Don’t use a credit card? You’re giving $150 a year to those of us who do.

While reading this New York Times piece about The Points Guy I came across and interesting fact, the average cash-using (or debit card-using) household paid $149 to credit card-using households, who received on average $1,133 from cash users.

How can that be? Merchants are charging higher prices on goods to cover the interchange fees that they pay for credit card transactions, but you pay the same price no matter which payment instrument you use. If you use a credit card with a rewards program, some of that interchange fee is sent to the buyer as a kickback, otherwise you’re shit out of luck.

So we should all use credit cards all of the time, right? Well, it depends. First of all, if you have bad credit, a credit card may not be available (or at least not one with a good rewards program). And speaking of bad credit, credit cards are often the reason why some people get into trouble in the first place. But if you have the means and the self control, it seems silly to pull a debit card out of your wallet, or even worse, cold hard cash.

Cash transactions take longer than card ones, especially if you use tap-to-pay (e.g. Apple Pay), and cash is a excellent medium for spreading disease. Cash can also be lost or stolen, and while I’ve experienced having my credit card stolen as well, the experience ultimately didn’t cost me a dime.

So what’s in my wallet? I know that if I wanted to go crazy with points and airline miles I could, but I detest the hoops that they require me to jump through, so I stick to cards that simply give cash back, and I have three of them:

1. Chase Amazon Card: I only use this card at Amazon where I get 5% back, and I shop a lot on Amazon. The “cash” is in the form of credit which I can spend at Amazon.
2. Citi Costco Card: I use this card at Costco (2% back), restaurants (3% back) and travel (3% back). The “cash” is in the form of a once-a-year check which is only redeemable at Costco.
3. Apple Card: I use this card for everything I don’t use the other two for. Any Apple Pay transaction gives me 2% back, while physical card and online transactions give me 1% back. There are certain merchants where I get 3% (e.g. Apple, Nike and Uber). The “cash” is in the form of Apple Cash which accumulates daily and can be transferred for free to my bank account.

I also carry two folded-up 20 dollar bills in my wallet (which is very small), but I’m tempted to remove them because I cannot remember the last time I had to use them. Thanks to Square food trucks and farmer’s market vendors take cards almost universally, and the few who don’t are easy to avoid. Credit card buyers spend 12–18% more on average than cash buyers, so I’m not sure why a merchant wouldn’t want to pay 2.6% in processing fees, unless they are hiding money from the government. For those who like cash because they see the spending friction that comes with it as a benefit, there are debit cards with spending controls can keep the convenience of a card without breaking the bank (but sadly without the kickbacks).

I’m looking forward to the day when cash is as dead as the paper it’s printed on.