What does “картой или наличными” mean in Russian?

At almost every Russian till you’ll hear картой или наличными?, “card or cash?” Both words are in the instrumental case, the “by means of” case, because you pay with them: картой from карта, наличными from наличные, “cash.” Answer with the same form: картой, or наличными.

Наличные literally means “what’s on hand,” from наличие, “presence.” In speech people also say наличка or нал. The customer here chooses cash, then, after the coffee, trades хорошего дня вам with the barista.