Debit cards aren't half bad. You have to use your PIN to spend money, makes a thief maxing out your CC harder.
In most parts of Europe, you also don't have to pay %15-20 on top of every meal at a restaurant out of obligation. Tips really are only tips, you leave one based on the service you receive.
For the life of me, I really can't get over the fact that you have to leave a 15% tip by default in the US (unless there was something blatantly wrong with your meal, of course). I mean, I'm not a dick, I still do it, I just can't get accustomed to it.
And, contrawise, when I went to Australia (coming from Norther California) and was told that I didn't have to tip 18% on all restaurant meals, I was actually _incapable_ of not doing so. So, even though it meant out of pocket money for me, It was better than having to deal with (completely false) belief that the serving person would think I was a total dick for not tipping them.
Getting back on topic (slighty) - I've had about $200 in cash in my pocket for the last couple months - I don't recall the last time I've been somewhere that I didn't use my Credit Card. Makes tracking my expenses via Mint.com a heckuva lot more straightforward.
You don't _have_ to leave a tip. People don't appreciate it, and if you get not-bad service you should tip adequately, but the tip is a mechanism designed to encourage servers to meet your needs as well as possible, and not neglect their patrons. I think they work well, generally. In most places, a tip is not mandatory (I have heard of some establishments banning frequent non-tippers), though you generally leave one anyway to gauge the server's performance. i.e., bad performance gets 5-10%, normal 10-20%, awesome 20%+.
You say that you don't have to tip and then advocate tipping 5-10% for bad performance in the same paragraph? Of course there is no legal obligation to tip, since if there was it couldn't be called a tip-- it would just be itemized billing. But the fact that in the US wait staff can be legally paid less than the minimum wage (before tips) provides an ethical argument for tipping, if not a legal one.
In most parts of Europe, you also don't have to pay %15-20 on top of every meal at a restaurant out of obligation. Tips really are only tips, you leave one based on the service you receive.
For the life of me, I really can't get over the fact that you have to leave a 15% tip by default in the US (unless there was something blatantly wrong with your meal, of course). I mean, I'm not a dick, I still do it, I just can't get accustomed to it.