(*with apologies to the FBI)
Like many who survived the COVID era, I use my credit card for most of my purchases, then pay off the balance at the end of the billing period, or before.
But recently I conducted an experiment. I have felt slightly uncomfortable relying on the magic plastic card and the good graces of the financial establishment for some time. I decided to use cash for my everyday purchases. I would pay cash for groceries, gas and any other small purchases under forty dollars. If I made a large, credit purchase, I would pay the balance immediately.
As virtuous as this plan sounded, I soon discovered certain drawbacks.
1. Consider a trip to the store for four items, e.g. milk, eggs, gourmet cookies, cat food, then a stop at the gas station to fill up. Given the current $6.00 a gallon gas price and the general inflated prices in the grocery store, you need to carry a log of cash for this trip.
2. Wallets do not accommodate a lot of bills. My wallet allows you to place the bills, unfolded, in one area and provides a zippered compartment for change. While good in theory, practice is considerably messier. Too many bills in the bill area and one or more of them will get folded, wrinkled or just stuck in the compartment. Some emerge no longer viable for use in the “pay cash” slot of the checkout machines. Worse, the elaborate zippered wallet I have regularly chews a corner of the bill off when I close it, making it necessary for me to repair the bill with scotch tape.
3.Getting two cents out of the tiny, cramped change compartment is difficult when you are at the head of a very long line of impatient shoppers.
This raises the question – how did we ever survive without the magic plastic charge cards and worse yet – how will we survive with them?
Leave a comment