• The possibility of withdrawing money directly when shopping is actually quite practical.
  • According to an analysis, most Germans do not use this service.
  • Although the proportion would have increased compared to 2019, only just under 9 percent of consumers use the offer regularly.

Frankfurt / Bonn. Most consumers in Germany still do not use the option to withdraw money at the checkout. According to a Kantar survey, the proportion of those who buy cash from their own account when shopping in the supermarket or paying at the hardware store, for example, has increased significantly. However, 58.7 percent of 1,000 adults surveyed on behalf of Postbank do not make use of this so-called cashback service.

Pandemic: No need to go to the machine

In the previous survey in April 2019, however, the proportion of “cashback” refusers was much higher at 72 percent. Postbank, which belongs to Deutsche Bank, is making a clear trend: Because people were less on the move because of the pandemic, many would have saved themselves the trip to the ATM or the bank counter and instead used the shopping or the stop at the gas station to stock up on cash .

8.2 percent use the service regularly

While in 2019 just 27 percent of those surveyed said they used “cashback”, 41.3 percent said so in the survey in April of this year. According to their own statements, 33.1 (2019: 21) percent use the service from time to time; 8.2 (2019: 6) percent do this regularly.

In many supermarkets, drugstores or hardware stores, it is possible to withdraw money at the till with a minimum purchase value of usually 10 or 20 euros. As a rule, a customer can take a maximum of 200 euros with them. The retailer debits the paid amount from the customer’s account together with the purchase value.