Cashless society

[ScotiaNostra]

3 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

I always laugh at pro-cash advocates bringing up the "tech can go wrong" point and remind them of the countless times I was left wandering around with no cash... because the ATM system had collapsed.

Unless you are suggesting a return to the days where your employer trailed into a bank, withdrew a load of cash over the counter, and then handed you a physical paypacket at the end of the week, then the "tech" angle doesn't really wash because it f**ks up cash use just as much as it does card/phone.

How are cashiers supposed to accept cash as payment if the POS is down, they can't register the sale, and can't even open the till?

Your right on some points but cash wont disappear, it will continue to be one of many types of currencies for quite some time. 

and its not that difficult to sell things in some places without a till in use, maybe a chain or a supermarket will struggle but any independent shop/place can manage that.

Edited 2 hours ago by ScotiaNostra

[Boo Khaki]

21 minutes ago, ScotiaNostra said:

Your right on some points but cash wont disappear, it will continue to be one of many types of currencies for quite some time. 

and its not that difficult to sell things in some places without a till in use, maybe a chain or a supermarket will struggle but any independent shop/place can manage that.

Sure. Although I wouldn't mind a cashless society, I'm not an anti-cash zealot who wants to see it made history as soon as humanly possible. I think it's clearly handy for contingencies in some respects, even though I very rarely use it myself.

The only point I was really making is that the "but tech failure" folks invariably seem not to have thought it through to its conclusion. If tech fails, you're going to struggle to lay your hands on cash in the first place, and this has always been the way of things since ATM's became the norm. Not just that, but in a majority of places the actual transaction is tech reliant, and the acquisition of cash in significant quantities is tech reliant, so if tech fails so comprehensively that electronic payment becomes inviable, the whole cash chain goes with it and soon enough you'll either run out of cash anyway, or run out of places able to accept it.

It's similar with the "government is tracking you" lot. To what end? Some people have suggested it will ultimately end up in State control of your personal access to your own wealth, so, for arguments sake, they could "seize" your bank account and prevent e-systems accepting personalised electronic payment like cards, phones etc. Aside from the fact this is usually espoused by a certain type of conspiracy nut, who appears to envision themselves living "off-grid" with a suitcase full of ten pound notes, "the government" already has plenty of ways of utterly f**king you if they so chose, none of which can be ameliorated by carrying around a bundle of cash. Sure, you might be able to fill your petrol tank a few times and live off Greggs, but eventually your cash will run out, and at that point you are f**ked because all means of access to more, beyond robbing/stealing, are shut off to you anyway. It's usually the same loonies who are dead against smart meter installation, and justify that with all sorts of wild claims about "being cut off" or being tracked and so on, seemingly oblivious to the fact that utilities suppliers can cut you off regardless of whether your meter is mechanical or Smart, and all the while posting via a phone that has to communicate with a nearby mast. I've even heard one complain that Smart meters are a con because they, themselves, use electricity and therefore the consumer has to pay. Presumably this person winds up their existing clockwork meter with a big key before bed each night.

[Richey Edwards]

On 24/09/2024 at 10:46, Central Belt Caley said:

Get rid of cash and card move back to bartering imo 

In Tunisia someone wanted to give me some farm animals.