In praise of cash
aeon.co
In praise of cash
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Re: In praise of cash
#2While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.
Re: In praise of cash
#3While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.
Did you mean less than?
The processing fees part is throwing me off.
I do agree though, in Japan I'm seeing a lot of credit or phone based transactions , I almost never carry cash now.
Side note: my wallets last longer!
Re: In praise of cash
#4In my experience as a college student, it is exceedingly rare to use cash, especially cash in amounts greater than $5, for anything other than crime. While you can argue that one should be able to reasonably break laws and not get caught - anything else is a surveillance state and there is value to discretionary enforcement - I wouldn't characterize criticism of cash as just manipulative.
For example, on my campus, the vast majority of all cash transactions, from what I've experienced, are to buy illegal drugs or to illegally obtain alcohol. The rest of the transactions are with dining services and with clubs. Because dining services has to keep so much cash on hand, they are a major target for crime; they need to hire more expensive managers to count it, they need to have more cameras and security staff to monitor it, and they need to hire armored guards to carry it off to the bank. In the past front line employees have been shot in armed robberies, so yes, the many safety mechanisms are necessary.
What incentive does anyone in this story have to keep using physical cash? It is crazy insecure, dangerous, inconvenient, and used often for illegal things. The criminals (who are more than you'd think; who do you know who hasn't broken at law at least once or twice?) have an incentive to keep cash around. That is legitimate, but as a society, a better approach would be to rewrite our laws to better capture the realities of human behavior and serve the community interest. When people are routinely getting away with things (drinking, smoking, etc.) it is probably time to make them legal and grant those people the full protections of the law and the monetary system - including non-physical value.
Re: In praise of cash
#5While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.
Did you mean less than? The processing fees part is throwing me off. I do agree though, in Japan I'm seeing a lot of credit or phone based transactions , I almost never carry cash now. Side note: my wallets last longer!
There are business owners who for some reason think it is appropriate to stick their customers with that burden.
Those business owners are customer hostile and are worthy of neither my business nor anyone else's.
Re: In praise of cash
#6While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.
Start a business, discover the fees.
Re: In praise of cash
#7In my experience as a college student, it is exceedingly rare to use cash, especially cash in amounts greater than $5, for anything other than crime. While you can argue that one should be able to reasonably break laws and not get caught - anything else is a surveillance state and there is value to discretionary enforcement - I wouldn't characterize criticism of cash as just manipulative. For example, on my campus, t…
In my experience it is exceedingly rare to use cash, especially cash in amounts greater than $5, for anything other than crime.
I own a legitimate, legal business. Half my revenues come in as cash.
It is crazy insecure, dangerous, inconvenient, and used often for illegal things.
If you don't like it, don't use it. But don't take my right to use it away.
Re: In praise of cash
#8In my experience as a college student, it is exceedingly rare to use cash, especially cash in amounts greater than $5, for anything other than crime. While you can argue that one should be able to reasonably break laws and not get caught - anything else is a surveillance state and there is value to discretionary enforcement - I wouldn't characterize criticism of cash as just manipulative. For example, on my campus, t…
Have you never paid for admittance to a club? Paid a busker? Gone shopping at a thrift store or pawn shop? Bought something at a garage sale? Paid for dinner and tipped without having to split the check for n different cards?
Your post reeks of inexperience.
Re: In praise of cash
#9The core concept to remember I think is that there are two ways to pay for things:
* Ways that involve cash or cash equivalents
* Ways where a purchase requires the permission of someone else
Just think of the word authorization, which is a required element of essentially all non-cash transactions. It has the word authority embedded right in it. If you're OK with that concept, you are necessarily OK with the idea that someone you have never met and don't control has the ability to stop you from using your funds in the way you'd like to at any time.
A cashless society is, at a fundamental level, not free.
Re: In praise of cash
#10While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.
Did you mean less than? The processing fees part is throwing me off. I do agree though, in Japan I'm seeing a lot of credit or phone based transactions , I almost never carry cash now. Side note: my wallets last longer!
Interesting -- just got back from Japan, traveling in smaller communities. Almost all of our transactions were in cash.