Why Do We Need Large Denomination Currency In Canada?

I think Sel said it best.

And glenzy, seeing that you're a retired RCMP (correct me if I'm wrong) that you're entirely biased about large denominations being used for crimes. The $20 bill is faked more often than other bills because people hardly check the security features on those. (Actually, I once had a clerk check my $10 bill so I checked my $5 change back. There's very little trust these days. How do you know those credit cards weren't stolen or fraudulent?)

I agree that cards take up way more time than is required. I pretty much cringe when the people ahead in line use those slow things. I also disagree with cell phone cash (giving people money with just touching cell phones) because how do you know that hackers won't take advantage of this remotely?

Cash is reality. I don't care about "points"; this isn't a game show. Nothing is "free" - it's paid for. It's like free crack or even coffee cards where you buy 10 get ONE free; the whole game is simply to get you hooked on their product and to keep on consuming to get one "free" item. It's not free because you've been paying into it the whole time.

If I bought everything with cash for the past 5 years...i would have the same things and ZERO points. I bought the SAME things with CC (for the exact same price) and I have 40,000 points. Thats roughly $350 in a gift card of my choice...

Well, I don't know what the procedure is in Canada but here in the States we just swipe the card and maybe punch in a PIN or electronically give a signature and that's it.
No fumbling with bills and coins or waiting for the cashier to give change.
Very easy-peasy.

2 things: 1 example doesn't prove your point. Secondly, you don't know if the guy is pocketing the money and not reporting it to the IRS or whatever your tax people are called in Canada.

I am 33 years old and have credit cards since I was 15. I have NEVER carried a balance. I charge everything, for the most part b/c when it comes to retail purchases. Why not? I can't go to the grocery store and haggle for a cash discount.

I will have to say that if you are in a position that you can haggle on purchase why not ask if cash would be cheaper?

I bought an AR-15 at the beginning of the year and the store gave me a pretty steep discount (larger than 3%) for cash.

But I bet the majority of your purchases are places you can't haggle. Now add up all of those purchases and think about all of the rewards you could have collected. Refer to RoyalSilver's response above.

You always hear of truthful stories of people who manage their credit card balances well.

So why is it that the total credit card debt for the country keeps rising exponentially each year?

If I can get a discount for paying cash, then I'll pay cash.
Otherwise I'll use my credit card to rack up points.
I pay the balance in full every month, so the credit card company doesn't get one cent in interest from me.
I pay my bill online, so I'm not even out the cost of a postage stamp!
Over the course of a year I rack up about $300 or so in points, so those small purchases really do add up.

My wife collects the points and I use usually debit card or cash. I have pulled several better coins (value €20+) from circulation so I keep using cash. Ok, the main reason to favour cash is of course coin collecting. Cards aren't slow here but I just feel better when using cash. But then, when you are dealing with travel agencies and airlines credit card is a must. Many have lost their savings due to bankcrypsies when paid with cash. What comes to paying bills in bank offices via human beings, they charge €5-6 per bill. So older people use automats here and all the other do it online. And back to the original question - €20 and €50 are the Finnish workhorses so I would be happy with only that large notes. €100, €200 and €500 rarely used anywhere here I quess.