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"I don't carry cash"


ztemhead

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Face it people. It's not a cashless society yet, at least not in Phoenix where 90% of the places you want to buy stuff at accept a card.

Some slices of my life recently:

"Mikey, Do you have a some money for the parking? I don't have any cash on me."

"Honey, their card reader is down, do you have any cash? I can pay you back later." This may or may not happen, but mostly I hate having to remind her. Biscuits and gravy at the company cafe costs me a whopping $1.50, so at $3.00, that's two breakfasts I've just loaned.

"Mike, do you have some change for the soda machine? I only carry cash when I'm at work, and don't have any on me."

Me being the "person who always has cash" despite whatever amount that is comprising 90 to 100% of my tangible net worth at that moment, somehow people feel entitled to ask me to pay for stuff or loan them money until they have some, even though they just said they never carry any. And then there's all those times when I was driving taxi and the passengers would both extend my trip time by five minutes as I process their card, and also deduct 5% from my fare because of the processing fee involved. FFS, it's a $20 cab ride, just hit up the ATM before getting in, plskthx.

What say you? Do you carry cash still? Use a card for everything? Live in Japan and pay for all your stuff using your Iphone?

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Dunno; I've got enough on my plate that also remembering to hit up an ATM is something I don't want to have to deal with as well. Also I figure if I get my wallet stolen, the cards I can cancel, but I'm out of luck on the cash. There are only two times when I make sure I have cash, and both involve drinking. One is if I think I might miss the last metro, so I keep enough cash to pay for a cab ride back home; and the second is if I know the night will involve hitting up multiple bars and I don't want to have to take the time to keep closing out tabs.

Other than that though, I'm all about the debit card.

ETA: Oh and if I'm going to a casino. The card never comes out then, that way lies madness. I stop at an atm first and withdraw as much as I'm willing to lose and if I run out I leave.

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I'm one of those people who don't carry cash. Most of the time I have no need for it and it would just tempt me into spending it on something like fast food. Almost never eating out helps to not need cash. At work we have no vending machines and no in house cafeteria. Most the time there is really no need.

I do try to make a point of getting some if we are going somewhere we will be paying for parking or there is the possibility that I'll need a cab. Or when I'm going to dinner with a group of people cause cash is easier then splitting up a bill with five cards.

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seems like two different issues to me, whether or not one carries cash is one thing. but friends who always ask you for money is another.

I usually have a little cash on me even though I use cards to pay for most things. but I don't ask friends for money or to buy me stuff either. Its rude. You should just be telling those people NO when they ask if you can give them some cash.

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I always, always, always carry cash. I just always get cash back whenever I buy anything at CVS. I always want the option to take a cab at any time - you never know when you might need to when you don't have a car - and cabs here, unlike Z, just flatly refuse to take credit.

Also, cash is better for tips and a lot of my breakfast/lunch places have minimums for cards.

Z, for your problem, just lie like a rug. I never loan people small amounts of money. Either I'm giving it to them or I'm not giving them any.

I really, really, really thought $100 was safely out of the realm of small change between close friends, but have learned the error of my ways on that one as well. Just never loan anyone money, period.

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I usually carry some cash, but not always and generally not very much. Plastic is just so much more convenient.

What really annoys me, though, are coins.

What say you? Do you carry cash still? Use a card for everything? Live in Japan and pay for all your stuff using your Iphone?

Actually, in Japan very few people use plastic; almost every carries around big wads of cash. I've always thought the Tokyo metro must be heaven for pick pockets.

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I carry cash, and make sure to have enough cash to cover my share when I'm going out for dinner with a group of people. Which is annoying when I'm the only motherfucker there with cash and every one of my friends whips out a separate credit card.

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I try to pay for most things in cash. (Exceptions being things like plane tickets, hotels, and online purchases.) I don't have a debit card and I only have one credit card. I find it helps keeping random spending to a minimum since I go to the bank on Monday to withdraw cash and that's my money for the week. It also works well for going out with friends since I always pay for my exact share (plus tip) in cash and let them figure out the rest between their cards.

Paying in cash at the grocery store is so rare these days that the cashiers are generally a bit surprised when I start pulling out bills and pennies...its almost like they don't know what to do with it when I hand it to them.

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I used to carry only a couple bucks on me but that changed after my bank card info was jacked and used to make online purchases. Luckily my bank flagged it and contacted me. I had to get a new card. More scary that annoying hassle. The only place it could have been taken from was a Dairy Queen. I contacted the local detective but havent heard anything about it.

Now I carry at least 20 dollars with me at all times and never use the plastic at drive thru's or restarants I'm not 100% sure on.

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I always carry cash...if I have any to carry...while I like using the check card, I also just like having cash. Now, I don't carry coins any longer, unless I'm away from home travelling and I get some back as change. When I get home, the coins go into the travel can that's saved up until a big trip and that money goes towards a "bonus" beyond what me and Mrs. Jax had planned for the trip. Sometimes it's $30. Sometimes it gets up towards $80 or more.

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I never every carry cash. My impression is that Canada is more of a cashless society than the US. I'm always surprised when I go to the states and places wont take debits cards. Someone stated a while back on the board that they were paying with a cheque at the grocery store, and I was very surprised, cause you haven't been able to do that at chain stores here in 10 years at least.

I use my debit card for everything I can, and even vending machines and parking areas are swapping to allow debit or credit card use.

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seems like two different issues to me, whether or not one carries cash is one thing. but friends who always ask you for money is another.

I usually have a little cash on me even though I use cards to pay for most things. but I don't ask friends for money or to buy me stuff either. Its rude. You should just be telling those people NO when they ask if you can give them some cash.

Indeed. It sounds like your real problem is moochers using "not carrying cash" as an excuse.

I never carry cash. And, at the same time, I don't think I ever really NEED cash.

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Indeed. It sounds like your real problem is moochers using "not carrying cash" as an excuse.

I never carry cash. And, at the same time, I don't think I ever really NEED cash.

hm, I would say it's not that they want me to pay for stuff without the intent of paying me back, they're just insensitive to how annoying it is to me.

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hm, I would say it's not that they want me to pay for stuff without the intent of paying me back, they're just insensitive to how annoying it is to me.

Close enough.

I mean, look, if you regularly run into situations where you've got to bum cash off someone else, even temporarily, maybe you should start carrying some fucking cash!

Personally, I don't run into these situations alot, so it's no big deal.

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I've gone through several phases with regards to carrying cash.

When I was a lad, I was a cash-only operation. All the money I ever got was cash, so all the money I ever spent was cash also. Later on I would grow up to get my own bank account with an accompanying debit card, and I still insisted on hitting up the ATM and pay with cash.

Then I popped my debit card cherry and started paying with the card, and for a long period I would only use that except for when I had to go to an ATM (for those cash-only situations).

Now though because of my new job and some of the unofficial perks, I find myself in possession of large amounts of cash, because curiously enough the IRS has no way of tracking cash transactions. I really don't want to be a bother to them so I refuse to deposit it into my account.

Hence, I now have over $530 in my wallet. But since the thing I most commonly pay cash for (lunch) is only about $10-$11, I can't seem to get rid of all that money.

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Hence, I now have over $530 in my wallet. But since the thing I most commonly pay cash for (lunch) is only about $10-$11, I can't seem to get rid of all that money.

PM me and I'll send you my address to which you can send of that cash. Let it never be said I wasn't willing to help lighten your wallet... :P

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I would say I'm 80% cash free. I rarely need it from day to day. But I always always always go to the ATM and get out cash if I'm going to go out for the night. As Raids mentioned, DC cabs tend to be cash only and also sometimes you walk into a bar and just know that its not going to be your home for the night. No sense in opening up a tab, better to just pay in cash so that you can leave whenever. And as Fez said, gambling is a great time for a cash only night as well. When I went to Las Vegas a few months ago I brought a set amount of cash for gambling and left my cards in the room. I figured that if I lost all my cash the walk back to my hotel to get my cards might be enough time to talk myself out of getting out more money to piss away. Turned out to be a good strategy, its amazing how fast you can lose money in that town.

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I rarely have cash because like Tzanth I hate coins. And cause I'm always losing 'em around my house and in my car it's like a tax. Also as Denver has updated to credit card parking meters (never understood why DC chose a system that's about 10 times more painful) everywhere downtown it's destroying the last need for coins.

Cash at this point is an extra step - either going to a bank or an ATM (and probably paying extra fees to access my money). But if I am going to a group dinner or know I'll be cabbing it, I'll make a special effort to grab some cash.

Now though because of my new job and some of the unofficial perks, I find myself in possession of large amounts of cash, because curiously enough the IRS has no way of tracking cash transactions. I really don't want to be a bother to them so I refuse to deposit it into my account.

Sweden calls it the IRS too?

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