"Our local grocer acts like a bank in some ways, facilitating cash withdrawals from their card facility."

I have seen this before too, in small towns where workers go to the grocery store to cash their paychecks because there is no local bank. I do have a bank account at a local bank, but don't use it as a rule (I keep a token account open there just in case I ever need a bank's services, and to support the small business) but neither use checks nor cards for purchases, always using cash, for these reasons. If I need to purchase something online, I can buy a preloaded card for that purchase. It is an extra step, but since I have no online banking, or use bank cards or accounts, hackers and surveillance capitalists can't take my money or information.

I do a lot to avoid using money at all, in fact. For me, freedom is a religion, and my every breath is a prayer and every act one of devotion.