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Comment by novaRom | Hacker News Reader

What is so bad to pay with Cash? It's anonymous and sellers don't pay extra charges to any US company (Visa, PayPal, etc.). Also most of the restaurants hide their revenues from tax authorities (it was recently in the news) - otherwise the prices will be much higher, like our neighbors have (France, Italy).

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> Also most of the restaurants hide their revenues from tax authorities (it was recently in the news) - otherwise the prices will be much higher, like our neighbors have (France, Italy).

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but are you arguing that it's good restaurants evade taxes because it keeps their prices low?

Yeah, that's not really a good point. But the other two points stand and are two very good points.

Totally legit reason in some countries. In Czech republic this became such a topic that half a year ago the government implemented a new system. Now every single payment cash or cashless has to be sent in real time to central gov server. This also means that every merchant has to have digital terminal so almost all of them accept credit cards.

Many restaurants (especially those with good service + good price) had to increase their prices a lot since then.

> Totally legit reason in some countries.

Sorry but what is a legit reason and it's a legit reason for what?

I’m with you that Cash has the benefits of anonymity and no fees. However, it’s also inconvenient, specially when you are traveling. Digital transactions are also faster. — On a side note, that’s why I’m, besides all the hype, a strong believer of cryptocurrencies.

There is also a cost involved with handling cash. I don't know exactly how those costs add up relative to other payment methods, but I do know that certainly here in Sweden more and more shops and restaurants have stopped accepting cash all together, so presumably cost is non-trivial.

> sellers don't pay extra charges to any US company (Visa, PayPal, etc.)

The EU also recently introduced and controls on credit card fees (that a merchant pays) with the aim of making it as cheap to transact as cash. That is of course only true if cash isn't being used to avoid taxation.

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