I was over at a sister company in Chicago in 2017 and couldn’t believe how far behind they were then. All customers were still paying by check (as they say in the US). No contactless payment available then either. So glad I took cash, made things easier

It’s hilarious when Americans sneer at Australians for not having Venmo without realising we don’t have it because we can transfer money to people fee free in seconds from our bank account

It's surprising that you're posting this when 79% of payments in the US are made by card or electronically directly from bank accounts. America First will for sure make things worse, but... not in the way you are describing.

Here in Portugal you point your phone at a QRcode or just ask for their phone number and send it to them.

I remember using contactless payments in Europe back in 2005 (they were around earlier, just remember me starting to use it regularly in 2005), are they still not common place in the US? Genuine question

Yup. It’s how the auto industry lost control of their dominance in the 60s. The big 3 US companies ignored the younger generation’s aesthetic while VW and Datsun (aka Nissan) swept in and overtook their markets.

Wait? America doesn't have contactless?

Here in panama we have it too

Two things struck me when working for American companies. 1) how they assumed the whole world accepted American Express (we more commonly used Visa or MasterCard) and 2) when I travelled how many stores in the US still used checks (long since a defunct practice in the UK)

I lived in the USA for 10 years and was shocked how analogue everything was. Coming from the UK where (even in 2007) most things were digital and online, every transaction in the USA comes with a huge amount of physical paperwork. Deposit for a house - had to get a bankers draft. Signing up for a mobile phone, cable T or utilises, mounds of paperwork. One thing that was widespread in the USA before here though was being able to deposit a cheque by uploading a picture to the bank app.