I probably make about 1 cash transaction a month, usually at some old joints or clubs that have no way to take cards, although even at clubs I can now increasingly pay with my card via NFC, it's so painless and seamless.
I tend not to give homeless people money in general, I rather do it via an institution or buy them what they need. If they say they need some money for food I'll go shop with them if I have time. But I've indeed also walked to an ATM at various times, which are fortunately all over the place in my city. Even if I had cash I'd always be a bit conflicted to give... On the one hand I've spoken to various (ex) homeless people and they advised me not to give, not be naive for my sake and their sake (read: drug addiction, better dealt with by an institution which are pretty solid in my city). On the other hand, I've loved ones with homelessness in their past who've rebounded by the grace of complete strangers' help, including financial help, and didn't ever use drugs but were really down n out and on the street. You never know which of the two you're dealing with.
But let's be real, helping homeless people isn't exactly a daily use case. If it was something you do frequently enough, there'd be way better ways to do it than giving away random small bits of cash.
Everything else, digital is more convenient. For example if I have dinner with a buddy, on the way back home I'll grab my phone, open my banking app, click his address which is automatically saved from the first time I used it, type in the amount and press send. It's virtually the same as grabbing my wallet, calculating the tokens I owe him and handing it to him. Payments are literally like messaging for me, but you're sending digital value tokens instead of digital speech. Yes it's hella convenient to do digital messaging of money.
The thing about digital payment's that's more convenient is that I don't rely on carrying a specific denomination of cash with me, or rely on being in physical proximity to the payee. Need to send $500? Well I'd never carry that kind of cash, so that's an ATM trip for me, and then a trip to the guy I owe it to. Digital money is more convenient here.
Payments in stores? Both I and the cashier need to do basic calculations with the tokens using cash, and again I have to carry enough on me. Turns out digital cash is easier and faster. I have my card out by the time it's my turn in the queue, I let the cashier scan, then I hold my card next to a little NFC scanner and I start walking away. In some older places I put in a 4 digit pin, even so it's faster than cash. That's convenience for me.
Don't get me started on online payments, which are btw causing physical store bankruptcies left and right. I see it all around me, I've got friends who buy their entire wardrobe online, their phone online, their groceries online etc etc. I'm not much of an online shopper myself, but even so I rarely use cash and the reason is convenience.
I tend not to give homeless people money in general, I rather do it via an institution or buy them what they need. If they say they need some money for food I'll go shop with them if I have time. But I've indeed also walked to an ATM at various times, which are fortunately all over the place in my city. Even if I had cash I'd always be a bit conflicted to give... On the one hand I've spoken to various (ex) homeless people and they advised me not to give, not be naive for my sake and their sake (read: drug addiction, better dealt with by an institution which are pretty solid in my city). On the other hand, I've loved ones with homelessness in their past who've rebounded by the grace of complete strangers' help, including financial help, and didn't ever use drugs but were really down n out and on the street. You never know which of the two you're dealing with.
But let's be real, helping homeless people isn't exactly a daily use case. If it was something you do frequently enough, there'd be way better ways to do it than giving away random small bits of cash.
Everything else, digital is more convenient. For example if I have dinner with a buddy, on the way back home I'll grab my phone, open my banking app, click his address which is automatically saved from the first time I used it, type in the amount and press send. It's virtually the same as grabbing my wallet, calculating the tokens I owe him and handing it to him. Payments are literally like messaging for me, but you're sending digital value tokens instead of digital speech. Yes it's hella convenient to do digital messaging of money.
The thing about digital payment's that's more convenient is that I don't rely on carrying a specific denomination of cash with me, or rely on being in physical proximity to the payee. Need to send $500? Well I'd never carry that kind of cash, so that's an ATM trip for me, and then a trip to the guy I owe it to. Digital money is more convenient here.
Payments in stores? Both I and the cashier need to do basic calculations with the tokens using cash, and again I have to carry enough on me. Turns out digital cash is easier and faster. I have my card out by the time it's my turn in the queue, I let the cashier scan, then I hold my card next to a little NFC scanner and I start walking away. In some older places I put in a 4 digit pin, even so it's faster than cash. That's convenience for me.
Don't get me started on online payments, which are btw causing physical store bankruptcies left and right. I see it all around me, I've got friends who buy their entire wardrobe online, their phone online, their groceries online etc etc. I'm not much of an online shopper myself, but even so I rarely use cash and the reason is convenience.