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In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

nytimes.com

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Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#311

Post by flexie »

MichaelBurge wrote: post #213
nicky0 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article you linked to states that 59% of Americans always or usually pay off the full amount each month.

To me, "most" implies "at least 95%". That's because it's used to exclude a possibility: If most programming languages have if statements, then if I hear about your new language I can assume it has if statements without checking further. To use a simple majority means that you'd have to accept a simple statement like "Most programmers use Javascript"[1], and that's too weak to use for any reasoning. [1] https://web.a…

Most is more than 50 percent. 'Most all' means almost all which sounds like what you meant :-)

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#312

Post by nopzor »

jazzyk wrote: post #278
intended wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter how American's treat credit cards. Traditionally China is known as a nation where people save, and debt was not seen favorably at all . This is a cultural thing, which has likely been wearing out since the 1990s.

Debt has never been seen favorably in almost any culture - even in the US, before the 80s. I think it was the Reagan administration made credit card debt interest tax-deductible and the cat was out of the bag.

interesting! i had no idea that it used to be deductible (until 1986 apparently). i never really agreed with mortgage interest being deductible, but i at least understand the purported reasoning (eg. home ownership, american dream etc). but credit card interest? wow! that seems like a terrible idea all around.

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#313

Post by ksec »

zhte415 wrote: post #306
lnanek2 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a URL, but just one used to open an app with some data. E.g.: http://iosdevelopertips.com/cocoa/launching-your-own-applica... And the merchant doesn't know this. Their setup process is typically: Open up WeChat, login, click the plus in the top right corner, pick Money, click receive money... And of course paying and receiving is much easier once everything is setup.

This is correct. 1. Customer scans QR 2. POS operator hits given this is a realtime hit and noone else is hitting this QR at this time. 3. Customer received bill, hits OK. Confirmation sent to both reatailer and customer at the same time. Customer often shows retailer this has been successful. Receipt printed and handed to customer. 4. Customer walks away happy. The transaction from 1-4 takes less than 2 seconds. Ver…

One thing I forgot to mention, Receipt! For whatever reason Apple Pay or Visa / Master still hasn't figure this out. WePay you get Receipt All in one. And this purchasing Data should live inside my phone, not in the cloud. and the data could be used as personal Financial management. Realistically Apple should be the one doing this, but pretty much like All of their services, they are half hearted and they dont give a damn.

P.S - I wonder if QR Code can be made in Circle shape rather then Rectangular.

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#315

Post by raverbashing »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #15

I think this article hit the nail on the head when it pointed out that being ahead of the curve at one time (with Japan and their advanced flip phones in the early 2000s) can make it harder to adopt the next big advance because what you have is already "good enough". Thus, in the US, I suspect that mobile payments haven't taken off as much because they are only very slightly faster to use than a credit card, as oppos…

"People counting cash"

In some countries (I've seen it in Canada and Sweden) there are machines that deal with the change for you (this is separate from a self-check out machine). They either deal with just the coins or with notes+coins, without any cashier interference

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#316

Post by netcan »

em500 wrote: post #232
netcan wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're right that this is the dynamic at play here. It is similar to the dynamic by which many regions have leapfrogged landline telephones, skipping the older more infrastructure/capital intensive version of technology. The developed economies were already mostly "cashless." Very little cash has run though most malls, hospitals, schools or even supermarkets for decades already. " We hqave something good enou…

> The developed economies were already mostly "cashless." Very little cash has run though most malls, hospitals, schools or even supermarkets for decades already. Cash share of payments in Germany and Austria (by volume) were still >80% just a few years ago, see p.38 of https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp1685.pdf

Including salaries, rent, mortgage payments...?

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#317

Post by [deleted] »

em500 wrote: post #232
netcan wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're right that this is the dynamic at play here. It is similar to the dynamic by which many regions have leapfrogged landline telephones, skipping the older more infrastructure/capital intensive version of technology. The developed economies were already mostly "cashless." Very little cash has run though most malls, hospitals, schools or even supermarkets for decades already. " We hqave something good enou…

> The developed economies were already mostly "cashless." Very little cash has run though most malls, hospitals, schools or even supermarkets for decades already. Cash share of payments in Germany and Austria (by volume) were still >80% just a few years ago, see p.38 of https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp1685.pdf

[deleted]

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#318

Post by awkwarddaturtle »

thablackbull wrote: post #21

I think this is a good illustration of the different approach in how China and America approach the consumer economics space. In America, there is a very heavy reliance on "trickle down". We create a "best-in-class", "top-of-the-line" product that only the elite and wealthy can buy into. These people then set the tone of how it will develop in the future. The first mover also tries to do everything in their power to…

> In China however, they throw away that pride of creating the greatest and shiniest.

Why is it every time china is discussed, people have to repeat the same trite false things.

China is a developing nation. Developing nations don't create the "greatest and shiniest" things. The US didn't create the greatest and shiniest things when we were developing. Germany didn't create the greatest and shiniest things when they were developing. The same thing with Japan. The same thing with Korea.

There was a time when american goods were considered shoddy and poor quality. There was a time when german goods were considered low-end. Japanese goods were mocked for being low quality. Korean goods the same.

>The way I see it, we have democracy in politics but in products, its authoritarian because its guided by the billionaires and wealthy. In China, they have an authoritarian political system, but democratic economy space because they can actually vote with their wallets.

Right. Because in the US we can't vote with our wallets.

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#319

Post by eddieplan9 »

jccalhoun wrote: post #47

I had heard of WeChat and AliPay but didn't know how it worked. It is quite similar to what Walmart does with their Walmart Pay https://www.walmart.com/cp/walmart-pay/3205993 and what a number of retailers tried to do with CurrenctC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Customer_Exchange CurrentctC never made it out of test marketing and I don't think Walmart Pay is taking off. The difference is that these two are f…

The real difference is that in China, WeChat Pay and AliPay are better than alternatives (i.e. cash), while in the US, Walmart Pay and CurrentC are worse than alternatives (i.e. credit cards).

Re: In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete

#320

Post by kuschku »

urethrafranklin wrote: post #250
kuschku wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much doubt that, considering how fierce the competition between retailers is, often fighting over single cents.

Even if that were true (I could write a book about how wrong this is), this isn't something retailers can compete on. If I get 2 extra cents, why would I give it back to the consumer, if my competitor could just do the same (and now both my competitor and I have lost those 2 cents)?

You should take a look at ALDI and LIDL’s retail strategy.

They’ve been in an eternal race for lower prices since they started competing.

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