We have several stores that refuse to accept cash. A few weeks ago, we had a pretty harsh storm that knocked out power to major parts of the city for a little over a week. The area where these stores are was affected. All the stores next to them have always accepted cash. The surrounding stores continued to have business for that week, while those cash-deterrent stores had no business, and lost their edge (niche market, but they opened first in the area, so people knew them best). It's been weeks, and those stores still have not picked up foot traffic to levels before the blackout, and one just had a liquidation sale and will likely close soon. Cash should always be an option. Otherwise, we give up our independence from the supporting systems (electricity, internet, payment processors, etc.). On a side note, cash is a lot more private than card.
Privacy
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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I recently learned that all governments participating in the Euro guarantee that business have to accept cash. Refusing it is a violation of the accords.
I didn't know that. That's a cool tidbit!
That is illegal where I am. Everyone has to accept cash, here.
I think it's illegal here, too, but they started doing this at covid, after years of trying. If you fight them with it and try to make them accept cash, they'll just ask you leave. If you stay after being asked to leave, you're now trespassing, which is also illegal and is treated much more harshly than refusing to accept cash.
The lack of privacy is kind of the point. I can never go back to cash. Yes, there's a ton of problems with credit cards and definitely censorship issues, but the pros still heavily outweigh the cons. Money is dirty, messy to deal with, change is a nightmare, can get lost, can get stolen, can't really carry around large amounts, and is generally really bulky to carry around.
While the last pandemic investigation showed that those machines where you put in your pin in supermarkets had more bacteria/viruses than cash. Much more people using those terminals more frequently than any same coin or same bill.
Digital money is stolen more often and in higher amounts. People who are glorifying credit cards do it until they got scammed or hacked and loose all their savings or even their identity. They go from "credit card fuck yeah" to "why have I been so stupid?" within a minute.
And why would you even carry a large amount of money with you? People who use cash, use common sense in general.
Credit cards have charge backs and fraud protection, buddy. You are significantly safer using them. That's the benefit to them being privacy invasive.
Using chip is also a bit cleaner then swiping. You also don't use just a single dollar bill or coin, you are touching multiple quantities, giving and receiving.
Also your other replies are super toxic and you talk like a child so I'm just going to block you here.
Always those pathetic people overwhelmed by their own lives...
Personally I never use cash anymore, because cards are just more convenient. That being said, I agree with the conspiracy nuts that cash should always stay a viable alternative. I trust the current government and banks enough, but if all goes to shit I want to be able to pay with cash to keep my data safe.
I don't see how conspiracy theories would discredit cash over card. They often cite the same reasons any other anti-card payment people have. They just have weird reasons to need those features. If they're paranoid about being "got" by "them," they're usually into the private nature of cash and all that goes along with it, same as any other privacy concerned person.
They certainly don't hurt it as much as drug dealers and money launderers.
I wouldn’t mind using cash, but I also don’t want to keep a bunch of money lying around my house aside emergency funds. I also don’t want to drive all the way to a bank branch or some ATM in a sketchy part of town in the middle of the night to buy something
Credit cards have also made it too easy for entire countries to rack up life ruining debt. It’s the point, I suppose.
I suppose the ultimate compromise is: use a credit card to withdraw cash (many companies allow this), and use that cash for private purchases. Though I’m not sure how chargebacks work with withdrawn cash.
Everyone needs privacy, especially people whom you hate.
We need to stop making privacy and free speech political
Remember, ABC:
Always Carry Cash
I actually saw a sticker recently placed on a bus stop saying "save Poland, use cash" and I was very perplexed by it. I suspected it was some far-right/alt-right bs, but wasn't sure.
Privacy matters the most to people who have something material to lose with it, this unfortunately for pr reasons (but fortunately for many other reasons) includes bigots
Ye, it's all a right wing conspiracy! Or left! Or middle... Who cares, just keep consuming and don't ask questions.
This is a non-post, as it doesn't even bring its own analysis to the table. What are the valid concerns against card payments? What is so great about cash?
The convenience of card payments heavily outweighs the (i assume privacy) concerns. So what if anyone knows I stuffed myself with an unhealthy amount of chips? I keep my cash for things that don't accept other ways of payment, like bus fare and my drug dealer.
I see your point, though. It isn't solely applicable to this issue; any discussion is mudded by disagreeing just for the sake of rejecting anything anyone with an opposing view on a distinct and unrelated subject.
Cops have been able to track people down with just unique shirts bought online. If they can track the shirt down, they can get a warrant to find the card used to establish that you’re indeed the suspect. “I don’t do bad thing” is a pointless argument, because like cops say, anything can be used against you.
I agree electronic payments are more beneficial than harmful. In terms of privacy in the mass surveillance world we live in, using cash just forces the watchers to use your cellphone data instead. I think privacy these days is mostly about living an uninteresting life.
In the UK buses and taxis increasingly take cards, and are phasing out cash. Same goes for shops. Having a card becomes the norm because it's less fiddly and more convenient - great!
To open a bank account you need a fixed address and proof of ID in the form of a passport or driving license.
In the last year several thousand people have had bank accounts closed under the presumption of being a "politically vulnerable person", one example was a teacher who went to volunteer in Ukraine for while.
If your bank account is overdrawn you get fees and are unable to use your card.
My mother is 85 and doesn't understand ATMs, never mind online banking. The decreased access to cash has left her confused, and when stressed she can't remember her pin number.
So, the most vulnerable in society are gradually being squeezed out of the ability to live day-to-day thanks to cash being phased out ... the same is a desirable end-point for many capitalists elsewhere in the first world because they don't see the value of people on the bottom rung.
A broken clock is right twice a day, as the saying goes.
Great, so they get payment processors to refuse "dirty" merchants (aka porn) and then jump ship from them anyways? Why do they try to make everything suck
There's a ton of far right wing privacy advocates. For me personally, a social libertarian / anarcho communist, it seems like theyre drawing the same conclusions about privacy advocacy and open source from a completely different set of premises. For me, I view privacy as a right that's been eroded ever since the advent of the concept of total war, to the point now that capitalists engage in surveillance espionage casually to sell collected data not even to the highest bidder, but instead at commodity prices. What's the inflection point of supply and demand, basically
Meanwhile a lot of people on the right wing don't view open source as a great equalizer, benefiting all of society, but rather as a tool for themselves for personal benefit. I honestly never fully find myself understanding their premises to be honest. But I've for sure seen antisemitism and racism arguments bandied about, which is a Y I K E S.
As far as public perception goes, I don't really know what to say there. Yeah, I guess, it is indeed frustrating to have your average John or Jane assuming anyone using an encrypted messenger is probably a terrorist. I don't think the solution is give up, but instead explain your stance and premises
the lack of privacy with cards is primarily what is giving you security with them. trust factors will always exist somewhere in the chain.
to be more to the point of the post, though, you can agree with a person's singular opinion without supporting or agreeing with that person.
I just bought a new wallet that has a coin pouch because I use cash (and coins) so frequently.
Even if I disagree with a political faction often, I'm perfectly willing to show support when I do agree. It's the honest thing to do.
„ppl i don’t agree with have the same stance on privacy for basically the same reasons as I do and because the media is trained like pawlow‘s dogs they will now frame the exact opposite as sane and now I’m mad at the ppl I don’t agree with“ - the post.