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I think, the main issue with German rules is that we haven't embraced digital technology 100%.

All these rules would be way less cumbersome if they didn't come with a bunch of literal paperwork.

The funniest situation is when you’re in a city (Berlin in my example) and one store accepts only cash, while the store next door only accepts cards.

Germany is definitely way behind on the digital front. Which is not always a bad thing…even if it’s usually an annoying one.

It's not just about the digital readiness. I assume it's the same in Germany, but in Switzerland there are many smaller stores that very proudly only accept cash, or even used to accept cards and stopped. Some shops around where I live even put signs like "cash only, always and forever", to get people to stop asking. It's an interesting divide happening, some going cashless only for speed, safety and convenience, others going cash only for fairness and sovereignty.

And others are going cash only for the undeclared income.

Not a fan of card only myself because of all the dystopian possibilities that come with it but there are definitely also less honorable motivations for only accepting cash.

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