Lufthansa Encourages Travellers to Embrace Germany’s Cash Culture

German airline Lufthansa offers a quick guide on ‘How to Meet the Germans’ and it emphasises the importance of keeping coins and banknotes to hand at all times since ‘only cash is king.’

In its pamphlet, recently shared on LinkedIn, two of Lufthansa’s German Top 10 points include cash. ‘Small change for small business’ explains that the saucers seen at the entrance to toilets in public spaces such as clubs or stadiums are to give cash tips to toilet attendants, whom it describes as ‘Deutsch as a German shepherd’, warning that ‘anyone who doesn’t pay (at least 50 cents) is barked at.’

The second point covers the saying Nur Bares ist Wahres (only cash is king), and its importance to everyday life in Germany. It says that whether buying bread rolls, soft drinks or kebabs, ‘don’t pay with a card’. This, it explains, is because ‘Germans have a close relationship with cash’, meaning many venues will prefer or perhaps even require payment in notes and coins.

In a previous article exploring this ‘close relationship’, we saw the reasons behind it include financial control—both in terms of privacy and reduced spending—plus the simplicity of cash, making it usable by everyone from the very young to the very old.

The benefits of cash when travelling are not limited to cash-loving societies such as Germany or Japan, either: experts recommend carrying local currency whenever visiting other countries ‘to save time, money and embarrassment’. Having a fixed amount of cash can help stay within a vacation budget, plus it offers the advantage of avoiding the often-unclear transaction fees added to cashless payments. It will also avoid problems when paying small businesses or taxis, which may prefer cash payments or simply be unequipped to accept cashless.