Another thing to consider is your credit card rewards cash back etc are really trading your privacy for a little rounding error worth of discount in comparison to using cash.

You may also save far more money going cash only. E.g. some local restaurants near me give you like 5% off paying in cash. Gas is generally cheaper cash price vs card price or debit fee. You have a big job with a contractor, tell them you might be interested in paying cash and they might offer you a substantial discount.

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toast0 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Another thing to consider is your credit card rewards cash back etc are really trading your privacy for a little rounding error worth of discount in comparison to using cash.

How much privacy really? If I get mostly $20s from the ATM, and the merchant does daily deposits of most of the $20s they get, why wouldn't banks start scanning and tracking serial numbers (if they don't already), if my purchasing habits are actually valuable?

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puzzledobserver 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In a theoretical sense, you are right.

The life of most currency notes is bank to customer to merchant to bank, and the bank could just track serial numbers to figure out your spending habits.

Practically, it would make little sense. The actual life of most currency notes is bank1 to customer to merchant to bank2, and there is a large probability that bank1 and bank2 are different entities. And then, so many more people use the credit card system, and it is so much easier to track people there, that the ROI on tracking people using cash would be low.

I would be very surprised if any bank tried to scan currency note serial numbers.

	▲	bix6 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Is the probability that large for bank1 vs bank2? There’s only a few major banks left. Chase has so many ATMs it’s hard to compete with the access.

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asdff 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Make change with your local under the table taco stand

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ButlerianJihad 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

https://www.wheresgeorge.com/

> The site was officially launched on December 23, 1998.

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moduspol 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Contractors, but also cosmetic health work. Invisalign, veneers, plastic surgery, etc. Probably most big-ticket items or services that you're not buying from a megacorp.

Sometimes they'll give even more than 5% because they can keep it off their books completely, but in those cases, they want physical cash--not just a check to avoid credit card fees.