We have had it pointed out that we missed the 5 cent coin for Euros! 😮 I don't know how that slipped, but just add that to the long list of Euro coins that has to be kept track of!! haha

Cash money offers a possibility to avoid taxes and being tracked, if u know what i mean, ey?

How come Germany be cashless? Even the chaddi they wear is snatched property.😂

Nice video. How did you manage internet banking and internet payments in Germany???

Reassuring to know that you don't steal large amounts of groceries! You probably could get away with stealing the plates of Ritter Sport, though? If you decide to give that a whirl, please do provide an update on how it went 😉

For coins is some time that I wished we had at least a one and two nots and that we would abolish one till five Cent coins. But I know the price of some things would rise not degrees. My talent is to collect a big amount of this small Cent coins. : D

How has the pandemic impacted the use of cash? How long have you lived outside the US? We have had ‘tap and go’ here in the US for a couple years and it’s become more popular so there is less interaction. Also, we haven’t had to sign credit card receipts for years either.

but WHY CANT I PAY WITH MY SMARTPHONE IN DE

Your Voice is woandarfull

Hi, YouTube forgot the 5 cent coin

In fact, the EC in EC stands for eurocheque. So this card was the card which came with the eurocheques which were guaranteed 200 € each, so no risk for the person accepting the cheques. So if you had to pay 800 € you had usually to use 4 cheques at 200 €, except in cases the other guy totally trusted you. Since the beginning of the 2000s, eurocheques are no longer guaranteed by the Bank, so nobody accepts them anymore and the EC-card became principal payment. There are some special cases where cheques are still required, for example when you buy a house at an auction, but then you need a special cheque which is guaranteed by your bank.
It was already in the 90s, when an italian friend asked me "Why do you need those 1000 Mark bills, to buy a car ?" He was joking, my answer was simply "yes", seriously. Even today, if I sold my car to a private client whom I don't know personally,. I only would accept cash.

I almost always have several hundred Euro Cash with me. So I always know my balance. If my pocket is empty, it's empty🤷🏻‍♂️ When I pay Cashless it is so easy to overpay.

Thank you so much *Waynepopoff* on telegram I received my cc with good balance I requested you are amazing and legit bro

Great information. I always thought that getting money out of the ATM in Germany would be cheaper than ordering from my US bank. I may have to check my bank here before my next trip to Germany, I don't want to pay more than I have to. Being it is Nov 2020 at this time, are you finding that more businesses are taking credit cards more than cash during COVID-19? Crazy times we are living in for sure. BTW, I love the outtakes at the end of the video lol lol :).

In Germany you have the Right to pay in Cash

moa – blind talking about colour…
* 5 EUR-coin? never seen in the wild. and I am ontop not sure, wheather it is legal tender in other EUR-countries. (it replaces the former 10 DM-coin as collectors item, which was also legal tender)
* credit card should help you as foreigner
* well – with german debit card (EC-Card) you can also work in other EU-countries – at least I can asure it for Spain, France, Italy, Swizerland, Netherlands and Austria from own experience.
* about amount of cash: in several stores they have a minimum for card, often 10 EUR. But this kind of limit I encontert only with Rewe, Edeka and several smaller shops. never with gas station or the other bigger shops.
* rule of thumb: backery, budger and alike shops prefer cash – but with covid19 they started to endorse EC, too
* younger tend to use more the card than the ealder
* cheque – yes, we STILL have cheque and promissory note – but why we should use such inconvinient form of payment, when we can use transfer, direct debit and EC‽
* we use the tap and pay, stick the card in the machine and input PIN or signe the slip… only the magnet strip-methode seems to fade away or is already gone.

A little bit of history about EC banking cards: The term "EC" referred originally to Euro Cheque which was a guaranteed cheque system invented in the 60s that was based on various contracts between banks in different european countries. It was basically a paper cheque that could be used in many countries and their different currencies. The customers got additionally an plastic card – the ec card that had an account number printed in which had to be entered to the cheque. At some point the cards got equipped with a debit chip and the meaning of "EC" changed from Euro Cheque to "Electronic Cash". The last paper cheques could be used until 2001 (At this point in 46 countries) when the guarantee contracts have been discontinued. The system was pretty much replaced by vpay and maestro as well as girocard as national debit system. I think many people didn't even realize the change.

Not sure where those studies were done but every-time we go to the US we find way less places use Debit as an option than in Canada. If yuh live in Germany you can use debit. I did often and that was 15 years ago. Back to the US. Places still use the carbon imprint machine credit card swipers. I actually laugh when I see that. We tossed those over a decade ago in Canada. Why is the US so far behind in debit and credit card use than A smaller country like Canada?

5 Cent Coin in Euro exists

I always pay eveyrthing with my Mastercard since I get Lufthansa Miles with it … The last time I paid in cash in Germany was in 2007. I really can't stand it any longer that "cash is king" in Germany: No it isn't. One can pay with Mastercard (and any other major credit card) at Aldi, Lidl, all department stores and 99% of all other businesses. In return, I went bowling in Minneapolis in 2015, and a big sign read: CASH ONLY. Aha! And if you go to the farmers' market of Hollywood which I did several times, no one of there accepts any cards but cash only. In addition to that, other spointed out already that most Americans use checks! I saw the last paper check in Europe back in 1996! – Love you guys!

Ritter Sport chocolate. I love it. My only complaint is that it is not that cheap, usually costing over two euros for a square of 100 grs. I looked them up on their web-page and saw they had 36 different flavors. That is a lot of chocolate. I especially love the marzipan flavor.

I am from Austria, but I think it is similar to Germany. As long as you are in the education system (School, University, Apprenticeship) you often get a better deal on your bank account so you don't have to worry. BUT as soon as you're education is finished you have to pay for every movement on your account. It is only a few cents but it is just a matter of saving money to pay cash. You have one movement on your account when you get 200 € at the ATM but you can pay a few times and save money on the long run.
To the actually German people out there: Correct me if I'm wrong!

@2:52 I would say Germans are more streetwise in this regard. 1. transactions cost money 2. Cash isn't easily trackable – freedom. 2. Cash is your property by law, bank deposits aren't. 3. If governments controlled the banks, they would control your lifelihood.

Ich bezahle fast immer mit EC Karte (Maestro). Im Supermarkt bei Aldi kann man auch mit Kreditkarte zahlen.

We use the 5cents also

You guys are amazing! I have watched already a good chunk of your videos, being an expat in America as a German. It has been very interesting to see and hear your reaction to things from a flipped perspective. Keep on! Love it. You've inspired me to maybe start something similar things here

Germans are big on privacy (as well as most people from former Soviet states). This extended beyond paying with cash. Before cell phones were the thing, if you had two extensions on your house phone, by default, you could only talk on one at a time so no one else could eavesdrop on you. Also, many things are legal in Germany and other countries which some people would find embarrassing for the world or even their spouse to know. Imagine your wife seeing the credit card statement with a charge from your favorite prostitute (totally legal, and all over the place)? Or maybe a charge for a couple of doobs with breakfast after your last trip to Amsterdam? Or maybe you seeing a charge from an abortion clinic in France?

I always take cash with me..!

We have checks but we don‘t use them often lol

you forgot the 5 cent piece

EC Cards are definitely way more popular than credit cards tho. Like by far. I'm working as a cashier in Germany for a long time and I only had maybe ten people to pay with a credit card

Cash is king. Germans are very concerned of their privacy and perfer to pay anonymously. This also has to do very much with recent history as in he 20th century there were two dictatorships that systematically spied on their citizens. If you don't want to pay in cash, you normally pay with your EC card which basically works like a cheque (EC means Eurocheque). Unlike credit cards, the amount is directly withdrawn from your bank account. EC cards are also used to get cash from ATMs. So, there is mo need for credit cards and so they are hardly used.
However, in current times, I try to pay by card as often as I can due to hygenic reasons.

Cash is freedom!
Plastic money is another way of control!

It's simple maestro cards are debit cards (EC) and master card is a credit card. I only use my credit card to buy things online. The thing with the chip isn't true. Most people still do that.

And our credit card os paid off automatically each month… debt is a bad thing…. we live with in our means …again debt is bad savings is good

open a German account with a bank and get an ec card , we were ready within an hour and received our card within a few days and online cell phone banking as well, no problem at all and you are on your way to be able to pay anyway you want in Deutschland

Do the ATM's there allow debit cards from the states?

The main point on using cash ist to have got a better control over yor money. When your wallet is empty then it's empty, that can't be said about your credit or debit card. It cotinues to spill out money even if you haven't got any.

Germany also has a 10€ coin

Germany are oldfashioned in certain areas compared to many other european countries. We hardly use cash. We pay either with mobile or card.

I pay literally everything with a debit card here in Germany, except for the farmer market where I pay cash. Debit cards is something everybody has, and you can only spend the actual money that is on that account, so no risk of debts.

There are quite a few reasons why Germans still cling to cash. Let's begin…

1) The Germans during the 1870's suffered the first stock market crash during the 'Gründerzeit'/founding time. That influenced this and the next generation, and they grew up to become the generation that suffered through the 1st World War. At the end of WW1 the Germans went through hyperinflation by 1923. At the end of that time nearly everyone had become a multi-quinitillionaire. The problem was that with that quintillion you could buy a carton of eggs, or maybe a loaf of bread. Again, this influenced the next generation. BTW: during this time Germany was forced to spend huge amounts on war reparations from money they didn't have. Versailles Treaty comes to mind.

Then came the stock-market-crash of 1929 with the economic depression that struck the world, including Germany. With it came the rise of extremist political parties, including the NSDAP. Hitler promised the Germans an improvement in their economic situation. He succeeded by making Germany go into huge debt, but never mentioning that to the population.
Then came World War 2, with all of the attrocities and destruction. At the end, Germany went through ANOTHER complete devaluation of its currency. Credit wasn't given or accepted. Only what you could haggle and trade for had any value. Until the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by the West German government.
But by then a total of four generations had been influenced by the catastrophic effects of devaluation of currency. No one trusted in bank or government promises anymore for the stable value of money. Only what you could carry with you had worth and value.

2) Germany has had two very intrusive governments during the last 90 years.
One was the Nazi government from 1933-1945, the other was the East German government from 1948 – 1989. In either government spying on your own population was common usage.
Everyone you saw could be a spy who reported everything you did or bought to someone higher up. Your life was a complete looking glass for the government. And if you did anything that was even remotely distasteful to the respective government the reprisals could be very harsh. As such Germans during the last 60 years (ie another two or three generations) grew up distrusting official or banking institutions for keeping their matters private.

As such the West German Grundgesetz of 1948 that guaranteed the privacy of mail, phone, or any other method of communication was a HUUUUUGE step to alleviate that distrust. But trying to overcome multiple generations worth of distrust towards banks and governments was hard. As such many Germans still did not trust banks with keeping their sales confidential. Yet in essence whenever you use a credit card you offer up to the bank a huge part of your privacy. Also, the dealer who accepts your credit card has to be part of the system, otherwise he wouldn't accept your credit card. Especially West Germans became rabid proponents of guaranteed privacy during the years between 1948 and 1989. Especially if they had friends in East Germany, where they saw the excesses the STASI went to. Recieving mail from East German friends that had obviously been opened and read by some kind of government organization, or receiving a return mail from East German friends that money sent via mail had gone missing from the letter they recieved was not helpful in generating trust.

3) Germans after 1989 saw the STASI (the East German state security police) files. It was a right of any person mentioned in ANY of these files to view ALL such files after the disolution of the STASI and the East German government after 1990 and the reunification. Whenever East Germans did that they were astonished by how deeply their privacy had been penetrated by the STASI. This was yet ANOTHER case of seeing what someone who was not absolutely benign could do with your private information. During the reunification process many banks were involved in cash-grab schemes which essentially caused many East Germans to loose a lot of money due to crashed, but saveable East German companies. So yet another generation learned to distrust governments and banks.

4) Germans like the rest of the world got burned AGAIN in 2008. As a net payer for the EU finances they saw a LOT of their tax money being dumped into the banking sector , AGAIN, to bail out wastrel investment banks. Simply because they were too big to fail. The same banks who had previously sold multiple structured finance products (yep, that was an actual term in the finance sector to name their products) to the private customer with ridiculous interest rate promises. The same banks who then defaulted their debts to those private customers. So trust in banks took another big hit at that time.

5) In the last two years the incredibly low interest rates of the ECB (European Central Bank) has caused many people to come to distrust banks AGAIN. Because essentially keeping your money in a bank account with interest rates of around 0.5% or lower meant that with an inflation rate of 1% you effectively lost 0.5% of your income to the banks. In the last few months (since 01.01.2020) many banks actually CHARGE you, the owner of your account, money to simply store your money without paying ANY interest whatsoever. This can be anywhere between 0.1% to 1% of your total value. So, many Germans have done the totally acurate maths: if I take out ALL of my money except the minimum amount to cover my automatic debits (such as rent, basic living costs like electricity, gas, water, phone charges, insurance rates, etc.) I will lose less money than if I keep it in the bank in the form of cashless currency.

So, in essence, Germans are cashless system holdouts because they have been burned so many times during the last 140 years by banks and governments. Trust into banks is seriously lacking in many Germans. Only what you can hold in your own hands has any worth or value. Electronic numbers can be fiddled with even easier than printed numbers on a bank note.

Cash is freedom. "No cash" is monitoring people and a stroke of luck for future dictatorship. Don't chain yourself with credit cards!