As a Dutchman living in Germany I understand that feeling. Germany too is a very cash heavy society. With that comes widespread tax evasion. Anyone who has ever hired a contractor for any repairs around the house will know the question: with or without invoice? It’s the same for any restaurant. More often than not the card payment terminal will be “out of order” right now, but cash is welcome.
Yeah at least Old Town Prague and surrounding areas hasn’t been too bad about magically broken CC machines. And only like one place we go regularly is 100% cash only, which means they also don’t advertise a specific discount.
I was VERY surprised at how much Germany didn’t want to accept CC. Sure we were in Essen which isn’t touristy, but even Dortmund was more CC-averse than Prague and we were in Dortmund the week before the Euro’s in 2024. Heck I think Koblenz was less CC averse! But my previous experience was Frankfurt and Nuremberg touristy areas so that colored my previous perception of Germany’s CC acceptance I’m sure.
As for trades people, HA! Yeah my dad was commercial HVAC for diners in New Jersey in the 70’s thru 00’s. LOTS of cash in those businesses. “How much for cash?” was a very regular question the owner would ask him when he handed them the invoice ;-)
As a Dutchman living in Germany I understand that feeling. Germany too is a very cash heavy society. With that comes widespread tax evasion. Anyone who has ever hired a contractor for any repairs around the house will know the question: with or without invoice? It’s the same for any restaurant. More often than not the card payment terminal will be “out of order” right now, but cash is welcome.
Yeah at least Old Town Prague and surrounding areas hasn’t been too bad about magically broken CC machines. And only like one place we go regularly is 100% cash only, which means they also don’t advertise a specific discount.
I was VERY surprised at how much Germany didn’t want to accept CC. Sure we were in Essen which isn’t touristy, but even Dortmund was more CC-averse than Prague and we were in Dortmund the week before the Euro’s in 2024. Heck I think Koblenz was less CC averse! But my previous experience was Frankfurt and Nuremberg touristy areas so that colored my previous perception of Germany’s CC acceptance I’m sure.
As for trades people, HA! Yeah my dad was commercial HVAC for diners in New Jersey in the 70’s thru 00’s. LOTS of cash in those businesses. “How much for cash?” was a very regular question the owner would ask him when he handed them the invoice ;-)