# How much cash do you typically carry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656 "2025-09-01T16:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/141 "2025-09-13T22:07:34Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Not too long ago we had dinner in Manhattan at a nice restaurant and, SURPRISE!, they were cash only. I couldn’t believe it. I had to scrounge together some $300 cash to pay that bill. Almost every “cash-only” business I’ve encountered has an ATM near by, if not under the same roof. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/142 "2025-09-13T22:13:50Z")
Usually around $300. I keep a $100 bill in a hidden area for emergencies, and I keep some 50s and 20s in the regular compartment. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/143 "2025-09-13T22:26:59Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > Not too long ago we had dinner in Manhattan at a nice restaurant and, SURPRISE!, they were cash only. I couldn’t believe it. I had to scrounge together some $300 cash to pay that bill. > > Almost every “cash-only” business I’ve encountered has an ATM near by, if not under the same roof. Such establishments should make it clear up front that they are cash only, especially when the tab is that high. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/144 "2025-09-13T22:45:32Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > That said, I use the cc for many transactions. If it’s a mom n pop, I will take out cash. That turns out to be pretty frequent here in the city. Especially post-COVID, the margins on small bodegas, food&drink and other businesses is wicked tight. I’m gonna take out my Amex card to pay for the finest pizza in the NYC area? ( go on, fight me on it. :D) No. It’s a 3% hit if not slightly higher. I do the same thing. National chain, credit card. Local business, cash for small purchases. I think it matters. Our writing club goes out to dinner, a few times in a small restaurant near us. Separate checks, much easier for the people. When we set it up they asked us to have people pay cash so they wouldn’t get stuck with ten different credit card charges. We told everyone in advance, and no problems. Dinners were not super cheap either, so 3% plus the base charge is quite a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/145 "2025-09-14T00:25:32Z")
Let’s be real. A convenience store, coffee shop or restaurant that is cash only, isn’t doing it to save 3% on the transaction fees. The loss of business from customer “friction” would far outweigh that savings. It’s the 30% income tax that they are avoiding that makes it worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/146 "2025-09-14T01:25:26Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > > > Using a card for a purchase under $10 or so just … feels wrong to me. I will do it if it’s the only way to pay, or if the business seems to be genuinely encouraging it, but, I dunno, it just seems wasteful? > > I truly don’t understand this. Wasteful of _what_? It’s quicker and easier. If the merchant is giving a cash discount for small purchases, that makes sense to use cash, but if not, what is wrong about it? Wasteful of processing fees. Lots of merchants near me used to refuse cards for purchases of less than 10 or 20 dollars. Must didn’t any more because it would drive away too many customers, but they are still paying those fees. And depending on the size of the business and the deal it has with the credit cards, there might be a minimum fee per transaction. My auto mechanic prefers to be paid by check because the credit card fees are high. (And checks are traceable, I’m pretty sure he’s not doing it to avoid paying tax.) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/147 "2025-09-14T01:31:59Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Wasteful of processing fees. Lots of merchants near me used to refuse cards for purchases of less than 10 or 20 dollars. Must didn’t any more because it would drive away too many customers, but they are still paying those fees. And depending on the size of the business and the deal it has with the credit cards, there might be a minimum fee per transaction. This has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Especially debit card fees have gone way down, and there are a lot of competing platforms do you can find one that doesn’t charge you $1 per transaction if you are a business that has a lot of $5-$10 transactions. That’s why the guy who sells bread out of a cabinet on his front lawn only takes Venmo, as does the guy selling vegetables that he grows on two acres. Both are operating on the honor system. Neither is paying $1.50 on that $5 purchase that they might have had to in 2005. If they are paying anything, it’s $0.25-$0.50. Not nothing, but more convenient than having a lockbox and losing customers because they don’t have exact change on them. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/148 "2025-09-14T19:27:16Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > > > And in some cases, the cc dip slide is vandalized or dead and coins are THE only way to park. > > Just an FYI - I’m pretty sure every NYC public parking kiosk can be paid via the ParkNYC app. Which I actually got after one too many kiosks wouldn’t take either a credit card _or_ coins. Oh !!! Thanks !! Me and my old ways. I use the Parking app in Asbury Park NJ for God’s sake. Surely I can transition to this and ditch the velvet pouch of coinage. Thank you !! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/149 "2025-09-14T19:33:12Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Not too long ago we had dinner in Manhattan at a nice restaurant and, SURPRISE!, they were cash only. I couldn’t believe it. I had to scrounge together some $300 cash to pay that bill. Peter Luger’s Steakhouse has been in the same location at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge since 1887. When I first hit NYC in 1981, they ONLY took cash. Now? “ Peter Luger Steak House does not accept credit cards at either Brooklyn or Great Neck locations. Accepted forms of payment are the Peter Luger Card, US checks with ID, US debit cards and cash. “ They’re not the only ones, at least in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/150 "2025-09-14T19:55:05Z")
I usually get $200 at a time from the ATM, and replenish when it dwindles to between $20 to $40. So a typical amount would probably be slightly more than $100. Currently my wallet has exactly $150 in it. Back when I paid cash for almost everything, I needed to replenish every week or two. Now I use cash-back credit cards for most purchases and only need to visit an ATM about two or three times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/151 "2025-09-14T20:21:04Z")
I don’t spend a lot of time in NYC (last visit was 2022, but I only went to the US Open and only paid for parking outside the venue). Is this multitude of cash only places, including what seems like a cash-only high end eatery, a NYC thing? I know there are more “independent” stores and restaurants (vs chains). Maybe more people in an undocumented “cash economy” as well? In other cities that I do frequent, I find that cashless is much more common than cash only. Which makes sense if you are concerned about robberies. I’ve been to lots of shops in Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta and in the last two years I’ve not encountered a single one that is cash only. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/152 "2025-09-14T20:35:23Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Is this multitude of cash only places, including what seems like a cash-only high end eatery, a NYC thing? IME it’s not a multitude, based on the times I’ve been there (my son attended Marymount Manhattan College on the Upper East Side). It’s only a few places. But when you stumble upon one it sure can be a gotcha! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/153 "2025-09-15T02:26:12Z")
This. I didn’t mean to suggest it was multitudinous. ( Love that word. ) Just an oddity cause really GOOD steakhouses are, well, pricey as fuck but worth every penny. THAT is the stuff for another thread !! ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/154 "2025-09-15T02:45:07Z")
zero - in pounds, dollars or euros. In 11 years I’ve gone from the guy in Tesco (Dublin) with a chipless Chase card and the manager had to do the transaction to either going out for a run without any cards or cash to only carrying cards. Only the barber charges cash on the barrel-head. Bank is 100 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/155 "2025-09-25T16:40:20Z")
Not quite the same as carrying it, but do you keep any at [home](https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/business/cash-war-crisis-prepare-intl)? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/156 "2025-09-26T04:11:47Z")
I do not, but my grandfather did. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/157 "2025-09-26T13:16:15Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > CCs are extremely convenient, and they speed up the purchase process. Wouldn’t it be great if this were always true? The variety of CC procedures is staggering. At my local corner store it is the perfect tap and go, but more commonly there are some series of confirmation buttons, sometimes ads, the incredible electronic signature absurdity, and always some dance around whether the clerk takes your card or they shove a gizmo at you or you look around for it. And every. single. procedure. is. different. I just got off an Amtrak journey and bought items from the cafe car using CC. That really jammed up the line because their very unique gizmo had very peculiar buttons and it had to make a phone call to authorize the purchase, which sometimes took a long time when far from civilization and LTE signals were weak. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/158 "2025-09-26T13:30:14Z")
> [@sunacres](#): > > At my local corner store it is the perfect tap and go, but more commonly there are some series of confirmation buttons, sometimes ads, the incredible electronic signature absurdity, and always some dance around whether the clerk takes your card or they shove a gizmo at you or you look around for it. And every. single. procedure. is. different. This is a result of one of two things: - the retailer has some hopelessly outdated equipment (like 10-15 years old) because they either aren’t capitalized well enough to absorb $750-$1500 to upgrade or they are blissfully unaware that they are pissing off customers - The retailer is offsetting some of their processing costs by monetizing the payment process. Either by collecting information about you to use internally or to sell off or to try to squeeze some money money out of you in tips, donations, extended warranty, etc. or by showing you ads for third parties. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/159 "2025-09-26T13:34:54Z")
In other words, it ain’t going to get better any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656/160 "2025-09-26T14:44:43Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > the retailer has some hopelessly outdated equipment (like 10-15 years old) because they either aren’t capitalized well enough to absorb $750-$1500 to upgrade In a place like Target or Walmart, with maybe two dozen terminals per store that is a significant capital expense. Even at grocery store chain it can be a 7-figure expense [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cash-do-you-typically-carry/1022656.md?page=9)