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Do your weekly shopping and collect cash directly from a sink – it’s very easy. What you should consider when handing over money in the supermarket.
Germans love their cash – but there is a continuous decline in cash payments, while at the same time other payment options are becoming more popular, informs German Bundesbank in the monthly report for January 2024. However, access to cash must still be guaranteed, but the number of ATMs and bank counters has declined in recent years, according to the German Bundesbank. To make it easy to get cash, you can say that you would like to withdraw money when shopping in the supermarket before paying.
Withdrawing cash in the supermarket: What you need to consider
With the cashback function, customers can withdraw money in the supermarket. © HalfPoint Images/Imago
Around 12.31 billion euros were picked up in stores nationwide in 2023, reported Swrfernsehen.de and refers to information from the Cologne trade research institute EHI. Before the pandemic (2019), only 2.2 billion euros were said to have been withdrawn. If you want to withdraw money when making your purchase, you must find out in advance what conditions apply. For example, in some stores there is a certain purchase value that you must have reached. The general procedure:
- Place goods on the checkout conveyor belt.
- When all items have passed the belt, the cashier announces the total price.
- State that you want to pay by card and still take cash with you at the same time. Sometimes it may be a good idea to mention the amount first before saying that you want to pay by card – if you are too late with your request, you may be out of luck.
The further procedure hardly differs from the normal payment process with the debit card. On the reader you will see the total amount – i.e. the purchase plus the withdrawal request – you then usually have to enter your PIN. Remember that you take the money with you after the checkout process.
Withdraw money at the supermarket
Pay attention to the information on which cards and with what minimum value of goods the service can be used. It is also important that you can usually withdraw a maximum of around 200 euros in the supermarket.
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Are there any costs associated with withdrawing money from the supermarket?
As a customer you don’t have to worry, with the so-called cashback function you won’t incur any additional costs. You benefit from not being able to find the right ATM or possibly having to pay fees there. You only have to purchase the minimum amount in the store of your choice. The banks also benefit from this because they set up fewer ATMs and can therefore save money. The offer is associated with costs for the markets – there is a fee of several cents per withdrawal, informed T-online.de.
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Cashback in the supermarket: where could there be difficulties?
Of course, customers cannot withdraw money from self-service checkouts. “Cashback and cash-in-shop offers are practically no longer possible due to the disappearance of manned checkouts in stores and reduced options for cash payments,” say the experts German Bundesbank in the monthly report for January 2024.
In principle, there could also be problems with debit cards – for example from Visa or Mastercard – in some markets, informed Swrfernsehen.de. However, customers do not need to have major security concerns when withdrawing money in the supermarket – as with ATMs, you should just make sure that the PIN is not spied on. Furthermore, it may be unpleasant for some people that other customers notice how much money they are withdrawing. If you as a customer want to withdraw money shortly after the store opens, you should also note that larger amounts are sometimes not possible. What can become problematic when withdrawing money in the supermarket.
