sometime in the eighties to get their ATMs cross-connected into a network so that you could take out cash from your bank account using your bank card at any ATM, not just the ATMs owned by your bank. This network was called Interac.
Of course, there was a ‘small’ fee to use another bank’s ATM… Later on, the Interac network allowed ‘white-label’ ATMs not owned by banks to join. These are often found in convenience stores and bars, and sometimes charge whatever the traffic will bear.
In the nineties, Interac added the capability to buy things at stores using your same bank card. And thus was born the Interac debit card. This card was swiped, but it always had a PIN.
People use debit all the time, and tend to be surprised when it isn’t available. The classic version of this is the bar or restaurant that does not accept Interac debit but has an ATM oh-so-conveniently located by the door, and the ATM just happens to charge a fee of $5 or more. People are so used to paying by debit that they often don’t even check whether it’s available… and then they’re stuck pulling out cash from the ATM and paying the fee.
Interac debit transactions at merchants have always been verified and settled in real time. I remember going to some smaller stores, using their terminals, and hearing in the background the beep beep boop of an analogue dialer, then the skreeee of a modem, then silence, then the call ending… and then seeing the terminal complete the transaction and print the receipt. This means that if there is no communication, Interac debit is unavailable.
More features were added to Interac, and eventually the whole thing went Chip-and-PIN, and then contactless (which we are very glad for right now).
One feature they added is Interac e-transfer. Your bank has to support it, but if it does, you can send money to anyone with an email address or a phone number that can accept texts, and a Canadian bank account that also supports e-transfers. And you have to have online banking enabled.
The email or text message is just a announcement; when depositing your money, the message sends you to your online banking, and you log in, and then you deposit your money. The actual transfer happens between the banks, behind the scenes.
You can set it up so that money sent to a specific email address is ‘auto-deposited’; you don’t have to open the message and explicitly deposit the money. I have this set up for my business account. 
Some banks have a feature where you can request money through Interac e-transfer. I have never tried this, but it sounds like it might be useful when sending out invoices.
Note that MasterCard and Visa were never involved in this. It is only recently that MasterCard or Visa debit have been available in Canada, and even then, they are for online use, and use out of the country, where Interac is not available.
I think that there are equivalent services to Interac in the States, but I don’t know what they are. I do know that Interac cardholders can buy things via debit at merchants on the Nyce network, but I don’t know how widespread Nyce is.
*There are Just A Few Big Banks in Canada, less then ten. And they each have millions of customers. Around them are the various smaller banks. If the Big Banks decide to do something as a group, the smaller ones tend to follow along.
Update: I have used cash in a store again! I went to the hair place to get a haircut and colour, and they had a sign up, “We Accept Cash”! So I pulled the two twenties out of my wallet and paid the rest with Interac. Meant I didn’t use up all the money in my chequing account a day and a half befor payday. And I didn’t use credit, which costs both me and the merchant more. (Interac charges the merchant a flat fee of something like 10c per transaction; the credit cards charge a percentage of the transaction plus a flat fee.)
Pretty cool, @Sunspace!
But, am I alone here or does anyone else find cash to be annoying? I’m so used to plastic, all the time, everywhere I can.
I think there are a lot of people like you. I’m not one of them, as I use cash happily all the time. But you’re not alone.
Check to see if your bank or credit union offers Popmoney (3-day or next-day delivery) or Zelle (real-time). Both services allow you to send or receive a payment using just an email address or a mobile phone number. The primary difference between the two is speed; Zelle is built to be a real-time payment delivery network. Over the last few years many banks and credit unions that offered Popmoney have moved to Zelle.
Similar services offered outside of a bank or credit union include PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App (formerly Square Cash).
I haven’t gone through all the posts but generally the phrase “cash is king” refers to the importance of cash flow in operating a business, not how consumers spend money.
This has not been my experience at all. To a car dealer, every sale is cash. They get the cash from the bank or finance company all up front and that business is on the hook for monthly payments, defaults, and repos.
In fact, they would likely give you better deals when financing because they can make money on the interest rate they sell you, which is still usually better given that Ford (or GM) can get a lesser rate than a local credit union.
In fact, a google search for “don’t tell car dealers you are paying cash” comes up with many hits and helpful articles.
They do give you better deals when financing- the only way cash has ever made a difference in my experience is the down payment. Because if you have cash for the down payment, they figure you’re buying a car today whether it’s at that dealership or the next one over.
It’s not like buying a house where a cash purchase will avoid the delays associated with a mortgage.
Can’t tip the baggers at the commissary if I don’t have cash.
I carry fresh new $2 bills folded in my wallet for such tips. You can get them at the bank. They’re a good conversation starter (brief conversation).