Slashdot Mirror
Predicting a Future Free of Dollar Bills
An anonymous reader writes with this story about how a cashless society might work and how far-off in the future it is. "...We're not there yet, but a cashless society is not as fanciful as it seems. Recent research suggests that many believe we will stop using notes and coins altogether in the not-too-distant future. New payments technologies are rapidly transforming our lives. Today in the U.S., 66 percent of all point-of-sale transactions are done with plastic, while in the U.K. it's just under half. But while a truly cashless society is some time away yet, there is raft of groundbreaking technologies that will make cash a mere supporting act in the near future."
...that they know about.....are done with plastic.
There are a full range of benefits of paying with cash. Limiting the number of credit card transactions to make it easier to track proper and improper ones. Discounts that are available when purchasing with cash. The trades prefer to be paid cash and discount accordingly somewhat fair as their payment can not be tax deducted unless you can hide you home behind a business. It works when the power is out. It keeps perverse privacy invasive government agencies and corporations from tracking every single thing you do.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Last week I swiped my card at a gas station pump before noticing the tamper proof seals had been broken. I have replaced the card, but while waiting for the new card I used cash. You tend to conserve more money when it is cold, hard cash instead of of just swiping a card. Less surface area for compromise as well.
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
"Cashless" is also a giant vacuum sucking service fees back to the banks and so on. Retailers pay a certain amount per transaction to a payment processor, even if you the customer don't pay directly. Think that doesn't come out of your pocket in the end through higher prices?
Just imagine how much money you would have if you got a penny for every transaction conducted in every North American Wal-mart for just one day -- you could retire several times over and still afford fuel for your yachts!
Are we really in that much of a hurry to keep giving more money to the banks?
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
Cash isn't anonymous. Every time you spend cash it eventually gets scanned and the numbers sent to the government. You take cash from the bank, scan. The gas station deposits that money, scan. You might have paid a hooker with it, and then she bought cash- but if they can trace all the other money from the gas station to tourists then it's more likely it was you buying gas.
Uh, you take the hundred dollar bill from the bank teller, then you buy something with it and get change with smaller bills and so on. Notice how your original withdrawal gets lost in the noise?
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Its already happening. See Operation Chokepoint. If the government doesn't like your line of work, you won't have a bank account.