So I know some older people who always carry a lot of cash on them, like $700 on them at all times. Shops want you to pay with your card, unless they are a small business not declaring the sale, so I guess it is handy carrying that much cash if you need to pay a friend for something on the spot. Or maybe it just reminds them of the olden days to carry cash.
Anyway I carry no cash on me, unless I'm on my way to buy some Devil's lettuce or some pingas. How much cash do you carry?
cash from family for Christmas stayed in my wallet for over 6 months until I actively looked to spend it.
hunge…
When the fires went through batemans bay, all the electronic comms were down for week+ so nobody with a card could get food or fuel…
Cash is still king.
We all try, and all should, have some $$$ under the mattress somewhere for those rare emergency occasions. If i carry cash around i lose it, or more likely spend it and have no recollection of where it all went to…. my life is phone pay these days and payID etc…. till my identity gets stolen i guess..
If all communications, electricity etc, were down, how could you get money out of the ATM's?
The question was "How Much Cash Do You Carry on You?" not "how much cash do you withdraw from ATMs when comms and electricity were down?"
$100 would be enough for fuel and basic necessities for a week, especially if you don't let your food/fuel get completely exhausted before buying more
for a single person possibly.. 100 wouldnt last a family.
$100 for the day maybe, but youd go home and then likely have another stash somewhere at home for the rest of the week if need be.
If everything is down, does it really matter if you have cash?
buy some Devil's lettuce or some pingas
Not all shops use cash registers…
When the fires went through batemans bay… Cash is still king.
Yeah unless it literally burnt up in the fire.
what are the chances of losing your wallet/stolen vs trapped in batemans bay during a bushfire?
My uncle's house burnt down and he had a couple of K stashed away.
About $250 cash. Simply because it never goes down, haven't touched notes in years.
All Apple Pay everywhere.
The Milky Bars are on you, you're winning so far.
Why carry it then? I can understand carrying a small amount in your wallet but $250 seems a lot.
I travel a fair bit so it's mostly there for backup and haven't given it much thought beyond that.
1 nice green note, 2 yellows and couple red/blues.
About $250 cash. Simply because it never goes down, haven't touched notes in years.
Can I carry it around for you for a few years?
I had to look. $165 and some change.
Cash is king. Small shops give a discount for using cash. Google/Banks/Government do not need to know everything I purchase. Use it or lose it.
Hey don't shoot the messenger, this is how the ATO does it apparently https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-…
Your message is wrong. The ATO doesn't adjust anything to make up for it.
If you read the article their way of reducing the gap is by doing audits of small businesses when it's pretty obvious they're not declaring income. Which it's pretty easy to tell, they have access to bank transactions. So if you're putting cash into the bank all the time, that's probably sales. If you're buying assets with cash and claiming them, they know you have more cash. If you make a large cash transaction it has to be reported.
@freefall101: Well they may do other things to close the gap, that's just an article I found when Googling. But it does seem to be true in any case that they are aware of the gap and have measures to detect it.
@freefall101: They do adjust for it when preparing economic data and estimates (the ATO does more than tax returns). They don't adjust for it on an individual basis.
So if you're putting cash into the bank all the time, that's probably sales. If you're buying assets with cash and claiming them, they know you have more cash. If you make a large cash transaction it has to be reported.
Why would they do this, rather than just using the cash to pay for their clothes, food, happy endings, etc without touching the bank?
@idonotknowwhy: This happens, but it's hard to manage at any kind of scale. $5k a year, sure it's easy, but you're only saving $1,500 in tax - it'd cost the ATO more than that to audit it properly. $50k a year it starts to get difficult to explain why your personal bank accounts and credit cards (the ATO can see those too) have zero supermarket bills against them and how you're saving such an incredible amount of money each year. Audits from businesses quickly rollover into audits of personal records too.
It's also easier to do it the other way, push clothes, food and happy endings through the business accounts. I actually had a client do that once with happy endings too, he listed them under "computer expenses". He didn't own a computer though so I questioned it. That was an awkward conversation, I wish he lied and said it was supermarket expenses.
he listed them under "computer expenses"
LMAO!
$50k a year it starts to get difficult
Yeah okay, I didn't realize there was so much money going through as cash with small businesses.
Could still do expensive hobbies like gaming rigs, etc or expensive restaurants plus occasional petrol, etc and stretch the 5k a bit though right?
Think about it for a sec. "Hey, your tax rate is 30% but given you are a small business and you are probably skimming off the top its now 40%". That wouldn't hold up in court.
Same people that cry on TV after a random home invasion?
Cash is king. Small shops give a discount for using cash.
What shops?
What industries?
What services?
To justify carrying wads of $$$ in one's wallet one would need to use this on a regular basis. Just how often does one purchase… dubious… substances on street corners with piles of $20 notes? Daily? Weekly?
But even legit purposes… how often does one buy an aircon at an electrical retailer (who may or may not offer discount for cash)? I'm sure K-Mart or BigW don't give discounts for buying underwear with cash.
You know, I reckon people say and think that small businesses may give discounts for cash, but I have feeling this is a 30-year-old way of thinking. Perhspa there are rare, isolated cases, but day-to-day? Nah.
Locally?
Restaurants/Food Truck
Hair Dresser/Barber
Cellar Doors
Electrical Retailer
Just about any tradie
More so, even if there's not a discount involved, I'd prefer to use cash rather than lose the opportunity to.
Electrical Retailer
Just about any tradie
How often does one use these?
How many fridges can you buy in a year?
And tradies? Again, is the house falling apart? I'd use a tradie like… twice a decade.
Restaurants/Food Truck
Hair Dresser/Barber
Cellar Doors
I do not come from a 'haggling' culture. (One of the great things about OzB is that all that personal interaction/embarrassment/possible humiliation is taken away for you.)
So, how does it work? Do you say to your hairdresser, who has their price list prominently displayed, "I'll give you $20 for the $25 haircut"?
Or at the local Burmese restaurant do I tell the 14-year-old girl at the counter "I'll give you $27.50 for the items I want, instead of the $32.00 they add up to?"
Seriously, if I asked *any of the businesses you listed in my local area if they would discount for cash they would look at me like I was from another planet. And I would be made to feel abjectly humiliated by their (non) response. Mind you, I live in a inner-suburban hipster greenie enclave in Melbs.
But even thinking back to my childhood in the blissful 70's in wide open suburban-spread Brisbane, people 'talked' about discounts for cash, but I don't know if I ever actually saw or encountered it. Yes, buying weed at uni it was possible to bargain down, especially in bulk, but it wasn't the ~cash~ per se which brought the discount.
Food trucks? Food trucks? Really? Geez… my smashed avo/soy latte/kale-enriched food truck barista/dealer/engineer in Northcote would just laugh in my face if I asked a discount for cash. (Hell, it's embarrassing enough to be seen at that truck. I'd feel better about having a transparent shopping bag coming out of Club-X.)
@Roman Sandstorm: the restaurants, more often than not, "Oh, you're paying cash? Hang on, that's "XYZ" amount."
The barber? same, or it's just known that it'll be $5 less if you pay cash.
The food trucks? Much like the restaurants (although, that said, we don't have any smashed avo/soy latte/Kale-enriched type food trucks here, and that's the way we like it). Food trucks are the easiest for cash.
Never bargained down weed, although it's been at least 7 years since I've had to pay for it, it usually comes via a friend who won't sell it, because they're not a dealer, but they enjoy growing different strains.
Never, ever, be ashamed of your Club-X shenanigans.
@Adz81: Adz, you certainly have a higher tolerance for possible public humiliation than I do. (Big brass ones, my friend.)
It seems that every restaurant in my local area is fronted by a barely-pubescent young female (apart from the Indian takeaway, where the enormous terrifying Sikh dude on the counter looks like he'd eat Shaq for breakfast); and the idea that they would voluntarily reduce the price when I dived for my wallet seems…. fanciful.
I may perhaps try with a local food truck. The Mexican/Norwegian artisanal fusion guava vinaigrette vendor may be receptive.
@Roman Sandstorm: @Roman Sandstorm. I find it more common to use cash to avoid the surcharge for paying by card rather than a straight "discount" for cash. Though there are certainly times and places where haggling or cash discounts isn't totally out of character like at markets and such.
@Uchuujin: The surcharge is tiny. If you get a decent discount for paying cash it's because they're not declaring the sale, rather than not passing forward the surcharge.
@Adz81: Am 100% with @Adz81 for this one. Some places that I frequent (esp. restaurants) are always ready to give me discounts for paying with cash hence I carry it with me most of the time. Some of them don't simply advertise it by putting up signages that it is the case but there are ones that do.
That said, even if no discount's offered, I may also prefer to pay in cash in many places. Simply because they often don't tell you that there's surcharge for paying by card until you've inspected the receipt and realised you've just paid extra you didn't need to.
For bigger businesses like Coles / Woolies, etc. I definitely paid by card but there's still value in cash.
@Roman Sandstorm: There are restaurants in Melbourne which literally have a sign saying "10% discount for cash".
@tonka: Interestingly, there are actually (enforceable) rules about surcharges for card use. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges
There are some very specific examples, very much in line with what people in this discussion have been saying.
The actual cost for card transactions can be up to 1.5% (although this is for credit card transactions). Debit card costs are lower, and standard EFTPOS lower again. (0.5%)
A hand-written note on the cash register saying all card transactions will incur a $0.15 (or whatever) extra fee is not lawful. Nor is even a nicely printed one.
From ACCC: "Businesses can charge a surcharge for paying by card, but the surcharge must not be more than what it costs the business to use that payment type."
I know right. Last place that did this was the good guys.
I used to think they meant pay cash too but an employee in the store told me that they just mean no finance. I can still use any method to pay upfront and don't need to pay with cash and they give the same discount.
The government knows where you live, the car you drive, how much money you earn, how many kids you have, how much money you have in the bank etc, etc. If you sent back your bowel cancer test kit, they even know what you had for breakfast! So what does it matter if they also know if you shop at Woolies or Coles?
And you're happy with all that?
@kerryww
The government knows where you live
Ummmm… yes. Rates, electoral roll, utilities, etc.
the car you drive
Registration, insurance.
how much money you earn
Well, yes. How else can tax be evaluated?
how many kids you have
Planning for schools, (middle class welfare) benefits, health, vaccination.
how much money you have in the bank
Again, for tax, and anti-money laundering purposes.
bowel cancer test kit
A scheme to save the lives of thousands.
@puffgradon
And you're happy with all that?
I certainly am OK with this.
I guess we could always choose to have an anarchical liberarian system. Maybe like Somalia? But I quite like our social democratic moderate welfare type state.
"The government knows"
But 'The government' isn't a moustache-twirling supervillain, lurking in their secret underwater volcano lair.
The government is a myriad of different agencies, all controlled and constrained by legislation and rules. It is actually really complex and difficult (as it should be) for one agency to get information from another.
Doubtless there are overreaches and abuses, and we actually hear about these in the media, and there are often inquiries, Royal commissions and prosecutions about these things. Look at the 'Robodebt' fiasco for just a single current example.
And there are some government agencies which have been granted extra (too much) power, especially since 9/11.
But…… there is no one, single, 'government' sitting in a cubicle in Canberra gleefully perusing puffdragon's personal details, plotting how to oppress him, and use his spending habits against him, conspiring with Big Pharma and Big Oil.
There might be an individual case worker at the ATO assigned to investigate Mr Puff's cash transactions, and making sure that he is paying the right amount of tax - as should everyone.
You sound like you'd be pretty happy living in communist china under a social credit system.
there is no one, single, 'government' …. conspiring with Big Oil
Let's see donation receipts for the major parties from fossil fuel companies and our greenhouse gas emissions per capita
I like the idea of using cash, but how do you deal with the spare change? Who wants to carry around pocketfuls of change whenever they buy something, and then also what do you do with the change once you've accumulated a bunch of it at home?
I use loose change for when I need a loaf of bread or milk from the corner shop. Eventually you get rid of it.
For large amounts like a money box worth of 5c-10c pieces, I head to Woolies and put it through the self serve machine. It's sounds like a god damn poker machine.
Oh wow I didn't even know woolies had self serves that take coins! That's a game changer!
Cash is king
for druggies, drug dealers, tax dodges, pick pocketers, tradies, counterfeiters, taxi drivers or any job that relies on tips.
Almost sounded like king of underworld, lol
Look like king forgot to claim his money, haha
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11954247/Police-1-8…
Use it or lose it.
Use it, to preserve freedoms for your grandchildren,
or lose it, for your grandchildren
normally keep $5-10 in my car
I usually keep an envelope under my car seat with $250 In different denominations
Whats your rego and where do you usually park? Just curious.
what do u look like Fergy. Wiadro note it down
$100 just in case
i only carry coins for the parking meter when i go shopping.
Since OP says
older people who always carry a lot of cash on them
And They carry no cash themselves
So therefore its logical
more cash the older you are?
= more money means less time to live
= money is dangerous to your health (Life)
The correlation is there. But if someone in their 80s has lots of cash and if people who didn't even live until their 60s carried very little cash, then maybe carrying cash helps you live longer.
Although remember the local dealers dont do credit cards….how does one overcome that.
Usually $20-40 for when I need to buy lunch or something at a place that's cash only during travel.
And above ^ for donations and or to break into coins if needed.
I don't usually carry a wallet with me anymore, just either a phone or card holder.
$50 that always sits in my wallet, $5-$20 just in case for any small purchases.
:D
$0
$0 gets my vote.
Pre-covid I would normally take out $20-40 to have in my wallet to buy coffee etc, always felt so weird paying for a coffee on card. Post March 2020 when a lot of places got funny about cash and stopped accepting it I always use card.
Cannot remember the last time I had cash in my wallet.
I pay my mechanic of 19 years cash. Saves me money, saves him money.
My payments are practically all in cash. The importance of minimalist perspective in regards to a digital footprint is forsaken by those who are ignorant or lazy.
$3.50
Hey, can I borrow some money? I need about tree fiddy.
Start with $200 until shrinks to zero. Then withdraw another $200. Just for whenever cash is needed. Hardly needed at all these days.
$200 used to last a couple of weeks years ago, now it lasts months as everything is tap and go.
I carry very little, generally less than $50.
I try to have a couple hunge stashed away.
Don’t even carry a wallet
lol @ neg
Bought my new 14 pro 256gb a month ago with cash, $1K, instant cash is king for some on FBM lol, sold a Maton guitar so had it on hand, about the only way I end up with cash these days if I sell something, Apple Pay mostly.
You bought an iPhone 14 Pro 256GB for $1,000 off Facebook?
Really hope that works out for you and it's not a stolen item that gets blocked in few weeks as many have complained about.
Nah have used it for near 6 weeks, I new the guy anyway. Have bought heaps of iPhones/iPads off there and GT never had an issue.
Gotta know what you are doing though.
$0
$100 on me and I try to keep $1500-2000 at home in case anything comes up.
So I know some older people who always carry a lot of cash on them, like $700 on them at all times.
How do you know so many cashed-up boomers?
And, if you know this then who else have they told that could possibly make them a target of opportunistic thieves?
I haven't had more than $20 in my wallet since Covid started. Have one $5 at present, and that's lasted since December.
Mind you, half the time I don't bother with the actual wallet any more. I have copied all the cards (Medicare, Licence, various bank cards, store loyalty, etc) onto a cards app. Have never had any place fail to accept.
And, you know what, I am good with this. I do not want to contribute to 'cash economy' people ripping off the taxation system. Most of us cannot exploit that 'advantage' in our lives, and those who do essentially do so to the detriment of the rest of us who obey the law. (And yes, I am righteous, and sitting in an ivory tower.)
I do not want to contribute to 'cash economy' people ripping off the taxation system.
So you're happy the taxman and big banks are ripping off small business and the average person with every electronic transaction?
The concept of people and businesses avoiding paying tax on their income by accepting undeclared cash payments 'under the counter' has nothing to do with what you said.
Surely you are not using that odd argument to justify tax fraud?
In what way are "the taxman and big banks" ripping me off with electronic transactions? I wouldn't pay more that a handful of dollars each year to big banks in transaction fees. Plus, I just cannot see how the ATO rips me off regarding those fees.
Surcharges everywhere. Purchases, paying bills, eftpos machines aren't free either and businesses also pay a transaction fee every time someone taps. Surely you can see this. As for the ATO. Maybe check how much you pay these guys every year.
For example, I had a repair done recently and because I asked to pay cash, the guy was kind enough to take the GST off the price. Win for me and him. Zero win for the criminals.
@pufffdragon: But those are fees and charges, not 'ripoffs'.
As for the ATO. Maybe check how much you pay these guys every year.
Personal income tax is lower than any time in recent memory. At my first full time job, in 1982, I was paying 42%, and if I had gained a promotion, or I worked overtime, I moved into the 46% bracket. I currently earn over four times what I did then, and pay under 30%. Yes, there is a GST (which you criminally helped a person to avoid), but it is largely a fair and reasonable imposition. (Yes, I think the rich should pay more, and yes, I think corporations that make large profits should pay more…)
But tax is not a ripoff. It's how the government pays for the things that make our society worth living in. We have close to the highest standard of living in the world (although it is declining relatively), social security and public health systems that 195 out of 200 coutries would give a kidney for (despite, yes, imperfections), and pay a tax and GST rate somewhere around the middle of comparable countries. Not too shabby.
Of course, as a functioning democracy (yeah, yeah, and there are imperfections there too) we have the right to vote out our politicians, and elect a new mob, who may have sovereign citizen, conspiratorial and libertarian views, and whose platform may be to abolish all taxes, and to arm all citizens with AK47's. Cool. Let's vote 'em in. They can form a coalition with a splintered Liberal Party, Pauline Hanson, and Nick Xenophon.
There are masses of things wrong, unfair, inequitable about our political and taxation systems. The problem is that humans are in charge. Perhaps we could elect ChatGPT v9?
The problem is that humans are in charge. Perhaps we could elect ChatGPT v9?
ChatGPT has already proved it's left leaning bias. What could possibly go wrong?
All that ill gotten cash doesn't just exist in a vacuum. it will all work its way through legit systems eventually anyway.
Except the handling and processing of cash takes time and resources which could be better spent, and would cost a lot as well - its just a less definable cost.
what app do you use for licence?
I use MyCards on iOS.
Comes with the territory, some states - Yes Vic - No
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/victorian-gov-agencies-still-…
Generally nothing unless I have my wallet with me.
My wallet has $85 in it with 1 note of each denomination under $100.
Yes
$0
I don't carry a wallet anymore, everything is on the phone.
<$50 and even then it can stay in my wallet for a year without being needed.