cash transactions

[redbird]

A discussion on a Discord server led me to post "I'm going to add 'good indie cafes' to my list of reasons to carry cash, even though the non-chain restaurant/cafe/coffee shop I go to most often does take cards.

"(My list also includes THC edibles, buskers, panhandlers, Girl Scout cookies, bus/trolley fare, and the farmers market on cold winter mornings.)"

The restaurant in question is Kickstand Cafe, in Arlington Center. I do sometimes pay cash for other things, mostly small transactions: the list above is things that I couldn't have done with plastic, or that would have been significantly more expensive (the edibles) or less convenient (some buskers take cards or Venmo) without cash.

I currently have $42 in cash in my wallet, having gotten $30 as cash back the other day because $12 seemed like cutting it a little close if I actually need to pay cash for something.

Comments

[otter]

good idea.

[minoanmiss]

This reminds me...

[petrea_mitchell]

I also mostly use cash at my local farmers' market, and at food carts.

[kareina]

I haven't carried cash, or needed it, pretty much since moving to Sweden in 2011. My first year or two here we still occasionally found places like garage sales that needed cash, but the whole country embraced Swish around the time I arrived, so that now when one wants to buy something at a garage sale or similar you just ask them for their Swish number (which is their telephone number), type it in to your app, how much you are paying, and a short comment, usually indicating what it is for, and Swish! the money arrives in their account directly, and both phones show a notification that it worked. Buskers even take Swish--they put up a sign with the number, and a QR code for those who don't want the bother of typing the number.

My first few years here I would take the appropriate local currency with me when I traveled to other countries (or hit an ATM when I got there), but I haven't bothered with that for years, as it is easier to just pay by card, and there are no longer those fees for using the card in other countries that we used to get. Honestly, I don't even know what Swedish cash looks like, so I wouldn't know if someone handed me some if it were legal or just monopoly money.

[joseph_teller]

I always carry cash and use it on my grocery shopping etc. Cash makes budgeting easier and prevents risk of identity theft. I know better than to use smart phone apps (or smart phones) as they are a huge identity theft risk and also can get you falsely accused of crimes by the police when they do sweeps for 'who is in the area' when a crime occurs (and yeah they do get warrants for things like that in the courts and do it badly... no phone no risk of getting tracked by a tower... I live in an urban area and avoid risk).