I'm trying to find out how the American consumer pays for goods and
services.  Specifically, what methods.

Your answer will look like this:
cash           a%
check          b%
credit card    c%
debit card     d%
PayPal         e%
gift card      f%

and anything else you can find

Hello again Jum Walden, 

A 2005 study conducted by the American Bankers Association and
Boston-based consulting group Dove Consulting illustrated consumer
payment preferences.

--------------------------
          2005
--------------------------
Cash                   33%
Check                  11%
Credit card            19%
Debit card             33%
Gift/Prepaid card       4%
--------------------------


--------------------------
2003
--------------------------
Cash                   32%
Check                  15%
Credit card            21%
Debit card             31%
Gift/Prepaid card       2%
--------------------------


--------------------------
2001
--------------------------
Cash                   33%
Check                  18%
Credit card            21%
Debit card             26%
Other                   2%
--------------------------

Excerpts:

?Gift cards now account for 4 percent of all in-store purchases, up
from 2 percent in 2003.  The percent of consumers who indicate using
gift/prepaid cards to make at least one purchase per month in stores
has increased from 12 percent in 2003, to 32 percent in 2005.
Moreover, this growth looks likely to continue with 12 percent of
consumers planning to increase their use of gift/prepaid cards over
the next two years.?

 

?Checks are quickly losing ground in the area of bill payment, as more
and more consumers turn to automatic bill payment and online bill
payment. As consumers' options for automatic payments (via checking
account, credit card, or debit) and online bill payment (either
through their financial institution or biller) proliferate, more and
more consumers are finding an electronic bill payment method that
suits their needs. Today, 52 percent of consumers use automatic
payment to pay at least one bill per month, and 39 percent of
consumers use online bill payment?and many of them are using these
methods to pay multiple bills. Checks now account for less than half
of consumers' monthly bill payments?only 49 percent ? down from 72
percent in 2001, and 60 percent in 2003.?


American Bankers Association: October 2005
http://www.aba.com/Press+Room/102505DOVESTUDY.htm



Small businesses 

?Small businesses have traditionally relied heavily on paper billing
and payment processes such as paper invoices, checks, and money
orders. According to the cash management survey, those habits are
changing. More smaller businesses are turning to payment cards to help
accelerate their cash flow.  The majority said they use payment cards
more than checks for travel and entertainment expenses, and many are
increasingly turning to payment cards for expenses such as
maintenance, operations, and raw materials.?


Types of Payments Do You Use?

2%    Prepaid cards
5%    Personal debit cards
9%    Business debit cards
14%   Personal checks
26%   Personal credit cards
34%   Petty cash
57%   Business credit cards
86%   Business checks

May 2005
http://usa.visa.com/download/business/business_resources/small_business_perspectives.pdf


Search criteria:
Payment methods preferences percent cash check debit credit gift

I hope the information provided is helpful!

Best regards,
Bobbie7

you rule!

Is that total number of transactions or total value...It would be nice
to see what the total value percentages were.  I would think that cash
would be much lower and credit card and check would be much higher. 
Just a thought to through into the mix.  The point I'm tring to make
is that I would think people buy large number (33% in 2005) small
things with cash, and low number (19% in 2005) of large items with a
credit card.  I don't have any stats on this, but I would assume that
the total purchase value of credit cards would be higher than the
total purchase value of cash.

km