Gripe about paying with cash

[JoeP]

Does anyone else suffer from anxiety having to wait in a checkout line, cash in hand, while people in front fumble with plastic? I frequently pay with cash, and have observed that situations like this are becoming more common, and ratchet up my stress levels:

"No, don't swipe until the purchase is complete. Try now. No, swipe in the other direction. Did you pick credit? Yes, the top left button. Do you have a rewards card? Swipe that now. No, you have to swipe your credit card again. Sign now. That stylus is touchy, so you have to hit clear and sign again, really press down this time. Ok, press submit."

Maybe I'm a little jaded, but why can't this be more efficient? I show up with my items and cash, and more times than not, it is far faster to give me change. I even quip, "I'm going to throw your a curve ball and pay with cash."

[BuckyBadger]

I pay with credit 100% of the time and have rarely seen any of the problems you describe. Certainly not all at once. Certainly not with any frequency. (I'm including all the people who have paid with cards ahead of me in line, as well.)

Are you *really* seeing this so frequently that it's a source of concern? I'd start going to stores with better credit card machines, maybe ;-) Perhaps this is first generation credit card swiping technology.

I'd try not to let things like that stress you out. Stay cool

[Eagle]

I try not to pay anything with cash. I usually tend to spend more without realizing it when paying with cash.

Like BuckyBadger we pay everything with credit cards so we can track the transactions and gain rewards. We pay off our credit cards every month.

[bjl584]

It does annoy me when the person in front of me in line acts like it's the first time they've ever been in public and are making their very first financial transaction. I mean, really? You're a grown adult and you don't have a clue how to slide a debit card through a reader and punch in a PIN number? How is that even possible? I mean, your in your 40's. Haven't one of the other 1000 or so times that you've bought something at a store taught you how to do it yet?

My other pet peeve are the little old ladies that wait until the very end before they start to fill out a check. Come on. Fill the thing out before hand. Then at the end of the transaction just put in the amount. Better yet, just sign it and let the register fill it out for you.

[rennigade]

It does annoy me when the person in front of me in line acts like it's the first time they've ever been in public and are making their very first financial transaction. I mean, really? You're a grown adult and you don't have a clue how to slide a debit card through a reader and punch in a PIN number? How is that even possible? I mean, your in your 40's. Haven't one of the other 1000 or so times that you've bought something at a store taught you how to do it yet?

If you allow things like this to bother you I would hate to be around you when you are actually in a situation that is stressful. You're head would probably explode.

Just wait till they start rolling out the new credit card systems that require credit cards with the chip on it to be inserted and not slid like we have now (I experienced them in Puerto Rico.) You'll probably want to nail your doors shut and take cover for a few years until most people get the hang of it. Just start making all of your purchases online...including groceries.

And to the OP...why would I pay anything with cash considering the points I accumulate from credit cards sent me to Puerto Rico earlier this year...San Fransico last month, and I already booked a flight to Spokane WA later this year for another trip. With cash none of those flights would have been free. That settles that.

[JoeP]

It is frequent enough. Part of the problem may be that every swipe machine is different, and some people are easily confused by trying to find the correct buttons to press.

If my wife tells me to pick up something from the grocery store on my way home, it will almost always be covered with the cash in my wallet. Plus, why on earth would I want to pay for a loaf of bread or milk with a debit card? Then I have to remember to log the transaction into the checkbook when I get home, subtract it, etc. Then some of that $20 I broke gets put into my car or wallet in case I want a Mountain Dew or coffee.

I guess I'm wrong for figuring most people would simply use cash for that $4 expense for a double bag of Doritos.

[rennigade]

It is frequent enough. Part of the problem may be that every swipe machine is different, and some people are easily confused by trying to find the correct buttons to press.

If my wife tells me to pick up something from the grocery store on my way home, it will almost always be covered with the cash in my wallet. Plus, why on earth would I want to pay for a loaf of bread or milk with a debit card? Then I have to remember to log the transaction into the checkbook when I get home, subtract it, etc. Then some of that $20 I broke gets put into my car or wallet in case I want a Mountain Dew or coffee.

I guess I'm wrong for figuring most people would simply use cash for that $4 expense for a double bag of Doritos.

What are the benefits of using a debit card? I guess for those who may forget to pay a credit card bill. Thats the only benefit I see...that it comes directly out of your checking. Do debit cards even offer rewards?

I went to giant yesterday and picked up a bottle of seltzer water for .70 and paid with a credit card.

[bjl584]

What are the benefits of using a debit card?

None really other than the convenience of not having to carry cash.

Credit cards are typically better. You can often earn rewards, and they offer better security.

[JoeP]

What are the benefits of using a debit card? I guess for those who may forget to pay a credit card bill. Thats the only benefit I see...that it comes directly out of your checking. Do debit cards even offer rewards?

I went to giant yesterday and picked up a bottle of seltzer water for .70 and paid with a credit card.

The benefit to us of using debit is that we have the money physically in the account drawn from. My wife's salary goes into checking, and we buy food and pay bills with the money in that account.

[breathemusic]

I almost never use my debit card, but I also don't keep a check book anymore to balance. Those things are as outdated as paying for groceries with a check! I log into my online bank account on a regular basis to look over my expenses and make sure there aren't any errors, and i use online bill pay, so the rare instance where I do write a check, it comes from my bank anyway.

The few times I've ever seen a credit card transaction take longer than cash was when it was an elderly person who clearly couldn't handle the differences from one payment machine to the next, or it was someone trying to use a card that was so beat up, cashiers have to use the "let me put it in a plastic bag and swipe it" method.

But I've also been stuck behind the jerk who paid in cash and didn't even start digging through their purse to find their wallet until the total was given to them. Or they decided to take forever to dig through their change purse to pay the 82 cents with all pennies, nickels, and dimes to get rid of their change. Better yet, I was a cashier in high school and had someone pay me with sweaty money that they pulled out of their bra, or pants waist band. So no thanks, I'll take the credit card machine any day of the week!

[ua_guy]

I find that most places I go, people are pretty quick about their electronic transactions.

There are two places where people are generally not quick about thier electronic transactions and I've found people in a flustered mess, and that can make me annoyed. ATM's, and self-check lines. Stop asking the ATM for the meaning of life. Put the product back in the bagging area. If you have 70 different types of produce in the cart and 6 things without price tags, hint: Might be faster to hit up one of the regular lines, the general public thanks you.

[JoeP]

I almost never use my debit card, but I also don't keep a check book anymore to balance. Those things are as outdated as paying for groceries with a check! I log into my online bank account on a regular basis to look over my expenses and make sure there aren't any errors, and i use online bill pay, so the rare instance where I do write a check, it comes from my bank anyway.

So you use a credit card for a bulk of your purchases, and then pay off the balance from your bank checking acct using the online bill pay feature?

If so, I see some value in this, provided it is paid off every month without exception.

The problem we sometimes face with credit cards is this: It is very easy to not budget, and just assume that the amount will be able to be covered by the time the bill comes. I suppose if you have $500 in your checking account, and limit your purchases to under that, it is easy. Probably lack of discipline on our part.

But back to the original post, for most small purchases, I almost always have some cash on hand, so it just makes sense to me to use it at the check out.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Is it just fun to gripe a bit or are you all really bothered by the split second it takes for a cashier to say, "You'll need to swipe that again," or "press the green button"?. To me it is not a big deal. I rarely pay attention to the transaction ahead of me, except that I have to admit I sometimes look at what the person ahead is buying. Their payment method or facility with the machines just makes no difference to me. I don't think I'm super laid back, but I just don't find the cashier's station a place to become annoyed.

[JoeP]

Is it just fun to gripe a bit or are you all really bothered by the split second it takes for a cashier to say, "You'll need to swipe that again," or "press the green button"?. To me it is not a big deal. I rarely pay attention to the transaction ahead of me, except that I have to admit I sometimes look at what the person ahead is buying. Their payment method or facility with the machines just makes no difference to me. I don't think I'm super laid back, but I just don't find the cashier's station a place to become annoyed.

Maybe it was the alignment of many negatives that prompted me to post. I am normally very accommodating, but this last time at KMart, there were only 2 lines open, and the person 2 in front of me struggled for a good minute with the concept of using a card. Then the people in front of me didn't have their rewards card and the cashier had trouble looking it up, and then tried to get their card to register (confusion over debit versus credit and the subsequent prompts), they didn't get a printed receipt because their reward card account had email as the default preference, so they had to be directed to the customer service desk.

Meanwhile, I have a jug of weed killer, a phone charger, and a $20 bill in hand. All I wanted to do was pay and get out in the most straightforward way possible. "I'm paying cash and I want a printed receipt."

[Permanent Temp]

I work part-time as a cashier and this is a regular thing. I'd rather pay in cash for things because I hate waiting for pending charges to clear I like knowing the transaction is done and I can now just enter it in on Mint. I think once my Student Loans are smaller I may take the reward card route. Right now I'm still learning how to make that work as I just paid off my credit card debt not too long ago. For example we just went on a vacation and overspent by about $800 because we were using cards and not thinking about it.

Next vacation we are going to draw up a more effective plan and I guess at the very least I will see rewards for those unplanned purchases.