That has been my impression as Canadian, with the admission that there is a lot about American culture I neither understand nor have deep experience with.
Canadian currency changes a lot and for the most part we don’t give a shit. There was a fair amount of backlash in the eighties over the introduction of the Looney (and subsequent discontinuation of the dollar bill). People weren’t excited about more heavy change in their pocket, or the inevitable vending machine inflation. Eventually it became an acceptable cultural symbol.
Canada isn’t exactly a cashless society yet, but I haven’t carried cash or change for years. What form the physical currency takes is merely a curiosity. I have a looney on my desk for scale comparison in photos and a few in my truck console for pan handlers.
In the last couple of years I’ve run into places that only take credit cards. Some people claim that eventually every company will do this. I hope not. I like paying cash.
I’m very good at mental math, to the point where I could calculate the total including tax before I rang the items up, but I’d still use the register to check. For one thing I had to, but beyond that I’m good, but not infallible and I didn’t want a short drawer because I had a brain fart.
I can’t think of a store that doesn’t. Even the vendors at the local farmers market use tablets and phone apps to record sales. I’m confused how @Dr.Drake would be confusing sales clerks. All they would do is ring in 5.10 and get 0.25 as the change. No math required.
When I worked at McDonald’s in 1980, the register did that automatically as well. It was even more dummy proof than that. We just pushed buttons that said “Big Mac” or “Large soda” and it gave us the total.
What seems to confuse people is the act of handing them the extra dime. The total is less than $5; why am I handing them more than $5? If they do trust the register and type it in, they get it. Often times, they try to hand me back the dime, presuming I’ve misheard or otherwise mistaken the situation.
I was on a town committee once years ago trying to figure out procedures for the town transfer station. In my rural town residents have to pay for trash pickup, and even have to pay to drop off trash themselves at the transfer station.
Anyway, there was a situation where the attendant at the transfer station was pocketing some of the cash payments. The town wanted to “solve” the problem by no longer accepting cash. I vehemently argued against this because not everyone has a credit card or debit card, especially those who can’t afford trash pickup!
Then they wanted people to buy vouchers at town hall where they would accept cash. I said this is would be so cumbersome that they better budget some money to pick up all the trash that will be dumped along the side of the road leaving the transfer station!
As I kept saying: we need to make it easier for people to pay, not harder. Solve the cash pocketing problem another way, like by issuing receipts or even a security camera.
I misunderstood what you were doing. I had a teen cashier have a similar “whoa, cool” moment a number of years back where I turned something like 8 cents into a quarter.
I was at a Wendy’s several years ago, and my order came to $8.01. I figured the guy at the counter would round it down to $8, but I didn’t just want to make that assumption, I handed him 9 dollars (can’t remember if I said “here’s nine”), and he just put it in the till and tried to move on to the next customer. I had to point out that I had change coming. He seemed quite annoyed, but eventually gave me back a dollar.
I made it point after that to always say how much cash I was handing over. And now I rarely use cash at all.
We have a lot of places that ONLY take cash. And since I love entrepreneurs, and greasy diners, and cute little taverns, I seem to hit them all.
One breakfast joint finally gave in a bit, and put in an ATM.
Up until then, it was always fun to watch the hipster who loves the slumming (and the corned beef hash), right up until he tries to pay with his Double-Tempered Platinum Card.
With every bill being paid for decades now through online banking, and everyday service providers now being paid via interbank transfer, money should make no sound at all, or at most the gentle click of keyboard.
No, the customer still has to pay. I understand if a tiny Mom ‘n’ Pop eatery doesn’t want to deal with credit card equipment and giving a % of their meager profits* to MasterCard,
*(When a huge omelette full of veggies and corned beef is only seven bucks with coffee, they don’t have a lot of disposable income. And it’s not a case of “Maybe they’d make it if they catered to a modern clientele…” They usually have a line out the door)
eta:
Also, it means Mr. “Oh no, now I have to jump in my Italian convertible and go find an ATM and touch dollar bills like the commoners do” had ignored three “Sorry, CASH only” signs.
There’s a barbecue restaurant in my area which only takes cash or checks. It’s pretty well known locally (it was the place I was taken to on my first visit here so I could experience “really NC barbecue”). I’ve been there a few times since then, and I always need to remember to make sure I have cash on me before heading there; one time we stopped at an ATM en route when we had a sudden taste for their food.
For me, the question is whether the fees wouldn’t have been offset by increased traffic and people buying more because they’re not limited by cash they have on hand. My brother refuses to go to cash-only places. I go, but it’s a rare trip and I either have to plan ahead of time and have cash on me or it just happens to be one of those rare days I have cash in my wallet. I’m not going to use the establishment’s ATM machine and get dinged $3 for a withdrawal. I just want a frickin $5 hot dog. So I simply don’t go to any these establishments anywhere near as often as I would if they accepted CC. I end up going to the competitor that does. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but the question is are there not enough of us to make a difference?
I’ve also found as a vendor accepting CC gets people to buy things they may not normally have were they paying cash or even check. (I deal in multi-thousand dollar services and thousand dollar plus products, though.) When you don’t have to think about the money or experience the reality of it leaving your wallet, it’s easler to spend.
I’ve always thought the fees were worth it as a vendor and, besides, these days you’re allowed to charge CC fees back to the customer. I never have and never will.
Years ago, I convinced a friend that he had to start accepting credit cards at his tattoo shop. He bitched about the fees, but I told him his shop would be so much busier it would be worth it.
Then he admitted that he didn’t know how to go about it. I sat with him at his computer and an hour or so later it was all set up. It worked as I predicted at increasing business. Unfortunately he died a short time later.