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Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#301

Post by alkonaut »

_xivi wrote: post #213
ACS_Solver wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Sweden, a strong contender for the most cashless country, and I don't know what the banknotes look like. They were changed some 5 or 6 years ago and I haven't paid with or even withdrawn cash since then. For illustration, cash is generally not accepted outside of grocery stores and some chains. For a typical restaurant, coffee shop or takeaway there's very little chance they take cash. Street vendors may take…

> I really don't like cash and am happy to see it basically dead in the country. What would you do in case of a emergency or natural distaster? Basically a situation where any of the following is not available for any period of time: power, network, financial infrastructure, access to digital devices. 1. On personal level: Maybe your wallet and phone was stolen 2. Region: Power/Network is down 3. National level: the…

This is a real concern, but even if I keep cash for use in an emergency, stores and banks would also need to be prepared to handle cash in an emergency and I doubt they are today (since no one uses cash).

Telling people they need to use a less convenient payment method only to keep it alive for an emergency also seems doomed to fail.

The correct solution is probably to force banks and critical stores to always accept cash + encourage people to keep some cash for an emergency. But changing the banknotes (and making the previous ones invalid) every 10 years doesn’t help with encouraging people to save cash at home. That’s another one of those US-isms that blow peoples minds: that dollar bills of any age are legal tender. That and the use of paper checks. I think it was the mid 80’s the last time I saw a check.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#302

Post by HomeDeLaPot »

yaky wrote: post #113

The other day, I paid cash at the local Chinese-American place, and the owner said "thank you for using cash, it helps small businesses", which took me by surprise. So I asked how much card processors charge, and she went on a bit of a rant, listing processing fees for everything from regular debit cards* charging 3-4% to rewards credit cards being around 7% to special international or world credit cards charging som…

I wish more businesses would (could?) give cash discounts. It's the answer to the convenience and rewards offered by credit cards. If I can save as much or more by paying in cash as I can by paying by card, then I have a great motivation to start carrying cash around!

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#304

Post by ProllyInfamous »

furyofantares wrote: post #178
mypastself wrote: post #6

> [On] 23rd August 1994, the chaotic music duo and performance artists Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty burned £1m of notes behind a boathouse on the Scottish island of Jura. They are not alone in attempting to reduce money’s power… They literally increased the purchasing power of each remaining pound by doing so.

You might argue they distributed the money amongst all existing money-havers, with each getting a microscopic share in proportion to how much money they already have. In that case it's a donation primarily to the rich. But it's also no different than if they stuck it under a mattress for 10 years, at least until the 10 years is up. So that's also sort of a donation primarily to the rich. Of course when the 10 years i…

>In that case it's a donation primarily to the rich.

[laughs, in disappearing bitcoin]

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#305

Post by 23B1 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #102

There are two fallacies I frequently feel the need to debunk in this discussion. - Cash is anonymous - Cash is an "old" or "low" technology. When a serious crime is committed you might be surprised how much the police can do to trace cash. Serial numbers in and out of ATMs and shops are tracked, and frequently your face is captured by cameras in stores, ATMs and vending machines. Modern cash is high technology . Look…

The only fallacy here is that you expect anonymity to be 100% provided by cash.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#306

Post by qubex »

tyfon wrote: post #281
noodlesUK wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you based where derisking is illegal? Here in the UK it makes the news fairly frequently when someone notable becomes unbanked because of CIFAS or SARs or similar. Also, I wasn’t able to get a debit card until I was 12, but perhaps that has changed over the past few decades.

I live in Norway. My kids got a card at around 5, but they are older now. Not with visa/mastercard of course :)

Sounded like Italy. Same exact situation. The interbank payment consortium even created a cashless payment system called “Satispay” that lots of consumers and small retail businesses use on a daily basis.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#307

Post by boricj »

ACS_Solver wrote: post #256
_xivi wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don't like cash and am happy to see it basically dead in the country. What would you do in case of a emergency or natural distaster? Basically a situation where any of the following is not available for any period of time: power, network, financial infrastructure, access to digital devices. 1. On personal level: Maybe your wallet and phone was stolen 2. Region: Power/Network is down 3. National level: the…

Such robustness is currently a subject of government studies and planning. It's definitely an area of concern. A personal-level outage is a problem but less so than with cash. I have three separate items on me I can use to pay - my card holder with bank cards, my phone and my watch. That's more redundancy than with cash, which is one item (wallet). Power or network outages aren't a big issue. I've experienced those a…

> I have three separate items on me I can use to pay - my card holder with bank cards, my phone and my watch. That's more redundancy than with cash, which is one item (wallet).

All of which are electronic and depend on centralized services. Bank notes and coins work offline and without electricity.

Not too long ago, a restaurant I went to with a coworker had an Internet outage and no card or mobile payment would go through. I paid for the whole bill since I was the only one carrying cash, then we went to the nearest ATM to reimburse me.

I always carry cash. I don't use it often but it always works, even if everything else fails.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#308

Post by fundad »

glimshe wrote: post #4
jason-phillips wrote: post #2

I live an hour or so outside of Austin and people still primarily write checks as that's the only acceptable payment method, along with cash. My new wife said, "Wait, why not just use Stripe? I'll tell them." I had to explain to her that one does not simply pull forward a society thirty years into the future. There is an incredible amount of cultural inertia to overcome. So I carry a lot of cash out here.

You'd be surprised. I visited South America and all I saw was phone payments... They basically skipped the credit card age, as cards were never popular among the poor.

It’s not surprising that a lot Murica is decades behind most places in the world. Especially places where foreigners visit.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#309

Post by alkonaut »

xenator wrote: post #117
madsbuch wrote: post #11

I Denmark we are removing the 1000kr bill as of May 2025. from then on the highest bill. is 500kr which is roughly equal to 80 usd. Denmark Is the most cashless society I have yet experiences (and I have been traveling a fair bit). This comes with pros and cons. and I think the reason why it works is because of an incredibly high social trust.

I have visited Denmark and this is definitely last country I want to live. Just simple the worst. I've lived and visited about 40-50 countries in my life, maybe more, it is hard to count. For me Denmark is best example of modern slavery with brainwashed slaves. I was born in USSR and current Denmark looks very similar. The values of society are too far from what I respect. I believe if this work in Denmark all other…

That’s a three paragraph rant but provides zero examples about what values it is you object to.

Re: Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry

#310

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

happytiger wrote: post #148

Not using cash means someone gets a cut of a processing fee. Every time, with almost no exceptions. I’m not down to have rent seeking companies taking a slice of my hard earned money just so I don’t have to manage a few pieces of paper. You’re generally paying 3-4 percent of every transaction now, as that’s pretty standard for debit cards on businesses, and it doesn’t matter if it’s charged to the card holder or the…

The EU has indeed banned most of the rent-seeking on payment cards by setting upper bounds on various fees that can be charged.
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