Status: 10.08.2023, 21:29 p.m.
By: Stefan Stukenbrok
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Cash laughs - because even with the digital euro, bills and coins are not buried. © IMAGO / Bihlmayerfotografie (montage)
While in the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States in particular, there is hardly any handling of notes and coins, cash remains the most popular means of payment in this country. Here are our comments from the community.
Munich - Whether credit and debit cards or the planned digital euro, the majority of Germans remain skeptical about alternative means of payment and still prefer cash. Often, understandable reasons for rejection such as "transparent citizen" or "transaction costs" are given.
"Transparent citizen": Internet companies know more about you than banks
On the other hand, more than 40 million Germans use customer loyalty programs such as Payback and Co. - true data octopuses. Telecommunications companies and other service providers such as Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) and Amazon also have a sharper profile of Internet users than is usually assumed. "The big Internet companies know more about you than you do" - that sounds absurd at first, but their knowledge of citizens surpasses any data collection from banks.
Digital euro: cash will not be "buried"
There are also fears that cash will be abolished with the digital euro. But the opposite is the case, as the NDR reports: The EU Commission has recognized that some people are already having difficulty getting cash because of the closure of bank branches and the dismantling of ATMs. For this reason, retailers will be able to issue notes and coins without consumers buying anything.
Cash: Production and administration cause high costs
Expensive cash - the maintenance of ATMs costs about 1.3 billion euros per year, the trade has to spend a good 7 billion euros annually on the transfer of cash. The production of banknotes and coins is also to be financed - with up to 75 million euros per year. All these costs are passed on indirectly to the customers.
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Pay in cash or by card? Here is our community comment of the day
Is it, in addition to the reasons mentioned, the feel of real money, the fear of a supposed lack of control - or simply because Germans are more reluctant to embrace change and technologies than citizens of other countries?
Reader Gregor Gerland provocatively comments:
The future life of Germans will be fragmented: on vacation, they will travel without cash, because there is no longer any cash in circulation in (almost) all of Europe. And during those two weeks, they feel hip and think they're so similar to the others. At home, however, they cling to the antiquated bills and coins from great-grandmother's time – incurably fixated on the past, this people of the diehards.
Community comment by Gregor Gerland
Our reader Joseph Loeffelwrites:
What is the progress if a mostly American company earns money from every digital payment process and retains - about - 1 percent in fees? What's wrong with it if it's to be avoided or restricted? Am I eternally fuzzy if I go along with this covert usury without complaint? Once payment has been fully digitized with the current options, service providers can really get their hands dirty. Alternatives no longer exist. In this respect, the digital euro is a step in the right direction.
Community Comment by Joseph Loeffel
Note: We reserve the right to shorten community comments for better understanding and to revise them in context
Community Comment of the Day – what's it all about?
Every day, the community team selects particularly readable and pointed comments from our readers and opens exciting discussions with them.
How do you prefer to pay, what do you think about new payment options? Write us your opinions in the comments section and join the discussion.
Have you discovered a great community comment on another topic? Then we look forward to receiving your letter to community@redaktion.ippen.media.
Column "Community Comment of the Day" – published so far:
Episode 10: Meatless Healthy? "Animal proteins and vitamins are not needed at all to perform at their best"Episode 9: Bloody crime by sports shooter: "Nothing happens anyway, the lobby of gun enthusiasts is too strong"Episode 8: Böhmermann scandal: "Good satire must never leave good tone and taste"Episode 7: Language justice: "I think all this gendering is superfluous, but I don't feel oppressed by it"
Episode 6: AfD dilemma: "No party alone is to blame for their rise. But everyone has contributed"Episode 5: Quick judgments on outdoor pool incidents: "
How are you supposed to be able to hire your lawyer?"
Episode 4: Mineral water: "I don't see any reason to pollute the environment and throw money out for it"Episode 3: Abortion: "To all those who are once again gasping for breath and spreading untruths"Episode 2: Euthanasia: "
Human dignity is inviolable. Even those who suffer do not lose it"Episode 1: Ban on junk food advertising: "The FDP should keep the ball flat"