[fredrik-j]

Yes, there is a push towards cashless in Sweden. Though we're still very far away from going fully cashless in general. The central bank are actually releasing new denominations of coins and notes this autumn, so we'll have cash around for the foreseeable future.

As mentioned public transportation is one area where cash is commonly not accepted any more. Banks obviously encourage card payments over cash and have also been reducing the number of their own offices that handle cash. On the other hand most grocery stores in Sweden allows you to withdraw cash when you shop and charge your card. If you need cash that's the most convenient way to get it.

Entirely cashless stores are quite rare. Maybe it is a bit more common in some big city locations, where the loss of the very few customers who cannot pay by card doesn't matter - simply because the vast majority already pays with cards.

On a personal level I prefer card payments and it can easily pass weeks between the very rare cases where I have to use cash.

That said, I would really not like a cashless society if that means I cannot have any mean of traceless transactions. I want to be able to hand over money to people I don't know or necessarily trust beyond a superficial level, without having to account for it later.

As for cash in the microwave oven... Well, duh, where else would you keep them? :)

[MichaelGG]

Does that mean it's simply not possible to travel on public transit without your bank being able to build a profile on exactly when and where you go?

[fredrik-j]

No, the bank only see who issued the charge, when the charge occurred and possibly which charging station. Not why the charge occurred or what was charged.

For local travel, commutes, etc, you normally get a pre-charged travel card from the local public transit provider. The route and cost of each individual trip is then a transaction limited to the transit provider's internal charging system. You can also buy a single ticket directly with your bank card, but the bank will still only see when the charge occurred, how much was charged, and possibly which charging station, not where you travelled.

Obviously the travel provider's internal charging system will have detailed information about how their travel cards are used to pay for trips. Still, the cards are normally not personal, so the provider cannot know it's the person charging the card that also is the person travelling.