Cashless Adoption Growing In Europe

dkatana writes: Many European cities are moving toward a cashless economy. Some public services are not accepting cash anymore, such as parking meters, buses and transit, and city offices. (If you plan to visit Europe make sure your credit card has a chip, or you won't be able to use self-service machines.) Contactless cards, which allow people to pay easily for small transactions, are also gaining popularity. According to Finextra, a leading financial news service, "contactless is the new normal in Europe, with more than a billion tap-and-go purchases worth €12.6 billion on Visa cards in the last 12 months." In some places, cashless options are being pushed by mistrust of the banking system. At the same time, places like Germany are dead set on keeping cash as the preferred method of payment.

Comments

Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Cash isn't going anywhere. As soon as the lights go out or the servers are down... you can only can with cash.

The. ignorance is strong in this one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a tip: if you don't trust banks, keep cash. Ask the Greeks and Cypriots why.

Re:The. ignorance is strong in this one.

[ArcadeMan]

If the stores you go to accept Bitcoin in the first place.

Privacy Issues

[Needs2BeSaid]

Governments everywhere will help facilitate a cashless society. Just think of all that purchasing data they can monitor. Not to mention, they can force people to pay local/state/federal sales tax on person-to-person sales (e.g.: Garage Sale items).

A truly cashless society is the wet dream of the IRS, FBI, NSA ....

Re:Privacy Issues

[roman_mir]

Actually a truly cashless society is the wet dream of every government and central banker since inflation is the most insidious and powerful tax that can be implemented without participation of any IRS and of any citizen whatsoever.

You don't even have to make a tax payment to be taxed with inflation and government doesn't have to bother pretending to have some kind of fiscal policy. The only policy of a 'cashless society' is printing money and the result of that policy is destruction of that society via destruction of its economy.

Bingo

[Anonymous Coward]

A cashless society is a surveillance society where every purchase you make is recorded permanently -- not only for government to use against you as they see fit, but for corporations to exploit your lack of privacy for their own profit (not yours).

Cash Please

[Sir_Eptishous]

I use a cc for some purchases.
I NEVER use a debit card...

Since the Target debacle, and many more like it, I have transitioned back to using cash almost exclusively.
It appears to me that a cashless system is less robust and more likely to be taken advantage of by criminals.
So yes, cashless apologists will whine about things like bank robberies, etc, but when it comes to what is best for me, not the bank, I choose cash please.

Re:Europe has also had wire transfers

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does transferring money in the US take more than a minute

Because banks have to manage millions of transfers and sort them in the correct order to ensure the maximum number of bounced checks.

Re:Europe has also had wire transfers

[dave420]

It costs money to send money from one bank account to another? Jesus Christ. I don't even...

and either way, the banks win

[Khashishi]

Whether cash or credit, it's all controlled by a cartel of banks.

Always pay cash! It's anonymous and you control it

[ciaran2014]

Cash transactions aren't linked to your name and stored in a database forever, and the cash in your pocket can't be deactivated by banks or a government.

(Yes, some smart Alec will point out ways to track and block bank notes, but this is waaaaaaaaay more difficult and waaaaaaaaaaaay less effective than what banks and governments can do to electronic money.)