<story><title>Why Germans pay cash for almost everything</title><url>https://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-everything/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>_Codemonkeyism</author><text>Cash workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- I get a 10 EUR note from my trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Cashier gives back money&lt;p&gt;- I put money in trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Done&lt;p&gt;- Home: I put all spare money in a large glass jar&lt;p&gt;Credit card workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You swipe card&amp;#x2F;insert in chip reader&lt;p&gt;- You insert PIN number&lt;p&gt;- You shield your PIN entrie from the people next to you&lt;p&gt;- You tell people too close to back off&lt;p&gt;- Chip reader did not work because of humidity&lt;p&gt;- You insert PIN again&lt;p&gt;- You tolerate the angry stares from people behind you
  who think you&amp;#x27;re either stupid or broke&lt;p&gt;- You wait 5 sec for transaction to fish&lt;p&gt;- You put card back in wallet&lt;p&gt;- You put wallet back in trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Done</text></item><item><author>codegeek</author><text>As an american, I find it strange that cash is faster. Most people who pay cash need to wait to get the change back unless they know the total beforehand and happen to have exact change. In the US, credit card machines are very fast even the chip enabled ones.&lt;p&gt;Cash workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You spend time counting exact change if you do have it&lt;p&gt;- If not, you take out a rounded bill&amp;#x2F;note (say $20)&lt;p&gt;- Cashier takes the bill&amp;#x2F;note, punches in the register and then spends a few seconds giving you the change back.&lt;p&gt;Credit card workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You swipe card&amp;#x2F;insert in chip reader&lt;p&gt;- Done</text></item><item><author>_Codemonkeyism</author><text>As a German&lt;p&gt;a.) I mostly pay cash because it&amp;#x27;s faster&lt;p&gt;b.) some shops that can afford it only have cash payments to save on CC costs&lt;p&gt;Not because of inflation or because something happend 100y ago.</text></item><item><author>mtmail</author><text>According to &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cashforless.de&amp;#x2F;ec_cash_info&amp;#x2F;Fakten_zur_Kartenzahlung_in_Deutschland.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cashforless.de&amp;#x2F;ec_cash_info&amp;#x2F;Fakten_zur_Kartenzah...&lt;/a&gt; methods for payments in stores 2011 was 57% cash, 5.3% credit card, 33% debit card (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_cash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_cash&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;of course, [the Germans] attitudes toward currency must owe something to Germany’s tumultuous monetary history. During the Weimar-era hyperinflation that peaked in 1923 [...]&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;the German tendency to settle up in cash undeniably reflects the fact that for much of the last century, Germany has been either on the brink of, in the midst of, or struggling to recover from, disaster.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;As a German I call that theory into question. Our currency has been stable for 60+ years. It would&amp;#x27;ve been nice if other countries with recent disasters (war, hyperinflation, sanctions) and their attitude toward currency was compared against.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tibbon</author><text>I agreed. Paying with card is fraught with slow terminals, bad card readers, many prompts in a row (Credit or debt, is this the right amount, do you want to donate $1 to something, do you want it all on one card, would you like to sign up for a store credit card, do you want cash back, how much, do you want a receipt?). For some reason, these all have a 2-5 second delay between them. I could make a system on a $2 arduino that was faster.&lt;p&gt;Some places like Starbucks seem to get it right. Swipe card and go.&lt;p&gt;Target however likes to hit you with &lt;i&gt;all&lt;/i&gt; the options. Self checkout is even worse.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Germans pay cash for almost everything</title><url>https://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-everything/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>_Codemonkeyism</author><text>Cash workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- I get a 10 EUR note from my trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Cashier gives back money&lt;p&gt;- I put money in trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Done&lt;p&gt;- Home: I put all spare money in a large glass jar&lt;p&gt;Credit card workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You swipe card&amp;#x2F;insert in chip reader&lt;p&gt;- You insert PIN number&lt;p&gt;- You shield your PIN entrie from the people next to you&lt;p&gt;- You tell people too close to back off&lt;p&gt;- Chip reader did not work because of humidity&lt;p&gt;- You insert PIN again&lt;p&gt;- You tolerate the angry stares from people behind you
  who think you&amp;#x27;re either stupid or broke&lt;p&gt;- You wait 5 sec for transaction to fish&lt;p&gt;- You put card back in wallet&lt;p&gt;- You put wallet back in trouser pocket&lt;p&gt;- Done</text></item><item><author>codegeek</author><text>As an american, I find it strange that cash is faster. Most people who pay cash need to wait to get the change back unless they know the total beforehand and happen to have exact change. In the US, credit card machines are very fast even the chip enabled ones.&lt;p&gt;Cash workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You spend time counting exact change if you do have it&lt;p&gt;- If not, you take out a rounded bill&amp;#x2F;note (say $20)&lt;p&gt;- Cashier takes the bill&amp;#x2F;note, punches in the register and then spends a few seconds giving you the change back.&lt;p&gt;Credit card workflow:&lt;p&gt;- Cashier tells you the total amount&lt;p&gt;- You look in your wallet&amp;#x2F;purse&lt;p&gt;- You swipe card&amp;#x2F;insert in chip reader&lt;p&gt;- Done</text></item><item><author>_Codemonkeyism</author><text>As a German&lt;p&gt;a.) I mostly pay cash because it&amp;#x27;s faster&lt;p&gt;b.) some shops that can afford it only have cash payments to save on CC costs&lt;p&gt;Not because of inflation or because something happend 100y ago.</text></item><item><author>mtmail</author><text>According to &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cashforless.de&amp;#x2F;ec_cash_info&amp;#x2F;Fakten_zur_Kartenzahlung_in_Deutschland.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cashforless.de&amp;#x2F;ec_cash_info&amp;#x2F;Fakten_zur_Kartenzah...&lt;/a&gt; methods for payments in stores 2011 was 57% cash, 5.3% credit card, 33% debit card (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_cash&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_cash&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;of course, [the Germans] attitudes toward currency must owe something to Germany’s tumultuous monetary history. During the Weimar-era hyperinflation that peaked in 1923 [...]&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;the German tendency to settle up in cash undeniably reflects the fact that for much of the last century, Germany has been either on the brink of, in the midst of, or struggling to recover from, disaster.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;As a German I call that theory into question. Our currency has been stable for 60+ years. It would&amp;#x27;ve been nice if other countries with recent disasters (war, hyperinflation, sanctions) and their attitude toward currency was compared against.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>romwell</author><text>Note for the American readers:&lt;p&gt;in the glorious lands across the ocean, chip cards of all kinds use a PIN instead of a signature, which makes way more sense anyway. Chip &amp;amp; sign is an American abomination.</text></comment>