Originally Posted by
sdsearch
First of all, this is FlyerTalk! It's not Americans so much in general, it's FTers who want to earn every last mile/point they can, and that requires using a miles/point-earning credit card everywhere possible.
This is a classic straw man argument. My comment was about Americans, and that's what my comment refers to, not FT users globally. To address my comment in the context of FT usrs changes it.
Originally Posted by
sdsearch
You think ¬50 is cheap??? That's about $70 or $75, and I pretty much never (in the US) have more than $40 in my wallet
You need to check your math against the
big mac index. €50 buys ~14.79 big macs. $70-75 USD buys ~18.77-20.11 big macs. 50 EUR of buying power in the eurozone is less than the buying power in the US after an even exchange at todays exchange rate. In short, if you need 50 EUR cash in europe, it would be comparable to needing to carry 50 USD in the US. (you actually need to carry a little more in Europe for cultural reasons, which I'll explain below)
Moreover, it wouldn't matter what index you use, because you've missed the point -- the point being that only small transactions would force someone to resort to cash in when facing an EMV-only PoS terminal.
Originally Posted by
sdsearch
I go MANY MONTHS between using cash for anything other than coin-operated machines (laundry, etc) and giving tips (where the tip is separate from any other payment, eg, an airport parking shuttle driver). Once in a while I visit a museum or park that only takes cash, but typically that means they only charge about $10 or less.
You're making my point. This is not an EMV matter, it's a culteral difference. US consumers are entrenched in plastic transactions. There's nothing wrong with that, but this isn't the case in Western Europe, so it's an unreasonable expectation to show up in Europe (for example) and think you can do everything with a credit card like you can in the states. Europeans are not even close to being addicted to plastic. Many don't even have a credit card (bank cards and electronic purses are more popular).
The US doesn't even have the concept of an electronic purse, which is why Americans are conditioned to a single payment form. Europeans keep cash on hand because their payment systems are less homogeneous. It's quite normal in Europe to find lots of restaurants that only take cash.
Originally Posted by
sdsearch
My major US bank (Wells Fargo) only allows me to withdraw I think $300 a time (or is that the lmit per day?), so eating up 1/4 of that in what you call a "small" transaction sure sounds like a lot of cash to me!
You don't need half that much money for food and transport. The US per diem rates don't generally exceed $525 in Europe, for example, and the per diem figures are very generous - much better than average room and meals. Most of that per diem figure is for the hotel, and the hotel will take your magstripe credit card.
Originally Posted by
sdsearch
Meanwhile, it sounds like you haven't been reading this thread long, because many of the complaints in western Europe are about unmanned gas stations and stuff like that, where paying by card is the only option, and yet they don't take swipe cards!
I never said there were absolutes. It's atypical for tourists to buy fuel (and we know this from the laws of supply and demand).
In so many words, I said plastic-addicts are painting a distorted picture, creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt that would mislead the typical traveler into paranoia that in itself causes more of an inconvenience (from over-preparation) than the actual situation they might deal with.
The only time anyone would ever need to consider the EMV situation as part of their trip planning is if they will be directly buying fuel, and not traveling with a local, in which case they only need to consider buying a prepaid gas card shortly after picking up the rental car.