> or have too large denominations that people refuse

In the US, if you have actually incurred a debt (e.g. you've already eaten your meal, or you've already had the repair performed, etc), the business can "refuse" payment in cash, but by so doing, they have effectively declared the debt void.

US legal tender case law permits businesses to refuse cash for non-debt-mediated transactions, but if a debt has been incurred, they have to accept it.

Well turns out that even with cash, you can still carry your debit card, just in case... Good God it really isnt that big of a deal to carry cash.

Getting cash is usually the issue, I don't get paid in cash and I have to make a special trip to get it.

> My credit cards, both the physical ones and the ones on my phone, work without an internet connection.

Of course not. I guess you haven't been to shops that say their network is down, so it's cash-only until it comes back online.

It used to be shops had those credit card imprint sliders to handle payments when phones lines were down, but nobody has those anymore (many credit cards don't even have the raised numbers anymore).

Really?

I’ve had multiple places not able to accept credit cards due to internet issues.

Literally had that last week. (Library, they had to call me later for payment.)

Accepting an offline transaction is at the discretion of the merchant, a payment terminal is going to be able to certify that a payment card is genuine, however as the issuer of the credit card may have the card reported stolen in its database, the merchant takes the risk of fraud in card-theft cases. So if as a merchant you have a well-known customer in front of you, you can still do the sale. Every acquirer can configure this to be more or less lenient for each issuer, and the tendency has been to be less and less lenient.

That makes sense, because I have paid in remote areas (no internet) before, thanks.