Re: YA bored Tommy Troll Thread (was ...)

On 5/12/25 10:20, Tom Elam wrote:

On 5/11/2025 7:36 AM, -hh wrote:

On 5/9/25 14:52, Tom Elam wrote:

On 4/30/2025 3:26 PM, -hh wrote:

On 4/16/25 11:17, Tom Elam wrote:

On 4/2/2025 3:33 PM, -hh wrote:

On 4/1/25 18:15, Tom Elam wrote:

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Hugh, there are bills like income taxes, property taxes and our electric bill that we pay with direct debit rather than a credit card. Why? The credit card service fees exceed the 2% cash back on my card. I always watch for those fees, but have not ever see a 10%.

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I don't believe that I've seen 10% before either, but now I have.
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However, a travel agency we use charges 5%. I send a check.

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Merely an illustration of attention to detail for each vendor.  As I've mentioned before, a goodly number of my local small merchants do have "cash discounts" (eg, CC surcharges) and they're greater than 2%.
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Of course for travel, there's also a risk trade-off here, as using a credit card offers some additional protections vs cash.
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During 2024 ...

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That's really your business.
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-hh

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I never said that a credit card is ALWAYS the way to go.

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Its what you implied when you said that you've never seen merchant signs for CC surcharges/Cash discounts ... and that's a claim that you repeat once again below:
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There are many exceptions, and I cited some. However, for day-to- day payments my 2% card is the way to go, as is my 5%-back Target DEBIT card. Exceptions include paying taxes. I use direct debit for IRS and Indiana Dept. of Revenue for estimated taxes. Same for property taxes. No fee for these using direct debit, 3% or more for a credit card. Same for my utility bills.
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As for our small local businesses I do not think I have ever seen a sign for cash discount. Certainly not at chain stores.

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See?
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All that said, last year we earned about $1,500 on our 2% credit (and 5% at Target) rebate cards. I drove my Accord 15,600 miles on $1,070 of fuel (I have a Google Drive spreadsheet.) Our total gasoline cost was $1,660 (Quicken). So the rebates almost paid for our auto fuel.
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The $1,500 in rebates is about $30,000 in spending. Total spend was $185,000 give or take.

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Whereas the trip we've just returned from had a $954 savings from just from our accommodations being cash instead of CC, and is this year's example of the potential from just offering the cash alternative.
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There were big chunks that were a credit card was not the best
way to pay, or the vendor required a check. Almost nothing was
cash. Well, the neighborhood cat sitter was about $1,000 because were were gone so much, was all cash.
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Cash for international travel is not advisable in most countries. It does come in handy for tips, taxi fares, etc. For most expenses I use credit cards not for the rebate but for fraud protection. If I need cash there is usually a bank ATM available.

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The use of credit has been on a big upswing.  We've been doing that too, although we still like having 'starting cash' in small denominations (& coins) for international destinations for small incidentals...plus to use where credit card theft is a concern.
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Likewise, there can be ATMs as an option as well - if there is one on the island (and its not out of service)!  These are considerations which aren't really germane to saving money from CC "cash back" features.
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-hh

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Wow, $954 for cash instead of credit card? At 3.5% expense to that provider that's a ~$27,000 expense. I'm guessing that the discount was a lot more than 3.5%. So why, if that is the case? Where is the accommodation provider saving more than credit card expense? Taxes? An exchange rate scam? My curious mind wants to know.

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Yes, more than your 3.5% guess.  And no, its not any sort of exchange rate scam/tax evasion/etc: we're just a good repeat customer, so we got a quite favorable rate.
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We are on the way home from Zygreb tomorrow. It's been 2 weeks in Italy and Croatia. My travel company is a sold proprietor LLC and takes checks only. So unlike cash there are traceable records. He is reputable, and certainly offers no discount for actual cash.

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Oh, I have a receipts too, so there's traceable records in case I had to file some sort of travel insurance claim/etc.  Checking the rental car's receipt, it shows a -5% cash discount.
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This trip did not include airfare, and airlines do not offer cash discounts. About 2/3 of the meal expense, all hotels, bus transport and numerous included attraction admissions were included in the package. One meal was quite memorable. Eight courses at a Michelin Star restaurant at the 5 star hotel where we spent 5 nights.

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One obtains trip memories in different ways; for this year, it was that the weather enabled multiple 'green flash' sunsets which we enjoyed.
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OTOH, I also had a crew mishandle & drop my UW camera which caused some fairly significant damage...roughly 10% of its original price plus a day at home to do the repairs.  Could have been worse, but the WA lens I use is presently on a clearance discount ($400 discount).
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Looking forward, a trip later this year requires formal wear.  My old tuxedo is long gone, so I need to check my "good enough for Europe" black business suit and may need to be replaced for the trip.
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For the rest I took a few hundred Euro out of bank ATMs and put some on my credit cards. Nobody had a cash discount offered, and I did not ask. One small purchase on a family farm operation was made with PayPal using 0 fee friends and family terms because I ran low on cash and they did not take cards.

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Its quite easy to overlook cc surcharges at small businesses, such as for a lunch; locally, I'm finding 3% to be common, although some with website ordering systems are adding a $1 "convenience fee" now too.
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For ATMs, used them twice on the aforementioned trip; US$3 surcharge isn't bad, considering that it was at the favored exchange rate.  Did come back a bit heavy on that currency, but we know we'll be going back, so its not a big deal to hold onto it.
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One meal was at a motorway Croatia McDonald's. New and very modern, it was VERY different from the U.S. Totally different menu, extensive coffee/tea bar, and quite a dessert selection.
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This is Europe after all. Pretty sophisticated.

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Yes, they've become quite nice and are quite different.  I ended my personal snob 'boycott' of overseas McD's some time ago; most recent visit was in Tokyo...found eggs on top of many burgers.  I think the time before that was the same café style in a rest stop near Bratislava.
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Ever been to Croatia? My first trip, and the country is stunning.

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Not yet; heard good things about it from a friend that's been there several times .. their main complaint had been that its been overrun with Russians, but that might have been dated by pre-2022 visits, as they've also commented that there's fewer Russians now in Czechia.
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-hh
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 I was not referring to your side of the $954 cash discount. I was referring to the merchant side. Why would a rational merchant give up that much for a 3.5-4% credit card fee?

Don't know.  Its possible that they don't care for some aspect of their web-based booking service beyond just the cut they take.  For example, some of those hold payments back for weeks, whereas my cash payment was immediate.  They're not hurting for money, so it could also be that cash is simply fewer hassles/more convenient for them, which they've quantified through the magnitude of the savings.

The only place I see service charges for credit card use here in Carmel are for tax payments - Federal, State and local Property taxes. I do see such at some such gas stations, but only 1-2% for fuel only.

Some of it is also remembering to keep an eye out for it.

We did not hear any Russian speakers in Croatia. The two conferences at our hotel while we were there were EU based. Siemens management and a trade group on road paving technology. English was no problem at all.

But do you actually have the ear to recognize it over the other Slavic languages, especially when found out walking in the streets?  I know that my own ear is pretty tin (bad) to that distinction/nuances, despite having worked professionally with Eastern Europeans, including Russia.
-hh