Neither have I - I only carry enough to leave cash tips, or whatever else one traditionally uses individual singles for 
I drew the cash comparison, because I knew very many who still do.
In fact, I haven’t been to an ATM in ages; all my older friends (no Venmo) insist in paying me in 20 or 50 dollar bills whenever I pick up the table tab on my Amex. That holds me over till the next dinner with friends.
Or if you go to a cash only restaurant. Apparently popular in Pennsylvania along with BYOB places. Foreign to me, along with their liquor buying practices 
We went to a cash only place while at my daughter’s in philly. I was digging rumpled bills from the bottom of my purse. The engineers were amused. But we pooled our money together and didn’t have to use the expensive atm at the restaurant.
Schwab and several other places reimburse for ATM fees. I don’t trust ATMs and don’t use them.
For many years I’ve tracked monthly “outflow” (cash withdrawals + withdrawals + VISA + checks). Not much these days for cash (especially since Covid) or checks (some months none since we do a lot of autopay). But unlike my kids I don’t feel burdened by cash exchanges. The issue is that the recipients are often far away.
I am not concerned about risk to my Venmo balance, which is likely to stay relatively low. My concern is with the ties to checking account (linkage not yet set up) and debit card (really not much different than linking the checking account, but I’m just playing around and thinking through the options). In honestly my husband’s is more leery, and since no urgent need for Venmo (other than me telling myself I’d get it done before end of fo 2021) I may just delete the debit card for now. Credit card may make more sense for us, even though 3% fee.
Lots of good info in this thread, thanks
After posting on this thread, I received a Venmo payment of $50 from a stranger. Seems very strange. I don’t know how to return to sender? Anyone know? Is this a scam? Can you block people on Venmo? Off to see if there’s information from Venmo.
Yikes - hope you figure this out. (And sure hoping nothing in this thread instigated it. If yes, I can request CC delete thread.)
Per this link, you have option to return…. with no added risk. But could not blame you for being leery to do so
Just gave as an example that they have other ways to pay that we, the organization, feel better about and no need to offer Venmo or give our bank account info to all the members.
Do you have a common name? I once Venmo’s the wrong Rachael Caruso (my daughter asked me to Venmo prom house money to another mom, I asked if it was the correct person and my daughter said yes, not knowing how common that name it, with different spellings). I eventually got it returned (Venmo contacted her and suggested she might want to return it if she wanted to keep her account).
I am scratching my head about the money from strangers. When my friend sent me my first payment, she had to input the last 4 digits of my cellphone#. Oh, maybe that was because it was my first ever Venmo transaction.
I think this is a recommendation, but not necessary, the first time you Venmo someone not in your contacts.
I don’t have a common name. My D said to just leave the money. It might be a scam.
Very possibly a scam – a variation of the:
“I’ll send you a big cheque for the price of goods, plus shipping. I know I can trust you to deposit it, and to pay the “small” shipping portion to the (fake) freight forwarder.”
What’s truly irresponsible from Venmo is - they should have a simple “Reject Payment” button (as well as an “Unknown Payor” button, that keeps the money but “flags” it and the sender to Venmo for investigation).
It would stop this entire Scam. Surprising they haven’t been held liable yet for knowingly permitting this to continue for years; maybe the financial threshold is too small?
I have only used Venmo and Zelle a few times and only with people I know. My son’s landlord uses both, but the first time I sent him money, he told me to only send $1 the first time I sent him money. He said he would confirm he got it to ensure I had sent to the correct person, before I sent him the balance.
I recently tried to pay a neighbor through Venmo for some hockey tickets. His name is common enough that there were many entries. Even tho he gave me his info, I could not find him. I finally asked him to send me a request for payment. That worked much better and reassure me it was going to the correct person.
Zelle, even if it is offered by one’s bank, does not protect you if you send it to the wrong person. It says that right in the info when using Zelle in my bank’s app. It does say, if the person you send the money to has not yet set up a Zelle account with their bank, that you can cancel the payment if you realize you sent to the wrong person. If that person already has an account though there is no recourse through your bank in getting it back.
I have a fairly common name. When I got a Venmo account they put a hyphen and a number after my name, so I told people to use that.
If you choose an avatar pic for your Venmo account choose one that is easy to describe and easy to see. That way you can tell others “I’m Jane Smith and my avatar is a big yellow daisy”. It helps people to find you.
In Venmo profile you can change your “Username”, also called “handle” by some. (Not sure I’d do that though after family/friends familiar). Also it says, “You can be paid using our username, email, or phone number”.
I actually did a lot of research and pondering before selecting my Username. It was a little hard to visualize things (and overlap with existing usernames) without being signed up, ability to look at the app. I decided it should start with my first name because people would start searching that way. My friend checked and saw there are already a variety of my first/last name+numbers out there. Daughter said to make it something easy to say/spell… ie forget about including our pesky surname.
Let’s pretend I am named Mary, married to my hubby Marty back in 19nn ==> Venmo username=marymartynn
He gave me his email and I had his phone number but neither came up. He does have a picture but trying to scroll thru endless people with his name made it impossible to find him. It ended up just being easier for him to send me a request for payment and that seemed safer anyway. He could ensure I got his request and that just confirmed I was then sending to the correct person.
I also have to say that if someone is so skeptical to use an app/service that you are analyzing every step of the process and considering taking steps to severely make yourself unidentifiable MAYBE you should just not move forward with the app!
Maybe there is something more suitable for you out there!
Oh, I’m retired (during Covid) … lots of time to mess around with this. Just adding comments along the way since it seemed there might be other parents also considering Venmo.
I will likely opt to leave the Venmo app set up / installed, but w/o a payment method. Then I’m ready to use it if needed (which might not be until next holiday season … we have far-away relatives that use and like Venmo; our local friends are still fine with good old fashioned cash for show tickets and separate checks for each couple at restaurants).