<p>I would like to point out that most people of my generation grew up without ever carrying cash, checks, etc. We’d have a VERY strong aversion to this because we use credit cards like they’re cash. It’s electronic money to us. I understand that there are fees and such to the business- but most in my generation don’t. I would not like to see these fees outright. I’d rather be a blind consumer and have them rolled into the prices. I don’t like surprises at check out. </p>
<p>On the same token, I wouldn’t shop anywhere that doesn’t accept a cc. I never pay with cash. I RARELY have cash on me. Even pop machines around here take credit cards. I wouldn’t mind a cash discount, even though the gas stations that lure you in with those prices are obnoxious.</p>
<p>@engineer4life, in the examples you cite the consumer has no choice but to pay the mandatory add-ons. If credit card fees were passed on to consumers, they could be avoided by the use of cash. In our store, about half of our revenue is in cash; plenty of folks still carry the green stuff.</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes, I don’t think your aversion to cash is typical. I have two kids in your generation, and they carry cash all the time. A large proportion of our customers are college students–I’d say more of them pay with cash than not.</p>
<p>For the people that asked about cash handling concerns … I am (personally) not particularly worried about security for the cash and the bank isn’t charging me for deposits. I’ll point out that my cash deposits are 10-20% of sales these days – ten years ago they were 50% of sales.</p>
<p>I should also mention that if someone buys $2500 bird and set up package and pays cash, that money is in my bank account as fast as I can walk around the corner. If they pay with a credit card, it’s there 3-5 days later. And if they used Amex, it’s 3 days later but only 97% of it.</p>
<p>Cnp, would you prefer a check instead of a card for the $2500? That would be a lot of cash.</p>
<p>I try to have cash for small purchases at places where I know it does make a difference. If I spend $2 at Starbucks, I know they barely care, but if I’m spending $2 at the independent coffee shop by my office, I try to use cash if possible. I also make sure I have cash if I’m going to anything like a farmers market, craft fair, or tag sale where things are being sold more independently. So I disagree that the younger generation never uses cash.</p>
<p>Romani, I’m curious – did you have alternatives to cash before you went to college? I didn’t get a bank card until then, so there would have been no way for me grow up regularly using something other than cash.</p>
<p>My parents actually use checks for groceries quite a lot because they shop at a food co-op that they’ve been involved with since its inception (around 25 years) and they don’t want it to get slammed with fees.</p>
<p>Our three biggest business expenses (outside of inventory costs) are google advertising (our business is primarily online), shipping, and credit card fees. (Note, by the way, that our health insurance costs are a blip by comparison.)</p>
<p>I think the fees credit card companies charge are exorbitant. There’s a base fee (typically 25 cents just for using the card) PLUS a percentage fee (which is capped). The bigger your company, the smaller the percentage fee.</p>
<p>Small businesses need to accept credit cards to stay in business… but their costs are higher than larger businesses. Some days it astonishes me that there are any small businesses left at all. </p>
<p>I try to pay with cash when dealing with local businesses for amounts under twenty dollars. Those are the businesses where the fees really hurt.</p>
<p>Momma, my experience is quite typical. I don’t know anyone who really carries around cash in my age group. Even in the older age groups- they’ve moved away from it. We find it hard at my work when we want to order a group meal because we often don’t have any cash to throw in. That’s 11 student employees and a dozen or so full time employees. Same at my other job which is around 50 employees of all age groups. Plus, I observe people at school and such who almost always pay with cards whether they be their debit, credit, or school cash accounts. Rarely is money exchanged. </p>
<p>eir- many people grew up using some cash from their parents or simply using their parents’ cards to buy things. But most people I know since they were 16 or younger had debit cards. Parents found it much easier that way. We’re also part of the helicopter generation so most people didn’t go places without their parents until they were old enough to have debit cards and such.</p>
<p>my teenagers carry cash and when they get paid, I used to cash the checks and give then the cash money. I think it’s important for kids to see and handle the dollar bills…gives them a better appreciation of what money is all about…OF course, I then made them give me a huge chunk back to put in their savings account…lol</p>
<p>Maybe this is about where we grew up, because I don’t think I’m more than three or four years older than you (I’m 25). Generally if my friends and I went somewhere – and we’d be driving ourselves most of the time after we were 16, even if only one person had a license, that person would pick us up – we’d have cash to spend. My saved money was generally cash, and my first job was helping out with gardening for a friend, so that was under the table and did not necessitate a bank account.</p>
<p>We had a bunch of cheap food places right by our high school like Starbucks, Subway, Store 24, etc and we’d often go over there after school in the period between after school activities ending and parent picking us up, so we needed to able to pay. I’m pretty sure that for smallish purchases, my friends and I all used mostly cash until around graduation. Bank accounts were usually savings accounts.</p>
<p>^ You are my sister’s age (ok, she’s 26). I see a gap even in that short period of time in different experiences. She used more cash growing up and slowly transitioned to cards. We usually used cards right from the get-go. </p>
<p>I moved a dozen or so times growing up, and all were pretty similar in how they used cards over cash. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>I rarely carry cash, my wallet was been completely empty of cash for weeks on end. When I do get some cash, I try to keep it in case I’m need it for some place that doesn’t accept cash (bus line, for example). If a place takes a credit card, I play with plastic. Based on what I see at the checkout line, the vast majority of people seem to swipe a card of some time (Wal-Mart, the company cafeteria, the grocery store). The people that pay with dollar bills seems to be in the minority. </p>
<p>The big exception for me is when I buy something from Craigslist. That’s cash only.</p>
<p>I totally believe that; it’s amazing a what a difference a few years can make in expectations. I think another thing is cell phones, which very few people in my high school had before graduating. My mom had the one cell phone in my family and that was a big deal. Four years later, I’d bet that most of the students had them.</p>
<p>I’ll second that with the cell phones. I think the most glaring example is that she can distinctly remember a time where we didn’t have computers or internet. I cannot.</p>
I’ve had a credit card since I was around 14 y/o and, especially with the cash back CCs around now in addition to the doubling of the warranty periods for some of them plus other perks but more importantly for the convenience of using them rather than cash (basically having an practical unlimited amount of funding with me at all times - not something I’d have with cash), I use a CC for almost everything unless it’s a low cost item under $10 or so but even then I sometimes use the CC because it’s more convenient.</p>
<p>The other problem with cash is it tends to disappear out of my wallet before I get a chance to use it (it’s pretty much a holding pen, a cash cache, for my W apparently).</p>
<p>^Ditto–ever since getting a card with a cash back/reward feature, I’ve used the card for everything, even small expenditures. It costs me 1% more to use cash.</p>
<p>3togo: if you use a credit card, between 1 and 2 percent of the price of everything you buy goes to the credit card company, so every single person who uses a credit card, and every business that accepts credit cards, are paying 1 to 2 percent more for everything we buy. That said, I use credit cards, carry very little cash (3 twenties at all times, no more), and appreciate the fact that I don’t worry about having my cash stolen.</p>
Businesses set their prices according to their costs (purchasing the products for resale, material for a service rendered, real estate, utilities, salaries, taxes, accounting, payment processing costs for cash, checks, CCs, losses, etc.) and their profit according to what the market will bear. The overhead of accepting CCs is just another cost overhead the business has - like the storefront where they might pay more to be in a particular location versus another one. </p>
<p>The business isn’t forced to accept CCs - it’s a business decision they need to make as to whether to accept any CCs and if so, which ones according to the costs of doing so versus the additional business and profit they gain by accepting them. </p>
<p>The reality is that by accepting CCs most businesses will attract more customers and increase their volume of business which also generally translates into lower costs to the retail business in their own purchasing power and overhead costs. It’s a practical trade-off and some business owners would find that not accepting CCs altogether or charging the surcharge for their use will actually cost them more than the surcharge costs and might even put them out of business altogether since they’d have so few customers.</p>
<p>There was a recent article where the writer tried to get by entirely without cash. The sticking point was tips. If you want to hand a bellhop or valet or somesuch a couple of bucks, it’s hard to find a non-cash alternative. At least currently.</p>
<p>We pay our housekeeper in cash (and yes, we also pay all her taxes; it’s all reported to the IRS). She feels more comfortable with that. The other big non-check cash expenditure is weekly trips to the farmer’s market.</p>
Generally if my friends and I went somewhere – and we’d be driving ourselves most of the time after we were 16, even if only one person had a license, that person would pick us up – we’d have cash to spend. My saved money was generally cash, and my first job was helping out with gardening for a friend, so that was under the table and did not necessitate a bank account.</p>