Do You Still Carry Cash?

Filed in archive Banking on December 19, 2007

Interesting article I came across about whether we are truly becoming a cashless society.. In it, the author relays a story about going out with a group and having the restaurant's credit card processing go down:

At the time, it seemed more than a little irritating, particularly since we all had to wait at least a half hour before the restaurant's staff gave up on the computer and processed the cards the old fashioned, manual way. In retrospect, though, I can't help but get a chuckle out of the fact that not one of us could pay the bills in cash. I'm not just talking about one person having enough to pay for a bill covering 12 customers - hardly anybody carries that much cash anymore. No, I mean the fact that nobody, me included, had ANY cash on them at all. Not even five bucks for a tip. We all planned to pay by plastic and put the tip on it as well.

Personally I don't feel completely comfortable without some cash on hand; it just allows for some flexibility in situations where a card is a pain or a card makes me feel ridiculous. I still have trouble pulling out a credit card for a $3.00 purchase. And sometimes I use cash for little Mom-and-Pop merchants that I know pay fees to let me put my measly purchases on a credit card. Plus, you never know when a bizarre tipping situation is going to occur, like coming across the occasional guy in the bathroom who tries to put soap on your hands or hand you a towel to dry them. I'll usually keep $20-$40 on hand.

But my general M.O. is that everything goes on the credit card if that's easily do-able, and that the cash is a backup.

How about you? How much cash do you have on you right now? And how much would you say you usually carry?

(Photo courtesy of billaday.)