In article >,
The Bubbo > wrote:

> I wonder if this is a generational or regional thing. I never ever EVER carry
> more than $40 cash on me. If I am depositing Money or hiting the atm I might
> get $40 out for coffee or incidentals, but I don't carry any cash of
> consequence on me and neither do any of my friends. We've talked about it and
> we just think it's weird. I pay for just about everything with my debit card.
> I don't like carrying cash on me, it's creepy.
>
> Both my parents (dad from new jersey and mom from upstate new york) always
> have larger sums of cash on them.
>
> I first noticed this when I worked at the theatre. Generally, tickets would
> sell from $50 to $70 each and it was rare to see anyone paying in cash and
> there was a weird feeling whenever they did (not that they were weird, I just
> think Minnesotans love their plastic more).

I rarely carry much cash, either. The other problem with cash is
that it disappears and there's nothing left to show where it went;
at least with a debit card there's (usually) a receipt.

It's changing, but when I moved to Minnesota 20-ump years ago, the
paper check was king around here. Dang, Minnesotans wrote checks for
_everything_. "Your burger came to $3.35." "Okay, here's my check."
"Newspaper, mister?" "Sure." "That's 35 cents." "OK. [rip] Here you
are." In fact, when the Mall-o opened, they warned merchants that,
no matter what their check-writing policies were at their _other_
stores, Minnesotan expected to be able to write checks, so they'd
better except their MoA stores.

Now writing a check is about as easy as paying with dollar coins and
two-dollar bills. So it seems most folks here are using plastic.
But, yeah, the behavior hasn't changed much.

sd