Payment methods in Vietnam

gobot wrote:

dbrutter wrote:

Like everyone else said, "Cash is King" in Vietnam.

Y'all don't forget gold! Gold is king in Vietnam.
Dollar* is queen.
Dong is only prince. Government devalues dong to dollar all the time.

Fun fact:
1. Vietnamese dong is currently the 2nd least valuable currency unit in the world
15 Lowest Currencies in the world Devaluation:
1 dong = 1 dollar in 1960. Then dong started going down.
Historical chart I just discovered

Bringing C notes:
Family member tried to change old style $100 bills last week, nope, gold shop only wants new style now.

* There is only one dollar. HK dollar, Australia dollar, Jamaica dollar, Namibia dollar, etc.
Those aren't dollars.

Investing in gold is the most sensible option at this point of time, I guess!

The guy from the internet and tv company just came to my house to collect the monthly fee. I paid by debit card as usual. Most chains take debit cards. You still need cash for the markets and small business.

In Canada I was one of the first small businesses in Toronto to get a point of sale machine when they became available for small businesses. My sales increased significantly but so did my sales taxes. Overall it was a win because debit cards were so ubiquitous by then. My salespeople were good at getting people to go to the nearby bank machine but most had only a 400 limit for cash withdrawals. Most people's banks had a much higher limit for point of sale purchases. The increase in sales was significant and permanent. That's how you know an idea works.

I don't know if it makes sense here to have a POS machine at a fish or produce stall.
I suspect it wouldn't.

I suspect you are correct. I don't think Vietnam is ready for POS in most markets yet ... but they'll catch up soon enough.

I've seen more than one independent vendor (in Danang at Vincom Plaza & at a small  neighborhood restaurant, in Hoi An, in Quy Nhơn at the night market and in HCMC at Ben Thanh market) using something that looked like a SQUARE POS device plugged into their smartphones.

Sometime in the future there will likely be a tipping point when such devices become comparatively as ubiquitous--in urban areas, on the retail landscape--as motorbikes are on the roads.

Maybe...