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Ask Slashdot: Why Do So Many of You Think Carrying Cash Is 'Dangerous'?
An anonymous reader writes: Recently, I asked Slashdot what you thought about paying for things online using plastic, and the security of using plastic in general; thank you all for your many and varied responses, they're all much appreciated and gave me things to consider.
However, I got quite a few responses that puzzled me: People claiming that paying for things with cash, and carrying any amount of cash around at all, was somehow dangerous, that I'd be "robbed," and that I shouldn't carry cash at all, only plastic. I'm Gen-Y; I've walked around my entire life, in all sorts of places, and have never been approached or robbed by anyone, so I'm more than a little puzzled by that.
So now I ask you, Slashdotters: Why do you think carrying cash is so dangerous? Where do you live/spend your time that you worry so much about being robbed? Have you been robbed before, and that's why you feel this way? I'm not going to stop carrying cash in my wallet but I'd like to understand why it is so many of you feel this way -- so please be thorough in your explanations.
However, I got quite a few responses that puzzled me: People claiming that paying for things with cash, and carrying any amount of cash around at all, was somehow dangerous, that I'd be "robbed," and that I shouldn't carry cash at all, only plastic. I'm Gen-Y; I've walked around my entire life, in all sorts of places, and have never been approached or robbed by anyone, so I'm more than a little puzzled by that.
So now I ask you, Slashdotters: Why do you think carrying cash is so dangerous? Where do you live/spend your time that you worry so much about being robbed? Have you been robbed before, and that's why you feel this way? I'm not going to stop carrying cash in my wallet but I'd like to understand why it is so many of you feel this way -- so please be thorough in your explanations.
I'm not afraid of carrying cash in smaller amounts; but, if you carry large amounts of cash and are pulled over and the police find out about it, odds are they will confiscate it and you will never get it back. It's the new highway robbery. I'm not gonna do the Google search for you but there are plenty of cases.
Note that other than a few unfortunate smaller cities and a specific region of one larger city (the south side of Chicago), violent crime rates in the United States have been plunging since 1990 and now stand at 40% of the modern peak in 1980. I'm partial to the "no more lead in gasoline" theory myself, but whatever the reason living in the US is safer than it probably ever has been and actually not bad by the standards of the rest of the developed world.
those with no cash couldn't buy anything as the old slide card machines no longer exist I guess.
They don't need the "old sliders" for paper imprints that may or may not be valid sales. They can use a Square device on a cell phone. No wall power needed.
I don't know.. perhaps they see you buy something with cash? Or you're thumbing through your wallet for some reason.. or any number of other ways they might notice.
But the way you can look at it is not "having more cash makes it more likely to get robbed," but "if I get robbed, having more cash will mean a bigger loss." If someone steals your credit or debit (and I mean physically robbing you of course, as they would do for cash) you just call up your bank and cancel it. Even if the thief has managed to use it, those companies insure against theft (especially the CC companies) and you generally get refunded. And their usage of it also makes it easier for the police to track them down if you're privileged enough for the police to care about you.
Whereas if the robber takes a couple fresh hundred dollar bills, you will definitely never see that money again.
Remember, risk is not just probability of an event happening.. its probability of it happening multiplied by the incurred cost.
I have never been mugged or forcibly robbed. While vacationing in Washington DC, however, my pocket was picked. My wallet contained about $150 in cash, driver's license, Visa card, Medicare card, and some cherished family photos. By the time I contacted Visa, the pickpocket had exhausted my credit limit. Yes, Visa cancelled the card and sent me a new one, but they did not cancel the bogus charges for several days. Thus, my new card was worthless. We had to put our hotel bill and charge our meals on my wife's Master Card. Before the new card arrived, I went to a credit union that was on the same Service Center network as the credit union where I have an account and was able to get $200 from my checking account without having to write a check. (The Service Center concept is like going into Wells Fargo and making a withdrawal or deposit for a Bank of America account.) For me, cash is always available while plastic might have a delay several days if there is a problem.
I always try to keep at least $40 in my wallet. If I get that low, I visit a no-fee ATM (also a credit union feature) and get $100 to $120 more. On the other hand, my wife rarely has more than $20 in her purse. She writes many checks for less than $10.
As for the pickpocket having my Medicare Card, I had already used a hole punch to remove all the digits of my Medicare number. After all, my Medicare number is also my Social Security number. A California driver's license does not contain a Social Security number. Thus, I was protected against identity theft.
We traveled from Washington DC to Chicago via Amtrak. While still in Washington, I notified the travel agent through whom I had booked the trip. To fly home from Chicago, I had no ID -- no wallet -- for airport security. My travel agent had notified the airline; and I cleared security more quickly than did my wife, who had her driver's license for ID. I was not able to replace my stolen driver's license until I returned to California.
As requested by Visa, I filed a crime report with the Washington DC police department. The pickpocket had charged some $7,000 for merchandise at an electronics store. In many jurisdictions, this is grand theft, a felony. Since this was apparently a local independent store, I thought the police might actually be able to identify the culprit. When I mailed a letter to the DC police department several weeks later asking about the crime, I receive no response.
If you have a lot of cash, that's "evidence" of drug crimes, even absent drugs, and the cops will take your money, put it on trial (cash is bad at defending itself and does not get an attorney), and buy boats, pinball machines and hookers with your money.
^ None of that is an exaggeration.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/10...
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The key term being 'creditor'. This really only applies to debts. A merchant has no obligation to take cash before the fact but he has to take cash if you are in 'debt'. A sit down restaurant that serves you first and then presents a bill HAS to take cash. A walk-up counter style restaurant does not.
Good-bye
Most thieves work as teams.
Robbery is one of the crimes most likely to have a group of perpetrators, but even so the majority of robberies (55-60%) are committed by solo individuals.
https://books.google.com/books...
rage, rage against the dying of the light
Cash is also a good limit on your spending. If I only have $10 left, I will not be buying that expensive lunch, I'll put the souvenir back on the shelf, etc. Having to run to the ATM to get money does keep one frugal. Still a serious problem in the US are younger people who quickly get into credit card debt, despite just about every school trying to teach financial responsibility in civics classes. It keeps the repo guys in business I guess.
Your $500 Android is more valuable to them than a couple of tens or twenties
Depends on whether they're opportunistic or if they've been doing it enough to have contacts with fences (a fairly small proportion of muggers, according to a criminologist friend). In the US and EU, you can block a phone from being able to connect to any mobile network very quickly after it's been stolen, so most legitimate second-hand phone shops will not pay cash for a phone from a walk in - it may turn into a brick before they can sell it. The only people that will buy a known stolen mobile are people with contacts that can ship them abroad, typically to the middle east (where the operators don't bother with the block lists, because locally stolen phones are not a big issue and a lot of their customers have phones stolen abroad and would be unhappy if they stopped working). They'll typically only pay the thief $20 for that $400 phone, so the $20 in your wallet is more valuable because they don't have to go to the fence to be able to spend it.
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Actually there is Section 5103 of title 31. I had to look it up but already knew it existed. When I was in college a very long time ago I worked in convenience store people would come in late and pump a few dollars in gas so they could break 100s. Now they make you prepay so that you don't drive off with out paying or pump gas and have a bill that they don't have the cash to break.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/...