As I was exiting my local grocery store yesterday, a scruffy gentleman implored me, “Spare change?” As is usual for me, I continued on my way without acknowledging his request. Without getting into the politics or opinions about providing alms to the poor, a major aspect preventing me from such generosity is that I just don’t carry change (coinage). I make absolutely all of my purchases with a credit card, (for the points!) so I don’t accumulate change that I might hand out.
So, my question to the SDMB community - Do you use cash and accumulate/carry/spend pocket change?
ISTM that this would primarily be directed to US folks, as other countries/regions have coinage in higher, more meaningful, denominations. Which would suggest more widespread usage. In the US we do have dollar coins, but they have never been widely embraced - they are still generally treated as a curiosity.
I fully accept that my experience and curiosity about others could bring admonitions to “check your privilege”. Since I use CC exclusively, I rarely use ANY cash currency. I’ve got a few bills in my wallet, but it’s been months since I used an ATM. But coinage in particular is frankly an annoyance. If I’m in the position to buy a coffee and pay cash, I’ll drop any coinage given as change in the tip jar, so that I don’t have to carry it around in my pocket. Yes, yes, I know that there are many MANY people for whom any small amount of money is valuable.
So, is eschewing cash and change common, or am I in living in a rarefied bubble with this? If people in general are not carrying change as much any more, is mister scruffy going to have to find a new game?
I still carry cash, often paying with credit card but tipping in cash. That said, I don’t like coins, so I get rid of them when possible. Mr Scruffy IME doesn’t want change, but a few ones or a five.
I believe some panhandlers and buskers carry Square and other devices to accept money via credit card, or have a QR code so people can transfer money via Venmo.
As for me, very few cash transactions. The big one currently is my barber, which is cash only. The farmers’ market is as well, but honestly I’ve been avoiding it just because of this.
I always have about a hundred bucks on me and typically use cash for any purchase if I have enough on me to cover it.
And, I never give change, I collect it all and bring it to the bank every 3 years (just works out that way) and put it into my daughter’s college savings account. She’s 15 and it’s averaged a bit over a hundred dollars a year.
I put everything-- and I do mean everything – on my amazon rewards Visa card and collect points to buy my electronic gadgets and toys. (It’s not like it’s real money, amirite? It’s this generation’s S&H Green Stamps.)
Whenever I carry cash, which is seldom, I usually run through it pretty quickly because I almost always give to panhandlers. I won’t give them change-- what can you buy with a few coins? I’ll give a few dollars or even more.
I’ve been dead broke in my life and I’ve worked for social service agencies, the city’s homeless shelter, a residential treatment center for indigent alcoholics, and now that I’m financially okay, I want to share. I don’t have any dependents (except my pets) and I’m glad to be in a position to help the way people helped me when I was broke (though, thank God, never so broke that I was on the street).
I have a little plastic container in the bedroom that I dumped all my loose change into sometime around the beginning of this plague, and there it still sits. That way I don’t have to carry around jingling weight that I never use. On rare occasions I’ll use my debit card, otherwise it’s always credit. The last place I used to use cash was fast food takeout, but the contactless tap method is faster, more convenient, and certainly cleaner from a hygiene perspective. The only thing I need to touch is my own card. The tap system has become even more useful now that COVID has made them greatly raise the maximum purchase limits without having to use a PIN. For a time, early in the COVID crisis, many stores wouldn’t take cash anyway, or only accepted it at one designated register.
Sounds like a ploy to avoid reporting income. I asked my mechanic (who is also the owner of this independent business) several times if he’d prefer I used debit instead of a credit card, and he couldn’t care less about the small percentage that the CC company charges.
These threads always lean to the anti-coin and bills side. Me, I like coins. I think the U.S. should have more of them circulating- half dollars, dollars, and maybe some new ones like two dollar and five dollar coins. I wish more people would circulate two dollar bills.
I do use my credit card for all my gasoline, utilities, and insurance payments. Whenever I travel I will get some cash from the bank for the trip. I always have some left over and use that for fast food, minor grocery purchases, and whatever until it runs out. I’ll spend change if I happen to have it in my pocket at the time. The change I get I will usually add to my hoard at home. Whenever I feel like I need something from Amazon, I put a chunk of change into one of those CoinStar machines. Most of them will give an Amazon gift certificate for the full value of the coins. A gallon of pennies is worth about 53 dollars.
I generally agree that the US should have higher denomination coins (and eliminate the paper currency of equal value). This is one of the myriad of things that I feel that other parts of the world do better than the US.
I used to be a cash guy, but am now using credit cards 100%. I have been carrying the same $60 in my wallet for a year now.
Most of my cards have been updated to contactless cards. I’m my experience, contactless works less than half of the time. I don’t even bother trying tapping anymore. I had similar issues when I tried to use Google Pay a while back with a phone with NFC. Tapping with the phone was actually worse, because when it didn’t work I had to have a second form of payment ready. With a 50% failure rate, what’s the point? At least with tapping a card, you can simply insert the card that’s in your hand into the terminal. (Except at a few gas station pumps. I’ve experienced the pump reader reject swiping or dipping a card that failed to tap). Contactless is a decent idea, but a failure in execution in my experience.
Not in my experience. It’s very popular and widespread here, and although it may not be 100% perfect, it hardly ever fails. When it does, it’s usually because I’ve misidentified where the sensor is on the POS terminal – they’re generally well marked, but when one is careless and in a hurry it’s easy to tap the wrong place. (And it’s not literally “tap”, it’s more like “hold and wait for the beep”.) Another reason it may sometimes not work (the dreaded double beep, which is the terminal saying “nyuh-uh”) is that even during COVID, some card issuers like to see PIN verification after some number (possibly a random number) of contactless transactions. Also I believe (not sure) that it will not beep at all if the purchase amount is above the contactless limit.
But in my experience the technology is pretty sound (and for me, very very convenient). You may have a card with a flaky chip.
I do not and have also wondered about the effect of the modern semi-cashless economy and donations to the homeless, coin tins, kids selling charity items at store entrances and other things where I’m financially able to give but practically unable for lack of cash on me.
For what it’s worth, I have no real aversion to cash as a concept. I just wind up not using it due to convenience factors (including avoiding ATM charges to get cash). If I could magic cash from my bank account to my hand, there’d be no problem. But I can’t, so card swipe it is.
Another important reason why I use my CC exclusively is that I use Quicken. Once I download the statements and categorize my expenses, I can produce a report for my tax preparer practically instantaneously.
This was especially helpful to me as a freelancer for 35+ years.
I am a troglodyte, I guess. I have a coin purse and I just counted $6.40 in it (a Looney, two Twonies, 5 quarters, a nickel, and a dime. I put a twoney into a parking meter the other day. My barber is cash only, so is my footcare nurse, and I pay cash to the couple that clean my apartment. I have a pile of fives that I use for tipping delivery people.
I only carry a quarter for the Aldi grocery cart. The hardwood lumber place I get supplies from is cash only, so I’ll stop at an ATM when going there, otherwise it’s card only for me.
I used a Quikoin for decades. Made nearby in Akron, Ohio:
I finally got tired of how heavy it was so now I toss my coins in a shelf in the car. They are easily accessible when paying at a drive through. The shelf in our Rav4 has a lip and holds coins nicely. The one in the Scion is slanted down and holds quite a bit but they will slide out if you accelerate too fast. When I get out of the car I often have to replace a few coins.
The other day I had to hit it because another car made an unexpected turn towards me. I think I had about 6 bucks on my shoes:)