&gt; You want to buy a bottle of coke from a vending machine? Most of them don&#x27;t have card readers.<p>I never have that urge tbh.<p>&gt; You want to tip the valet&#x2F;bellman&#x2F;maid? Most of them don&#x27;t have card readers; even if they do, it&#x27;s still inconvenient to make them dig it out.<p>Yeah, when I&#x27;m on vacation I&#x27;ll run to the bank and get some $5 bills for that sort of thing. Hence &quot;regularly&quot; was the word I used. I&#x27;m not on that sort of vacation 51 out of 52 weeks a year.<p>&gt; Feeling compassionate toward the beggar on the corner? Think he&#x27;s got a card reader?<p>I donate directly to large charities that I know provide food, etc. to people. I honestly don&#x27;t see beggars on street corners [largely because the local police are assholes].<p>&gt; Want to pay the babysitter? Does she carry a card reader?<p>Actually yeah. She does.<p>&gt; Then there&#x27;s the other side of risk. Ever had your identity stolen? (I have, though not from a dodgy card reader.) And if you think chip and pin is going to make that impossible, I expect that the crooks will find a way.<p>Yes. If you meant actually identity theft [e.g. social, driver license] so they can masquerade as you...a lack of credit card provides no protection. The insurance companies you use, your employer, your bank, and dozens [if not hundreds] of &quot;big data&quot; companies have this info as well.<p>If you somehow believe a lack of a credit card will magically secure you against this risk, you are very much mistaken.<p>Stolen credit cards, honestly, are much less of a problem than stolen cash. I can get the money back from a stolen credit card.