If you're choosing locally owned businesses for your coffee, groceries or other things, kudos for supporting alternatives to corporate-owned outlets. A reminder that paying with cash allows them to keep the full proceeds rather than sharing them with moneygrubbing banks and payment processors.
privacy is another good reason for paying with cash. What's the point of using encrypted comms or ad blockers or taking other privacy-preserving measures and then buying everything with a payment card? Payment cards allow data brokers to track every purchase you make, every business you visit and when. When you split a check with someone else, it lets them know who your friends and coworkers are. The amount of privacy lost using payment cards is astounding.
So many responses from people trying to find reasons to hold onto their payment cards. Fine, go ahead. Have your purchases, contacts and whereabouts permanently stored and tracked. Just don't lecture anyone about the dangers of unencrypted comms or website tracking.
@dangoodin Because replies don't appear to know this, credit and debit card transactions cost merchants on average between 1.5-3.5% of sales price.
PayPal is higher, IIRC.
Chart from NerdWallet:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/credit-card-processing-fees
@femme_mal @dangoodin For dealing with a local merchant, or a tradesperson, sure pay cash on the spot. The trades person may well designate that "beer money" and pocket it.
For dealing with big companies and online sellers, a credit card gives you quite a bit of protection. They do NOT like chargebacks.
Also I get that 1.5% back from the card company, so unless the big business is giving me a cash discount, I am 1.5% better off by using a card.
@mike805 @dangoodin Yes, all good points. I don't need the protections a card offers on purchases of fresh vegetables at the local farm market but the purchase of hard goods like a new refrigerator certainly merits them.