Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and they essentially tax everybody by taking a percentage of purchase prices for themselves. Not exactly a small percentage either, 1.2% to 2.65%. Ever wonder why so many merchants say they don’t accept American Express? That’s because they charge quite a bit more to merchantes, 50% more than Visa or Mastercard. Anyway, we’re letting American companies tax us and we love them because we get rewards when we use cards. But it’s just a shell game because we pay more up front because businesses need to charge more to make up for payment processing charges. They get to sit in the middle and rake in the money.
Now the alternative in Canada is Interac. Interac charges a set amount per transcation. How much? 2 to 5.5 cents. Unless you’re going through Apple or Google Pay, and then it’s a percentage again.
Interac is also Canadian.
Want to stick it to Trump? Stop using credit cards (and Google Pay or Apple Pay) and switch to Interac. Want to make Canada better? Stop using credit cards and switch to Interac. Is it going to be inconvenient? Yes. Online shopping will be much harder but I have seen online Interac payments before and we can ask our favourite Canadian merchants to accept Interac online.
Checkbooks exist for a reason.
Ok now, let’s not go bringing back that nonsense. Cash is fine. You’re no more likely to be robbed than usual because you’re carrying a lot, and you can do what I do. If you need to carry a lot of money in cash, put $49 in your wallet and the rest in your sock.
I have carried $100-500 sometimes as high as $2k in my wallet for decades without a problem. Usually on the lower end of the 100-500 range unless I think I’ll need it.
This might be a problem for someone who can’t hold onto their belongings and leaves a trail of lost things everywhere they go. It might also be a problem for someone who lives in an area with high petty crime where they can expect to get jumped every once in a while. This is unlikely to be a problem for most people in the US states and European countries I’ve spent time in. Even in Argentina, which is not the safest place, I use cash exclusively.
As others have mentioned, when it starts getting into that $500-$1k range, you always have checks, wire transfers, Western Union, etc. I’m not selling out my privacy for a $5 bagel if I can help it.