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Comment by wongarsu | Hacker News Reader

In a German supermarket there are two notable differences:

People pay with rounded bills most of the time, cashiers are fast at returning change (amounts are usually a single cent below the full euro for each item, so change isn't a big problem).

The credit card workflow requires you to sign as well (or alternatively sometimes your pin if it's a debit card). Also, no swiping, only chip readers.

So in essence, taking out the bills is comparable to taking out your card, and the question is whether signing/entering pin is faster than the cashier giving you your change.

Of course occasionally you will pay in exact change, but that's balanced out by all the times you have to insert your card a second time, followed by trying another card.

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I can't even count the number of times I've been stuck behind someone in Rewe, waiting while they scrounge around in their purse or wallet for those final few cents. It is far from uncommon, at least where I live.

You're right about the cashiers though, they're super quick.

The good thing about the card is that you hand it over, and while the reader is talking to the bank you have a few seconds to continue packing your bags. I've simply found it flows better with card every time, as long as you remember which checkout has the dicky card reader that needs 3 tries.

Say hello to contactless https://www.visa.co.uk/products/visa-contactless/

Standard on most bank cards in the UK. No pin or anything. Tap it on the machine and you go. Takes 2 seconds at most.

Still, I do hold cash sometimes, you do need it in some cases.

I'm sure I've used this in Germany many times at Lidl and other supermarkets.

NFC payment has been rolling out more and more over the past couple years. Edeka is probably the biggest exception, I'm waiting very impatiently for them to catch up.

Edeka is (despite its appearance) not a chain but just a common brand used by lots of independent merchants without many rules[0]. Some Edeka stores therefore introduced contactless payments years ago, some never will. Best is to talk to the owner (they usually just have one or a few stores) – I have been successful with "mine".

[0]: In contrast to e.g. Rewe which is also mostly operated by independent merchants but has strict rules for those.

Further to this, I've actually found in Canada I use Android Pay more and more often now that it's available. The whole country is shifting to contactless and it's incredibly useful to just be able to pull out my phone and make a purchase.

It's faster, and the app gives a list of the purchases you've made with a card, so I can track what I'm spending relatively easily. Unfortunately, there are still lots of stores that haven't upgraded to contactless yet, which means I can't rely on Android pay for the time being. I can see this being much worse in Europe where contactless payments aren't implemented in many more places than here in Canada.

It's super fun and easy. But

A) there is a risk as everyone can create a stripe account and buy a charger. Personally I would never notice.

B) every transaction creates costs. Some visible (depit charging fee) some hidden (credit transaction fee)

C) At least in most of Europe it is far from widely supported, even thought it's growing for a while now. Except you stick to the most touristy places that is. In south east Asia I haven't seen it at all except in tourist focused places.

> A) there is a risk as everyone can create a stripe account and buy a charger. Personally I would never notice.

Personally, the convenience of: not having to wear a wallet at all (I just carry the card in my pocket) and not having to deal with coins, negotiate if I'm paying a big bill etc. is just amazing. Even if someone steals $10 from me once in a blue moon, it's well worth it.

For me it's a different world anyway. Currently I carry about $300 in 4 currencies, a debit card and a credit card. I travel a lot and without a stack like this I would have been stuck many times.

The credit card never really saved me. It really just is there to make life a little easier.

I just got back from a four-country trip (3 currencies) and having a credit card was very useful for hotels and car rental places that want to "pre-authorize" charges (often 250 EUR or more).

When I tried using my debit card and they ended up taking the money and then refunding it over a week later.

Good point. I don't drive car but in western countries I basically had to pay the bikes worth as deposit because I didn't carry a credit card. Plus this was seen as super unusual (even having a this high euro amount on hand was seen as suspect)

Plus, when paying by card even if you dont want a receipt you need to wait for the merchant receipt to be printed out before the transaction is complete. With cash if you dont need the receipt and pay the correct sum you can be on your toes.

I've never lived in Germany, only visited as a tourist a few times to several different cities.

I've never had to sign in the last couple of years when using my credit card. Fewer smaller shops would take it than in the UK, but otherwise I never noticed any difference.

It comes down to the card, not store. Many German cards require you to sign (actually stores bypass the card entirely and just use it to read your account number and make you sign a SEPA direct debit mandate).

You actually have support for contactless and thusly Apple Pay in a load of places in Berlin, people just don't know about it. The look of shock on the clerk's face when I insisted that yes, I can pay by waving my phone.

New CC cards with chip e.g. Visa/DKB have also PINs without being a debit card.

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