In EU there are now 7 countries no longer minting 1 and 2 cent euro coins. Cash payments need to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5-cents.
https://www.eestipank.ee/en/press/rounding-rule-will-start-apply-payments-cash-new-year-27122024At the same time, €500 bank notes were removed from circulation a few years ago as they were mostly used on the parallel economy, for tax evasion and criminal payments. Even €200 notes are not accepted by most merchants. Transactions above a certain limit (e.g. €3000 for Portugal) can't be made in cash as a measure against tax evasion.
Cash payments continue to decline in popularity and total value. We mostly use debit cards, not credit. I rarely carry any cash at all. A few countries are already mostly cashless - in Norway, only 4% of transactions are now cash.
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/stats/paysec/html/ecb.pis2024h1~5263055ced.en.htmlIn many countries no one tips at all, and no one expects a tip. We pay good living wages instead, and sale prices take that into account (and are still cheaper than in US). In Germany a 0€ to 5€ tip is perfectly fine regardless of the total meal amount.
All cards are contactless (NFC), with pin and chip. Just touch or insert them in the payment terminal, usually no need to enter the pin for payments < 50€ or so. Your card never leaves your hand, instead everyone has portable card readers that they bring to the table.
Using the phone as payment is also very popular amongst the younger generation - it uses NFC to convey your debit/credit card, Google Pay, Paypal or whatever you chose as backend, so it works exactly the same as a contactless card, just touch it against the reader.
