Yes! It’s been getting ridiculous recently.
And for the CC devices, where you tap your CC is different. Some have the ‘tap icon’ a subtle clue as to its location, and some do not. At my doctor’s office, on that device the tap sensor is on the far side from you. The tap icon is there, but can you see it from where you stand? No.
Stupid. Just stupid.
None.
Right now I’m not even sure where the nearest ATM is. I think the supermarket has one, but I’ve never used it.
An interesting article. But their data point was “cash demand surged when the public got scared”, but their conclusion was “You should have cash at home”. IOW, the conclusion in unrelated to the data.
Nothing in the article supported their implicit conclusion that a scared public wanting cash was smart behavior, versus ignorant bovine behavior.
I have some, because I do agree w the spare tire analogy. And because I live in a part of the country prone to widescale disasters with 1- to 2-week recovery times.
According to the poll below, 31% out of 55 respondents keep at least $100 reserve cash at home, and 12% keep less than $100
I have 2 kids aged 25 and 27; they each have their own apartment. I’m seeing them next weekend and will give them each an envelope with $120 to keep at home in case of emergencies. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and the article linked by @Spiderman is a good reminder.
As to how much cash I typically carry, $10 or 20. If I know I’m going to a cash only restaurant, $150.
I typically carry around $200 “just in case” I need cash. However, about the only time I need cash is for my barber, self serve car wash, or the guy who does lawn care. Both my wife and myself pay for practically everything with our Costco Mastercards.
Yes, we have an envelope with $1000 in the house at all times. We have power outages that can last quite long. And once the cellular grid was down for a while as well. We have never actually used any of it. It’s been there since 2004.
My wife used to keep an equivalent amount in Chinese RMB as well in case she needed to fly to China in an emergency. But use of cash in China is now so rare, this seemed unnecessary.
I had occasion to use cash from the $200 emergency stash in my wallet for the first time in a long time when the debit/credit system crashed just before I got to the counter at the grocery yesterday. I’ll replace it next time I’m near a bank.
I’ve never experienced a “debit/credit card system crash.” I’ve never (in at least 30 years) had a cash emergency. I do pay some household helpers with cash, but it’s never an emergency (and I can pay with a check if I forget to go to the bank). I have nothing against having “emergency cash” at home or in your pocket, but I’d never recommended it a “prudent” or necessary course of action for my kids or anyone else.
When I used to go to gas stations, I do recall a pump payment system not working once or twice. I simply drove to one down the road.
It is quite rare. I’ve experienced it, but admittedly it is a very rare event. Maybe 1-2x in 20 years.
Once I drove San Francisco to LA (400 miles), late one night. I was getting gas, out of town. That tripped a fraud alert so I couldn’t use my main CC. My backup CC’s bank was in the midst of their system backups. I had to use cash, or wait an hour or two to use a CC.
I now carry 4 CCs from different banks.
I’ve never had a system crash - but it’s not unheard of for blackouts to happen. Which generally means that stores etc can’t conduct business involving credit/debit cards. I’ll often have enough cash on me for a not-really-an-emergency “emergency” such as buying bread, * but if the power is out a lot of stores can’t take cash so having it would do me no good.
* Emeregency in the sense of “I have emergency cash in case I can’t pay with a credit card”- but it’s not an emergency in the sense that I don’t have to buy the bread today.
Normally just a few coins (need one for redeeming a shopping-trolley at Aldi), otherwise I use either a debit or credit card for everything, even at our local Goodwill stores. I cannot think of a single store I’ve been to in Aus in the last 10 years that doesn’t accept card transactions.
That being said, I currently have $100 in my wallet that is going into a birthday card for my granddaughter in the next few days. I must say it looks terribly weird to see such cash in my possession.