Anyone Noticing More Stores that are Credit Card Only?

[Missouri Swede]

27 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Yeah.  I had something like that with one of the utility providers at my last house.  For free (for me), I could have my bank send them a check once a month, or for some fee, they'd be happy to withdraw the money from my account on a regular basis.  And every few months they'd call and ask if I wanted to have the convenience of auto pay.  No thanks, it's just as easy for me to set up a recurring check from a bank!

Hmm.  My utilities are all autopay from the utilities, without additional fee.  Not sure I lucked out.

Completely off topic, I've noted that a lot of my utilities have changed names in the last couple of years.  Spire, Sparklight, Liberty.  The name doesn't really say what they are anymore. (Sparklight would be an obvious choice for electric company.  Except it's not the electric company.)

[Release]

Nationwide coin shortage.  No bank give free coin counting service so no one bothered to bring back the change.

I had a big jar of coins sitting under the kitchen counter.  Love to put it back into circulation, just too much hassle counting and package them to bring to the bank.  The services like CoinStar  is worse than one armed bandit  You have to bring the coins to their machine and pay them 11% and get a gift card...........

 

[Shindig]

38 minutes ago, Release said:

Nationwide coin shortage.  No bank give free coin counting service so no one bothered to bring back the change.

I had a big jar of coins sitting under the kitchen counter.  Love to put it back into circulation, just too much hassle counting and package them to bring to the bank.  The services like CoinStar  is worse than one armed bandit  You have to bring the coins to their machine and pay them 11% and get a gift card...........

Yup, same here.  Back in the day, especially when I used cash more often (or when I had lower income), I'd sit in front of the TV with a jar of change and count and roll.   Then I'd deposit the rolls directly -- I'd wait for a teller and do so, they'd take the the rolls, weigh them or something, and deposit the money into my checking account.  

I would use the Coinstar if the ones near me didn't have a surcharge, even for getting it in the form of Amazon gift cards.  I mean, I have coins.  That isn't the issue.  I would use them, I'd be fine even paying exact change, except it costs me more than a 1% surcharge to use cash at most places that I shop.  So I guess I can use the coins to pay my skins losings or something, but... my group has taken to using a spreadsheet in the Covid era, figuring it's time for a big payoff post-Covid rather than cash changing hands. 

Nowadays, most of the time I leave my house, I don't even take a full wallet;  I take a smaller golf wallet (even when I'm not going for golf) with a credit card and my driver's license.  

[Missouri Swede]

58 minutes ago, Release said:

Nationwide coin shortage.  No bank give free coin counting service so no one bothered to bring back the change.

I had a big jar of coins sitting under the kitchen counter.  Love to put it back into circulation, just too much hassle counting and package them to bring to the bank.  The services like CoinStar  is worse than one armed bandit  You have to bring the coins to their machine and pay them 11% and get a gift card...........

 

Didn't banks used to do this as part of their service?  I recall bringing in coins (decades ago), they ran them through a coin sorting machine, it counted them up in a matter of seconds.  Maybe those machines are gone now.

Twice now I've received emails from my bank (a regional chain) asking customers to bring in coins; but ask about it at the local branch of that bank, and they want us to do the sorting, counting, and stuffing into rolls.  If they really need the coins (and I'm sure they do), then make it easier for me to bring them in.

[Release]

1 hour ago, Missouri Swede said:

Didn't banks used to do this as part of their service?  I recall bringing in coins (decades ago), they ran them through a coin sorting machine, it counted them up in a matter of seconds.  Maybe those machines are gone now.

Twice now I've received emails from my bank (a regional chain) asking customers to bring in coins; but ask about it at the local branch of that bank, and they want us to do the sorting, counting, and stuffing into rolls.  If they really need the coins (and I'm sure they do), then make it easier for me to bring them in.

Decade ago, every bank had the counting and sorting machine for their customer.  Just bring in the coins and they'll credit the count right back into your account.  These days. only a few local credit union banks has the counting and sorting machine.  

On top of all the work to sort and count the coins and wrap them up...... the warping paper  tubes are not free.  Did you search online for the cost of the sorting paper tubes ?   Sure, bank will give you a few if, you ask for the wrapper, and they're very stingy of giving them out by asking how many do you need ??

I don;t see the hard currency going out of circulation in my lifetime.  Digital currency is easier to manage and track, but, what if there is a glitch on the internet storing and retrieving ?  It's all possible you know.  It can be a software issue, can be an attack to the system, can be as simple as a large scale power outage.  Anyway.....I don't have enough in the kitty pot to worry about.   

    

Edited August 22, 2020 by Release

[Release]

2 hours ago, Shindig said:

Yup, same here.  Back in the day, especially when I used cash more often (or when I had lower income), I'd sit in front of the TV with a jar of change and count and roll.   Then I'd deposit the rolls directly -- I'd wait for a teller and do so, they'd take the the rolls, weigh them or something, and deposit the money into my checking account.  

I would use the Coinstar if the ones near me didn't have a surcharge, even for getting it in the form of Amazon gift cards.  I mean, I have coins.  That isn't the issue.  I would use them, I'd be fine even paying exact change, except it costs me more than a 1% surcharge to use cash at most places that I shop.  So I guess I can use the coins to pay my skins losings or something, but... my group has taken to using a spreadsheet in the Covid era, figuring it's time for a big payoff post-Covid rather than cash changing hands. 

Nowadays, most of the time I leave my house, I don't even take a full wallet;  I take a smaller golf wallet (even when I'm not going for golf) with a credit card and my driver's license.  

Time is changing, like decades ago I'd laugh and dismiss the idea of selling bottled tab water.  Who knew !

However, I do worry about digital currency.  Especially about the ways it was transferred and the way they store the information.  There are ways to intercept the transmission.  The mobile units ( Square,,, and the likes ) can be easily intercepted and the information copied to some deep cyber space to be sold.  Better than robbing the bank physically.  These information then lumped together and sold as a package.  Sure, institutions have ways to combat the stolen id issue but still losing at billions each year.  We the consumers will be at the short end of the stick to pay for all the lost digital currency even if our own accounts were not touched.

Let's not go into this too far.   The subject of more places using digital currency only during this CPVID-19 outbreak had help the financial institution to convert more consumer into using the cards instead of hard currency.  I used to carry some cash with me to be used in places I didn't trust using credit cards.  Just too much trouble going through my statement with these small exchange of $10 or less.  We checked our financial statement each and every period religiously, because lots of the stolen amount were reported as small and insignificant ( but they'll add up fast enough ).  we even had the merchants charged multiple times for the same service /goods.  These are the reasons why I don't like to use credit for every transaction. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Release