I'm afraid I don't follow. If I'm going on a trip, I walk into the bank and take out as much cash as I think I'll need. Then I go on the trip and spend it. If I run out of money then I get more from a bank machine, $200 would be enough for a couple of weeks, maybe more, in America, so I'm not seeing the problem here at all.

I think, of course, that people who use debit cards in shops are anti-social and those who use them in the express check out lane should be wheeled out and shot. I don't think it's fair to make other people suffer because you're not organised enough to have cash at hand.

It's really not necessary to go to such lengths you know.. All you have to do is to contact your bank online or in person and tell them to increase your daily maximum to the maximum (usually $1500 per day). Being worry-worts they'll suggest you reset it when you come back, but frankly, **** them.

Shooting people in the check out lane has a certain charm though.

How anti-social?
And whats wrong with using them in the express lane?
Unless you have a disability or handicap then it really is not any slower than paying by cash,unless the machine is slow!
I always used my debit card back in the UK,in Canada I use cash for the likes of Tim Hortons,but debit card for shopping.

Slow, slow, slow. I would have posted this yesterday had I not been stuck behind someone who didn't know which end of the card was which and then had to wait for the message to transmit to and from their bank over Canadian phone lines. I'm torn over which is worse, having too many items or not having money; neither is the act of a civilised person.

I'm indifferent, of course, to what means people use to finance their drive thru stodge.