As a German
a) I don't want to feed the Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Whatever leach earning a few cents of every transaction.
a) I don't want to feed the Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Whatever leach earning a few cents of every transaction.
But if banks wanted, they could actually track the serial codes on the bills around. And since often cash is used in only 1 hop (so ATM -> you -> shop -> bank) they could know pretty well where you spent your money.
A quick reference: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9948081
E.g. about China: "According to schedule, by late 2015, the serial number of every Rmb100 note withdrawn from banks by members of the public can be traced."
That doesn't include how much you spend exactly. And it only works most of the time (what if my money gets used as change for another customer?).
Also, been a couple of times in the situation where either the shop's card terminal was malfunctioning, or the bank had some issues, and the card payment was impossible. Without cash you'd be helpless in such a situation, whereas cash = power & independence.
There's the labor costs of handling cash - counting it, moving it, organizing it, accounting for it, making sure there's enough change to run a shift; the cost of storing and transporting it - safes, cash draws, key management, money transport/money transport companies; and the cost of loss due to theft, mistakes, and mismanagement.
I'm not saying that the cost of cash is more than the cost of card, I'm simply saying its not anywhere near free.
https://qz.com/123642/physical-money-costs-americans-more-th...
>But new research from Tufts University aims to highlight the pain points of cash, where digital currency can break in. The use of physical bills costs US consumers, businesses and the government at least $200 billion each year—about $1,739 per household. Here are the main reasons why:
>Small businesses don’t lose much money by operating cash-only. But larger businesses spend a significant amount of money dealing with cash—collecting it, sorting it and getting it to the bank without it being stolen. US businesses lose $40 billion a year to cash theft and loss, about 1% of total revenues.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/02/02/cashless-coffee-sho...
(There's also a potential to increase sales by accepting card.)
https://qz.com/123642/physical-money-costs-americans-more-th...
>larger businesses spend a significant amount of money dealing with cash—collecting it, sorting it and getting it to the bank without it being stolen. US businesses lose $40 billion a year to cash theft and loss, about 1% of total revenues.