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‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

nytimes.com

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Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#11

Post by dazc »

Macha wrote: post #3

I've had to assist an elderly neighbour after her phone company cut off her phone service. Why? The way she had paid for it for the preceding 40 years was she would get the paper bill in mail, and then go down to the post office and organise payment using the details in that paper bill. They switched her over to paperless billing with an email that they've done so but you can opt out. She either did not understand th…

Ironically, my dad sometimes receives random scam bills via email from [insert well-known company name here] and I tell him to instantly delete them.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#12

Post by Friday_ »

I prefer be able to pay bills, new way and old way.

Because WSHTF principle.

I'm preparing that someday maybe i would not be able to use smartphone or internet or bank or electricity or any other single point of failure the system depends on.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#13

Post by berkes »

dazc wrote: post #11
Macha wrote: post #3

I've had to assist an elderly neighbour after her phone company cut off her phone service. Why? The way she had paid for it for the preceding 40 years was she would get the paper bill in mail, and then go down to the post office and organise payment using the details in that paper bill. They switched her over to paperless billing with an email that they've done so but you can opt out. She either did not understand th…

Ironically, my dad sometimes receives random scam bills via email from [insert well-known company name here] and I tell him to instantly delete them.

Makes me think, that, indeed, the extra friction of paper mail, holds some scammers at bay.

When you have to pay the postage and printing costs, it is far less attractive to throw out 10.000 scam mailings, because the ROI is quite likely negative. Edit: whereas with email, you proably need just one of the 10.000 to bite in order to break-even.

Whereas the phone company (or any legit business) can easily carry those extra €0.40 or so for each bill. They can even simply forward the costs to the customer.

Mailing invoices by snail-mail is a practical anti-scam measure, the more I think about it.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#15

Post by boredumb »

Friday_ wrote: post #12

I prefer be able to pay bills, new way and old way. Because WSHTF principle. I'm preparing that someday maybe i would not be able to use smartphone or internet or bank or electricity or any other single point of failure the system depends on.

To be fair, WSHTF I have a feeling that paying e-bills isn't going to be the prevailing issue.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#17

Post by steve_g »

naoqj wrote: post #14

Quoted post unavailable.

The article says that his Parkinson's tremor makes using the ATM difficult.

As a guy with tremor, I can tell you that it sucks. There are some things I can't physically do now, even though my brain works fine.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#18

Post by ilamont »

jacquesm wrote: post #10
ilamont wrote: post #8

The OECD published the results of a massive survey of member countries some years ago, titled "Skills Matter" ( https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_978926... ). The researchers defined 4 levels of technology proficiency, based on the types of tasks users can complete successfully. There was a very good summary published here ( https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ ) and excerpted b…

And why should they? Just like there are people that don't read books and that don't watch TV using a computer should not be a mandatory thing. What it could be is a way to streamline stuff but there should always be alternatives. And older people have enough issues in their lives to be dealt another bunch of hardship from those that they are pretty much forced to do business with. But banks and other institutions ha…

Agree. I would take this imperative a step further: There needs to be a technology bill of rights, in all countries, to serve everyone from the retired doctor in the article to the HN user who suffers an AI lockout.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#19

Post by rosndo »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
Macha wrote: post #3

I've had to assist an elderly neighbour after her phone company cut off her phone service. Why? The way she had paid for it for the preceding 40 years was she would get the paper bill in mail, and then go down to the post office and organise payment using the details in that paper bill. They switched her over to paperless billing with an email that they've done so but you can opt out. She either did not understand th…

I think paper invoices should continue to be the way that this is handled unless otherwise requested, if only because you are - where I live - supposed to be able to prove this sort of thing for many years to the tax man. All these electronic records can disappear into thin air without you even realizing it has happened and good luck on your tax audit 7 years into the future.

Why would you ever need to prove this kind of transactions to the tax man as an individual?

As a business it’s your duty to take care of your recordkeeping, print out the invoices if you so prefer.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#20

Post by naoqj »

steve_g wrote: post #17
naoqj wrote: post #14

Quoted post unavailable.

The article says that his Parkinson's tremor makes using the ATM difficult. As a guy with tremor, I can tell you that it sucks. There are some things I can't physically do now, even though my brain works fine.

I think it makes sense to ask for accomodations if you have a disability, but this movement is nothing like that. I've seen it with my own eyes.
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