[Dr. Sivana]

There is a grocery store about a mile from my house that doesn't take credit cards. I drive past it on my way to the other grocery store that does take credit cards. I don't write checks, and I don't feel like counting my pennies to see if I am carrying enough cash that day to buy everything on my list.

I'm not sure why a debit card won't do the job. The idea is that CREDIT should be for things that are not regular expenses. Most utulities have a surcharge for using credit cards. Often, the best price to be had on gasoline is a cash price. If you want to pay a bit more for using a credit card, especially if there are no true low margin supermarkets around, by all means, use the credit card. (BTW, Walmart is NOT the lowest price supermarket in any competitive area I've seen.)

I would also make an exception for those people who are on long trips and/or want to track their expenses better.

[WhiskeyX]

Debit cards do not “do the job” because they are so much more dangerous to use when compared to credit cards. Walmart stopped accepting personal checks without using a debit card to put a hold on the funds in your checking account, the exact same as using the debit card without the personal check. Since then we use only credit cards at Walmart, because we will not use a debit card transaction due to the risk of fraud and having the checking account funds being put on hold or the funds being drained out of the account by fraudlent transactions.

Before anyone uses a debit card for anything, they must read the articles about the dangers and see what risks they face by using a debit card.