Done ranting
I pay cash, and I pay the full marked price, and that's the end of it. I use a credit card, and they rebate me 1% on groceries at the end of the month. Better return than they give me on my savings.
You have a valid point and I used to be the one paying cash for everything.
However, the credit card is pretty low risk these days with the credit card company owning any theft above $50. Actually, they (or the business) have covered theft below $50 in the rare instances that it has happened.
As a result of the credit card company’s liability, there are people watching my purchases for anything suspicious and I will instantly get a call whenever there is a questionable charge.
Best of all, a credit card is probably more secure than writing a check and especially a debit card. And I don’t have to carry cash around in my billfold which I might lose or it might get stolen. And then there is the time value of money — with a credit card, I only spend the exact money that I need and nothing more.
And, last but not least, I pay off the credit card each month so that there is no interest. Plus the points count as cash and have been beating the interest on my savings by a mile. The cash value for the points is huge.
Of course, the down side is that there is a fee to the business for all charges and, in the end, businesses have to charge more which I and everyone else pay more.
I use debit only at Safeway instead of cash. I don’t usually carry around cash. The debit takes about 20 seconds to make the transaction if done properly. That’s not much more than digging in your pocket for cash, handing it to the checker and then waiting for change.