> On the flip side, when I'm in Europe, I definitely run into more places that only take cash, which I find annoying to no end.
This is mostly for tax evasion reasons and sometimes for employees skimming off the top. The more “proper” a place, the less likely they are to encourage cash transactions.
Happens in US too, of course. It’s always the shady places that are cash only and everyone else is digital.
That's a bit cynical. While I'm not saying that doesn't happen, I would say that smaller businesses typically accept cash-only to avoid the fees of accepting card payments. And this is not only the 1-2% transaction fee charged by (e.g.) Visa/Mastercard, these fees also include things like
* Fees for the rental and maintenance of payment card terminals.
* Gateway fees.
* Cost of fraud prevention services.
* Fees or premiums to insure against ‘forward delivery risk’
All of this erodes the already thin margins that small businesses typically operate at.
And then you have cash: no fees, instant payment, private.
Most of those fees don't apply to e.g. Europe. It's pretty much just hardware (starts at 30 euro or so for the cheap versions) and some transaction costs (1.5% or less, depending on volume). It's often cheaper to accept electronic payments than cash. Handling cash costs money (bank deposits, buying change, vaults, cash registers, higher insurance cost).
Even street and marker vendors in The Netherlands accept electronic payments.
>Happens in US too, of course. It’s always the shady places that are cash only and everyone else is digital.
The US is a big place. Maybe where you are it's like that, but that's not at all accurate where I am.
It's either mom and pop places, or places that have been around for decades that "charmingly" never added support for cards. Both of which are probably less shady than average.
Although the pandemic has forced some of those places to start accepting cards now.
Your local Walmart/Chain Restaurant/$FRANCHISE is going to be just as shady, but less obvious.
Source: Know people who have recently worked across a variety of franchise type locations, they definitely still have _plenty_ of things go below board.
This is mostly for tax evasion reasons and sometimes for employees skimming off the top. The more “proper” a place, the less likely they are to encourage cash transactions.
Happens in US too, of course. It’s always the shady places that are cash only and everyone else is digital.