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Thats what I pretty much expected. This was a topic that was covered way back in 2014. When I started my research for my 1st Camino back then. Think you may have even commented Kanga. I kinda remember your name as being a fellow aussie.It was the last time I walked. Cash everywhere except hotels and in the bigger places. But that was in 2019, before Covid. With hygiene protocols here in Australia, pretty much everything is now "touch and go" with credit cards. I still can't see that happening in the rural areas of Spain. Set-up costs I imagine would be prohibitive for small businesses.
My experience in Ireland is very similar and so i have wondered would the same happen in Spain even in rural areas. Since February last year i have hardly ever used cash and even the smallest shops bakeries coffee huts market stalls etc all prefer contactless payment. Cash payments are actively discouraged.Just to note that during the pandemic, Spanish banks (for Spanish customers) have really been pushing people to use "tap to pay" (with the actual card or Apple Pay or Google Pay). The use of this has really grown over the last year and you will find it available in many places, at least in stores and even smaller businesses. In the last 12 months I find myself barely using cash anymore.
This may not be the case for albergues though... not sure.
My Camino was in Sept/Oct 2019. I had Mastercard and my bank debit card. I typically took cash from ATMs when I could and paid with Euros. I did this because the smaller Albergues get whacked a fee with each credit card processed. Given all we get from them, I just felt it important to give them cash and save them the fees. Most of them appreciated that. Some did prefer the plastic
Just to note that during the pandemic, Spanish banks (for Spanish customers) have really been pushing people to use "tap to pay" (with the actual card or Apple Pay or Google Pay). The use of this has really grown over the last year and you will find it available in many places, at least in stores and even smaller businesses. In the last 12 months I find myself barely using cash anymore.
Just to note that during the pandemic, Spanish banks (for Spanish customers) have really been pushing people to use "tap to pay" (with the actual card or Apple Pay or Google Pay). The use of this has really grown over the last year and you will find it available in many places, at least in stores and even smaller businesses. In the last 12 months I find myself barely using cash anymore.
This may not be the case for albergues though... not sure.
The fees used to be a thing, but I think the banks has also reduced them now.. this is less of an issue than it used to be I think.
I've also been wondering how Covid-19 recommendations and rules have accelerated the move to electronic and digital payment along the caminos in Spain. I have made the same observations where I live as others have made: contactless payment and other forms of non-cash payment are now preferred or offered, even by pop-up fruit stalls along a country road.
Official recommendations issued last year to pilgrims in Spain advised that pilgrims should prioritise payment by mobile app or card although they should not forget to bring métalico (coinscash) for the donativo in the albergues de acogída.
I don't use payment apps on my phone yet but anyone who has a mobile phone can in principle make and receive payments through this method and no further investment is required. Whether you are in favour of carrying a mobile phone or not or are indifferent, you may know how well in particular the Camino Frances is covered by Spanish mobile phone providers and how many pilgrim albergues can be reached via WhatsApp. So I guess that much of the infrastructure for non-cash payment is already available and in place.
I use cash 90% of the time. The exceptions being when I stay in hotels in the larger towns. Has @Albertagirl points out, often times getting smaller bills or breaking larger bills can be a challenge. I use the larger bills in bigger establishments (chain grocery stores, pharmacists and the like) and set the change aside for use in the smaller establishments. There is nothing like the glare of a bartender when you pull out a €50 euro note to pay for a glass of wine to make you appreciate €10 euro note.
Very good idea (tip or extra) and I think contactless payments make total sense as they open up. Thanks for all the comments.IVAR SAID #10
I understand your sentiments about fees...you can always add a “tip” if you are
Wanting to off set the fee. If you pay 15 euros for your bunk bed add a euro on to that amount...it will more than cover the approximate 30 cents your albergue owner is being charged based upon circa two percent fee!
In addition, if you can eat at the albergue add that into one the transaction...some Albergues allow this.
If you spend 40 euros @ 2 percent that is 80 cents.
1 euro still covers the fee! IMO using tap technology keeps us and the owners safer as Ivar suggests.
I’d be embarrassed to pay with coins at a donativo.I've also been wondering how Covid-19 recommendations and rules have accelerated the move to electronic and digital payment along the caminos in Spain. I have made the same observations where I live as others have made: contactless payment and other forms of non-cash payment are now preferred or offered, even by pop-up fruit stalls along a country road.
Official recommendations issued last year to pilgrims in Spain advised that pilgrims should prioritise payment by mobile app or card although they should not forget to bring métalico (coinscash) for the donativo in the albergues de acogída.
I don't use payment apps on my phone yet but anyone who has a mobile phone can in principle make and receive payments through this method and no further investment is required. Whether you are in favour of carrying a mobile phone or not or are indifferent, you may know how well in particular the Camino Frances is covered by Spanish mobile phone providers and how many pilgrim albergues can be reached via WhatsApp. So I guess that much of the infrastructure for non-cash payment is already available and in place.
Agreed.I usually have plenty of change to pay for small items. if anything ,I am always trying to get rid of coins....who wants to slug them around for10 miles!
I thought at first that métalico means coins but when I checked an online dictionary I saw that it means cash.I’d be embarrassed to pay with coins at a donativo.
Not all coins are created equal...just saying.He got a laugh and quite a few slowly put the coins away and produced some real money.
Agreed.
I keep a pot of €1 coins at home to rake with me every time. I get in the habit of dropping a couple of € in my rucksack whenever I have ample in my small coin purse.
Last time I returned home I found I was carrying nearly €50 in small chan
My Camino was in Sept/Oct 2019. I had Mastercard and my bank debit card. I typically took cash from ATMs when I could and paid with Euros. I did this because the smaller Albergues get whacked a fee with each credit card processed. Given all we get from them, I just felt it important to give them cash and save them the fees. Most of them appreciated that. Some did prefer the plastic option.
The fees used to be a thing, but I think the banks has also reduced them now.. this is less of an issue than it used to be I think.
There is nothing strange about this. If you use a card to pay, the money goes into the bank account of this business. This means that the transaction needs to have the correct sales tax (normally 21% in Spain). It means it goes "on the books".As I pointed out in a similar thread a while ago (a moderator erased my contribution, because he/she felt that it broke some rules...), there is another reason why albergues prefer cash.
Payments made by card, Apple- or Google Pay etc. leave traces to which the Spanish IRS has access.
This is what I tried to point out in my post exactly.....There is nothing strange about this. If you use a card to pay, the money goes into the bank account of this business. This means that the transaction needs to have the correct sales tax (normally 21% in Spain). It means it goes "on the books".
If you pay in cash, the owner of the business may decide to just pocket the money and not pay the 21% sales tax.
There is no secret access to anything..
No. It’s becoming commonplace as an option for online transactions.Is PayPal only an American thing?
OK. Hope this doesnt sound like a silly question. But I last walked the French Way back in May 2015. Yes I know only 6 years ago. But things can change.
Back then ,cash was king in most situations. And understandably so. Lots of small rural centres. With little electronic money transfer facilities.
My question is. And it really doesnt bother me. Just something I was thinking on. Have things changed in that respect over the last 6 years? Or is Cash still King?
Cheers
Craig
My last Camino was in 2019 and the simple answer is yes cash is still king.OK. Hope this doesnt sound like a silly question. But I last walked the French Way back in May 2015. Yes I know only 6 years ago. But things can change.
Back then ,cash was king in most situations. And understandably so. Lots of small rural centres. With little electronic money transfer facilities.
My question is. And it really doesnt bother me. Just something I was thinking on. Have things changed in that respect over the last 6 years? Or is Cash still King?
Cheers
Craig
I had trouble with Renfe accepting my credit card, so I used PayPal to buy train tickets online. My US bank credit card didn't have a contactless chip in it, so I started using Google Pay on my phone when I was in Spain. Now I use it every place that accepts contactless payments. Fortunately, neither my credit card nor debit card charge foreign transaction fees, and my Charles Schwab account that I use for travel refunds me all ATM fees when I withdraw money.I use PayPal for online transactions but use Google Pay on my phone for contactless payments
It doesn’t matter. The Covid-19 health crisis has accelerated digitalisation processes.Covid is very rarely spread by touching things. Just saying.
A pity for those who live outside the narrowly defined concentional box. Not everyone wants plastic, but this forces it on them.The Covid-19 health crisis has accelerated digitalisation processes.
I assume that everyone who has a bank account has a card, a tarjeta. Again, I am not too familiar with the situation in Spain but from what I hear and see they are in line with developments in other European countries. Even to get cash from your own account, you need your card. You will be lucky if you still get it from a person at the bank's counter and they don't send you to a machine to get it yourself. And remember that unlike elsewhere, cheques are barely in existence anymore in numerous EU countries. I wonder whether the Spanish government sends paper cheques to people, for example. My guess is that they don't.A pity for those who live outside the narrowly defined concentional box. Not everyone wants plastic, but this forces it on them.
True enough, but not everyone has a bank account.I assume that everyone who has a bank account has a card
I don't think that there are any plans to make it a "cashless only" Camino or a "cashless only" economy, just a bit more cashless.certainly those pilgrims from places where bank accounts are not universal would be gravely disagvantaged by the loss of a cash economy.
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