Do You Carry Cash?

jpv on 24/03/2017 - 14:56
Last edited 24/03/2017 - 18:32 by 1 other user

A few weeks ago, I went to a RSL while I was waiting for a mate. I ordered a beer for $4 and went to pay by card. The bartender looked at me weird and said "You're not paying by card". I asked if there was a minimum and he said "For something this small, you're not paying card". The RSL accepted EFTPOS, Mastercard and VISA since their were signs and stickers on the registers. Luckily, I had a few churchies in my pocket to pay for it.

I've rarely carried cash since I mainly pay for everything by card. I understand if a small mum and dad shop or small restaurant doesn't accept card but for an RSL, I'd except that they'd be happy to take card for any purchase.

So the question is for the ozbargainers: Do you carry cash?

Poll Options

  • 366
    Always. e.g. Cash 24x7
  • 139
    Sometimes. e.g. Take cash out occasionally
  • 360
    Rarely. e.g. Someone gave you cash for a meal because you were paying by card
  • 141
    Never. e.g. Always pay by card
Financial

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 24/03/2017 - 15:02
    +54

    Always, you never know when you'll need to pay a drug dealer.

    • Euphemistic on 24/03/2017 - 16:16
      +8

      or the bikies.

      • gimli on 25/03/2017 - 15:57
        +9

        Often they are the same people…

    • Clear on 24/03/2017 - 16:51
      +12

      Nah I just carry a Square Reader.

    • chumlee on 24/03/2017 - 18:44
      +9

      That's why I always have a shifty fifty tucked away in my wallet

      • fuzionbear on 25/03/2017 - 21:16
        +16

        Rich person alert

    • tonsta on 25/03/2017 - 14:14
      +1

      drug dealers are so behind the time, even this guy has caught up.

      https://youtu.be/SEuT6-GRy4A

    • 50cent on 25/03/2017 - 20:25
      +1

      My drug dealer accepts Amex !!

    • montorola on 25/03/2017 - 23:33
      +3

      I only pull out the cash to show the ladies how much I'm worth… ;)

      (not much)

      • holdenmg on 26/03/2017 - 09:32
        +8

        I'd guess the young ones haven't seen a $1 or $2 note before. lol

  • iridiumstem on 24/03/2017 - 15:04

    I do, just in case I can't use the card or the phone. Carrying enough for a taxi ride to home + bit more would be what I'd carry around though.

    • kyoba on 25/03/2017 - 18:09

      That's somewhat reasonable and responsible, although I say 'somewhat' due to the expectations that I have for taxis to provide an eftpos transaction since it can be expensive depending on where you go and for taxation purposes of work related, although I haven't tried Uber so not sure if cash is the expectation nowadays.

      • iridiumstem on 25/03/2017 - 22:42

        Eh, as I said, I carry them around just in case I can't use the card or the phone. That can be if I lose my card or the phone running out of battery, for example, as well.

        I do agree that it might seem slightly paranoid, I think it became a habitual thing after living abroad for so long.

  • Wampus on 24/03/2017 - 15:05
    +2

    I always try to have cash on me at all times, maybe it's because I'm Gen X but any small purchases are done by cash

  • outlander on 24/03/2017 - 15:07
    +24

    What a deck. I pay for everything by card if I can. That said I usually go to places that charge more than $4 for a beer :P

    • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:13
      +59

      What a deck.

      Indeed.

      "You're not paying by card"

      "For something this small, you're not paying card"

      Doesn't this strike people as rude? If there was a minimum for EFTPOS the bartender should've said so. "You're not paying by card" sounds like a command.

      I would've said,

      "Thank you very much!"

      And promptly walked away with the beer.

    • jpv on 24/03/2017 - 15:42
      +97

      I find it the opposite at bars. When people pay by card, they usually tap and go.

      • AlienC on 24/03/2017 - 16:18
        +5

        Older generation are faster with coins I have found newer generation myself included are faster with technology.

        • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:08
          +11

          Old people are hopeless with the Opal reader on the bus,

          or maybe they're just crafty feigning con-people… 🤔

        • AlienC on 25/03/2017 - 20:38

          @Scrooge McDuck: to be fair they certainly didn't have Facebook when they were our age so everything is kind of on the spot thinking doing and not pre planned or premeditated.. don't worry when we have to play the latest cod match or whatever to get onto the bus I am sure some of us will start losing haha lol

      • Serapis on 25/03/2017 - 16:43
        +5

        If only everything was tap and go

      • cameldownunder on 27/03/2017 - 13:03
        +2

        Tap & Go, I dont even take the card out of the wallet.

        • fusion17 on 27/03/2017 - 18:18

          If only that was true for our pov opal readers which often fail even when you hold the card against it for less than 2-3 secs.

        • cameldownunder on 29/03/2017 - 17:38

          @toshin: That's the other part of the wallet, and it work 95% of the time, except the wide gates.

    • KBZ on 24/03/2017 - 18:25
      +6

      Saves me carrying coins from the change they give. shrugs

      • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:21

        Can't fit coins into tight jeans pockets.

      • Harold Halfprice on 26/03/2017 - 21:59
        +2

        This is the biggest reason why I almost always pay by card. I don't like carrying coins.

        I don't mind paying cash if it's in multiples of $5 - so the only change I get are in notes.

    • trongy on 25/03/2017 - 13:14
      +1

      In bars I notice that if people decline a receipt tap and go is faster because the staff don't have to put the cash in the drawer and and back change. If the customer waits for a receipt to be printed from the EFTPOS terminal it comes out about even.

    • runout on 27/03/2017 - 11:11

      Most busy night clubs where I am from accept tap and go cards its much faster than cash. Lots of managers prefer it, some bar tenders have sticky fingers in busy places.

    • humdingaling on 27/03/2017 - 13:49
      +1

      before pay wave this was the case (and even before terminals were hard wired and efptos was main stream)

      now with pay wave its much faster without any need handle money

      sucks to be a bartender now though
      Next to no tips

  • lupiter on 24/03/2017 - 15:17
    +5

    I always have a little cash in my wallet. Once I get down to $5 I get out $80, but I go through it very very slowly. Mostly just drinks and snacks.

    • compingqueen on 27/03/2017 - 17:05

      Ha, same, I always get out $80 because that way I've only got 20s. I used to work in retail and it pained me when people would run to the atm and take out $50 for a, let's say, $12 purchase. I never understood why they wouldn't just take out $40 or $60.

  • ykwon10 on 24/03/2017 - 15:18
    +2

    Always… my wallet has never been empty. I am always afraid of technology failure.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:27
      +24

      I am always afraid of technology failure.

      What about societal collapse?

      You could carry gold.

      • ykwon10 on 25/03/2017 - 09:46

        which one is more likely?

        • TailsK on 25/03/2017 - 15:29
          +5

          Well, with Trump's America…

        • ykwon10 on 25/03/2017 - 15:32

          @TailsK: question remains…which one is more likely?

        • Baysew on 25/03/2017 - 15:41
          +6

          @ykwon10: Betting not allowed on OzBargain.

        • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 17:38

          which one is more likely?

          Do you only prepare for the most likely event?

        • ykwon10 on 25/03/2017 - 18:40

          @Scrooge McDuck: in this case, yes as indicated by my response above.

        • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 18:51

          @ykwon10:

          Well at least you're honest.

        • TailsK on 25/03/2017 - 20:38
          +6

          @ykwon10:

          cash me outside howbow dah

    • DarwinBoy on 26/03/2017 - 11:54
      +1

      Mine is always empty because I'm afraid of losing my wallet and therefore any cash inside.

  • indium on 24/03/2017 - 15:19
    +11

    I don't carry it with me but if going out somewhere with friends I will usually take some cash out beforehand to pay for drinks. I don't even own a wallet, just a rubber band with 5 cards.

  • kerfuffle on 24/03/2017 - 15:20
    +1

    I always try to carry cash on me in case the card terminal isn't working/they don't accept cards

  • Nugs on 24/03/2017 - 15:22
    +1

    I keep a $20 in my aluma wallet with my card

  • altomic on 24/03/2017 - 15:25
    +7

    I always carry a 20cent coin in case I have to make an emergency call from a payphone.

    • pjetson on 24/03/2017 - 15:52
      +28

      20c? Must be a long time since you've had to use a payphone :-)

      • Euphemistic on 24/03/2017 - 15:56
        +2

        Carrying 20c is enough to stop you getting arrested for vagrancy.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:30
      +5

      I always carry a 20cent coin in case I have to make an emergency call from a payphone.

      000 is free.

      For everything else, there's MasterCard1800 REVERSE.

        • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 17:41
          +11

          In terms of feeding coins into a payphone it is.

    • mranderson978 on 28/03/2017 - 14:12
      +1

      What's a "payphone"?

      ;-)

  • cuteseal on 24/03/2017 - 15:28
    +11

    Always try to pay by card but carry at least $50 in cash, preferably $100.

    Some restaurants, believe it or not, are still cash only. Mostly asian joints, I find.

    • jpv on 24/03/2017 - 15:41
      +36

      The only time I carry cash is when I go to an asian restaurant.

      • Shadowsfury on 24/03/2017 - 17:05
        +1

        +1, go to too many to not keep enough cash for a meal with me.

        • Kangal on 24/03/2017 - 17:39
          +4

          Sure, those neon signed asian "rest" aurants ; )

        • jpv on 25/03/2017 - 00:14

          @Kangal: Ji Li?

      • ca6leguy on 25/03/2017 - 22:45
        +5

        So that they can get away declaring tax.

    • AlienC on 24/03/2017 - 21:20
      +3

      Add kebab and fish and chips shops.

    • JIMB0 on 25/03/2017 - 20:22
      +5

      They're probably dodging tax by not taking card. Some of the Chinese massage places want $5 just to pay via EFTPOS (not even credit).

  • Mobe1969 on 24/03/2017 - 15:34
    +6

    Never. I don't even have a wallet anymore. I have a couple of cards with my phone. And I don't even use them unless I'm planning to. I can't actually remember the last time I used cash anywhere. Would have been years ago. I was at the supermarket on the weekend and the much younger person in front of me was paying cash and I was actually surprised, and also a bit annoyed, as the cashier hardly ever deals in cash so they had to bust open those old fashioned papered bank coin rolls to give them the damn change and it took so long. I usually only see oldies (even older than my 47) using cash.

    And stuff the people that don't take cash for small amounts like above. A lot of them I remember in the old days you'd give a large note and they'd then complain about "ooh I don't have enough change for that"

    • dylanando on 24/03/2017 - 20:41
      +3

      Agreed, I use tap n go on my phone to pay for everything. If a place doesnt except card i waddle away.
      I have a wallet with my license and a $1 coin in it :P

      • Mobe1969 on 24/03/2017 - 21:17
        -2

        Yeah same. If I'm at a Luddite shop and they won't take a card under $5, I'll just leave. Loose loose…

        • dylanando on 24/03/2017 - 21:21
          +3

          On that topic, Hate when they pass on their eftpos fees, Like no thank you :P. Ive noticed when you go into a shop and ask if they have fees when clearly theyve got signs up, they will always say not for you, what would you like. ;) works 100% of the time.
          *Im a stingy bastard

        • Mobe1969 on 24/03/2017 - 21:38
          -7

          @dylanando:
          Maybe there was an excuse LAST CENTURY when cash was the rule, cards the exception. But ffs, two decades into the 21st, the can just XXXX off and go back to their 20th century holes.

          Jeez, the physical representation of Money is such a stupid anachronism it is embarrassing. Even last century it was stupid as xxxx. I mean the physical value of a 1c piece exceeded its worth back in the xxxxing 80s.

  • geek001 on 24/03/2017 - 15:44

    I always some change in my wallet, but my wallet usually don't have more than $50 in it, unless I know I need the cash, like going to an Asian restaurant or something. I take out what I need + $20.

  • Euphemistic on 24/03/2017 - 15:57
    -8

    I'm conducting a market survey. All ozbargainers carrying cash please post your username, a photo and your address here. I'll be sure to have my 'people' get in touch to 'discuss'.

    • jpv on 24/03/2017 - 16:13
      +1

      cute.

    • gimli on 25/03/2017 - 16:01
      +1

      Hey people watch out. This guy is dodgy.

  • StickMan on 24/03/2017 - 16:05
    +14

    Sounds like the bartender was cocky and too emotionally invested in an illogical view of business.

    The way you fix it in the future is by taking a sip. Nigh on guarantee'd they won't want the beer back. Don't think they can legally decline payment via card if they openly advertise it.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:39
      +6

      Perhaps he wants to deal out change so that patrons are more likely to squander it in the pokies.

      "Clubs" seem like morally ambiguous community casinos.

  • SuperC on 24/03/2017 - 16:10
    +3

    I was at my local RSL and a guy tried to pay by card, he was told where the ATM was, the RSL does not accept EFTPOS at the bar, but it does in the restaurant. I had never realised before. Personally, i have a few lunch places that don't take card so I do carry cash.

  • HardQuiz on 24/03/2017 - 16:12
    +2

    I usually use Apple Pay or my card, but once I was in the middle of nowhere between Adelaide and Melbourne, the servo's card terminal wasn't working and the only option was cash. From the moment I always keep $100 in my wallet for such emergencies.

    • Mobe1969 on 24/03/2017 - 21:47

      Sure if in the unusual circumstance that I would plan to be in the middle of Buxxfuxx, Nowhere that may be out of connectivity with the rest of the world, I'd arrange cash. But I wouldn't carry money randomly on the offchance I might randomly assigned in the middle of nowhere.

  • Sage on 24/03/2017 - 16:14
    +7

    Nope.
    Germs, damaged and torn notes, calculating what's needed, wrong currency coins, fitting change back into wallet, I can't stand it.

    Though it's true a lot of places don't accept card or have a minimum purchase.

    • outlander on 24/03/2017 - 17:55
      +2

      I would say you're being germophobic, but after having read a study that found something like 5% of all coins have been inside someones rectum at one point or another, I think thats fair enough.

      • Adz81 on 24/03/2017 - 18:33
        +5

        Only 5%?
        Where the hell do the other 95% get stored without that pesky jingling?!

        • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:45

          Where the hell do the other 95% get stored without that pesky jingling?!

          The bank.

        • [Deactivated] on 25/03/2017 - 17:00
          +8

          @Scrooge McDuck: so basically the same place.

      • Mobe1969 on 24/03/2017 - 21:55
        -1

        I admit, I am germophobic. But I'm 47 and I've been sick once in the last decade, and that was tonsilitis which I seen to have some genetic pre-desposition to. If I touch a communal surface, I'll wash my hands before I'll go near my body. Likewise if I'm forced to shake someone's hand. Touching communal currency is about appealing as using some stranger's rectum for a mobile phone charger.

        • canyoudoitcheaper on 25/03/2017 - 22:25
          +3

          That just means you have less antibodies in your blood. So that when you finally get sick, it'll feel like being hit by a train.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 25/03/2017 - 09:42
        +7

        but after having read a study that found something like 5% of all coins have been inside someones rectum at one point or another,

        What about 50c pieces?

        Surely they are clean…

        Right? O_O

  • cocomelon on 24/03/2017 - 16:16

    i hardly have cash 90% of transactions paid by credit card.

  • B2 on 24/03/2017 - 16:19
    +12

    wrong place to ask where 99% of people on here would throw their own mother down the stairs to save 10cents.

    I would be shocked if 99% of people didnt have cash 24/7

    • mooboy on 25/03/2017 - 15:22
      +19

      would throw their own mother down the stairs to save 10cents.

      Where's that deal? Has it expired yet?

    • Hamlet on 25/03/2017 - 17:07

      But mum gets to keep 2 cents of the savings!

  • AlienC on 24/03/2017 - 16:21
    -1

    If I know I am going to be charged extra for using a card for whatever reason cash. If not card. Digital is so much easier for everybody.. no counting totals at the end of the day yada yada yada but cash also has no trail so if I don't want to be seen theoretically then cash.

    Especially when buying dildos always use cash and never buy "almost brand new". Haha lol. What.

    Also kind of feels weird buying a kebab and chips with card… like drinking beer out of a wine glass.. somethings just feel safer or more "normaler" with cash.

    But since we are on the topic why can't we convert to a full paper or notes system and do away with maybe coins.. or go lower now to only cents for coins.. One thing about the US that I like is their wide adoption and love for notes.. it's dolla dolla bills yo not dolla dolla coins yo haha lol.

    nomorecoins

    • hayne on 27/03/2017 - 00:26
      +1

      Having lived in the US, their currency and coin system is awful. Firstly, they DO have a ton of coins. That's why just about every bank branch has a penny counting machine. Life becomes a never-ending battle of trying to get rid of pennies.

      Secondly, $1 notes are an absolute nuisance. You need a ton of them because you have to tip everywhere, or if you want to use a vending machine or load value onto a transport card, you'll often need $1 notes. But vending machines have way more trouble with crumpled crappy American paper notes (which are less durable than our plastic notes) so you find yourself unsuccessfully trying to get a bottle of water while the machine is having an apoplectic fit spitting out your note because it has a tiny imperceptible crease. Not to mention that $100 notes are not common so usually you find yourself with wads of $1 notes and $20 notes which makes your wallet ridiculously fat.

      Now that's even before you start talking about having every note the same colour and size. Which doesn't sound like a big deal until you accidentally give someone a $20 instead of a $1 because they looked identical and you didn't realise.

      Lots of things about the US are great but their notes and coins are not one of them.

      • Tealblue on 27/03/2017 - 01:11

        Speaking as someone who grew up in the US, I many times much prefer the coin system there (Besides the penny, I feel sorry for it). Quarters are actually useful, the fifty cent piece here is soooo annoying and useless compared to $1 or $2 coins. But the exchange rate here affects that (plus Australia tax).

        Why can't they include some parts of the $1 or $2 coins' material in the mixture? Or in the centre like some overseas coins? Rather than just make it bigger with the same stuff that makes up 5, 10, 20 cent coins and add annoying corners?

        I never had a problem with the color of the notes, but I always did a quick double check before handing over my money. The newer notes address that a bit. The different secondary tones to the 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar notes. And larger digits in one back corner. I find the notes more useful there. You never seem to have enough or be able to keep $10s though. About the same with $5s. But you can buy stuff easily with them.

        Here, $5s and $10s aren't enough to buy a whole lot besides food (and even then you may need coins to get the correct change) and seem to just help act as change for using a $20 which always gets used for stuff which always ends up as coins which always ends being piled up and useless like shrapnel in your pocket hence the term unless it's $1 or $2 which goes quick. I hate the 20 cent piece as well almost.

        Those are just my feelings

  • Fergy1987 on 24/03/2017 - 16:37
    +7

    Im more outraged that you got a beer for $4!!!!

  • rgr on 24/03/2017 - 16:55
    +4

    no and it (profanity) shits me when i go to asian grocery stores or take away places that say "CASH ONLY". they must be cheating their staff with cash in hand.

    • boo hoo on 24/03/2017 - 16:57
      +8

      and the Tax Office.

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