Decline of cash payments in Germany is worrying, says consumer agency

The Federal Association of Consumer Protection Agencies (Verbraucherzentralen) has said the decline of cash payments in Germany is a worrying trend.

Verbraucherzentralen warn of hurdles to cash payments

Speaking to the dpa, finance expert at the Verbraucherzentralen, Dorothea Mohn, has warned that German supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and other businesses are restricting customers from paying with cash.

“The acceptance of cash in retail, hospitality and public administration is decreasing continually,” Mohn explained, adding that taking the option away means groups who do not have access to digital payment methods - such as children and old people - are partially excluded from engaging in public life.

Mohn urged that new technologies, such as self-service checkouts and parking ticket machines, must support cash payments in the future. “This must be achieved through a quota of cash-accepting ticket machines, self-service checkouts, or staffed checkouts per store,” the Verbraucherzentralen wrote in a list of demands.

Germany has been slower than other countries to adopt self-service checkouts. According to figures from the EHI retail research institute, there are 71.000 checkouts in Germany. In 2023, just 16.000 of these were self-service checkouts, but the figure jumped to 38.650 in 2025.

But cash is still king in Germany

All that said, a recent study from the Deutschen Bundesbank found that paying with cash is still nearly always possible in Germany. Researchers made 2.000 test purchases at retailers, in hospitality or for services, and found that a cash payment was possible in 98,7 percent of cases. In 0,7 percent of cases, it was possible to pay with cash at another till or on request.

However, the study found that for services carried out by German administrative bodies, such as updating your residence permit, the option to pay with cash was less common. In eight out of 30 cases it wasn’t possible.