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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 don't feel comfortable if I go out with at least a couple hundred in cash with me. Always have. If you get robbed throwing a significant roll and running the other way is the safest thing you can do. Thieves hate it if they only get five bucks. Of course I forgot to mention that I also carry a gun. ( Legally with a concealed carry license ).
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Like any decision, it isn't just cost, but cost/benefit. If I basically never need cash, why carry it? The risk is really small, sure, but the benefit is small, too. Second, I misplace things.
Pretty soon, enough weak-minded people will believe this and plead with the government to please come and take their cash and replace it with something that leaves an audit trail.
Have gnu, will travel.
...at least of cash like you're talking about..
I've also always heard people say it was dangerous to carry cash, but I don't think it is that much.. At least for robbery.. I know myself though, and I'd be sure to accidentally lose it if I carried cash.. Nobody to blame but myself, but it's still "dangerous" for me to carry cash.
My dad always carried cash though, and one time in the early years of his dementia he got lost (forgot where he parked) and ended up wandering around town. He's diabetic, and his blood sugar got way off exacerbating the situation. Some good samaritans stopped to help him out when he started looking like he had a real problem, and ended up searching his wallet to try to figure out how to help him (calling family or whatever).. When it was all said and done, at least three different complete strangers had dug through his wallet in their efforts to try to help him. When we met up at the hospital later and security passed his belongings along to us, we found that he had a little over $1000 dollars in his wallet still. Now, I have no idea for sure what he started with, but I'm pretty sure it was exactly what he still had in there at the end of the day.
The whole incident really made me rethink that whole "people are always trying to steal from you" mentality that we get pounded into us by the pessimists of society. I think generally people almost always do the right thing when given the chance, which I guess includes not robbing you of your cash in your wallet.
I carry cash when I need to spend it, not simply to have something in my pocket, and not once has anyone, anywhere, ever tried to rob me.
Those whiners who think carrying cash is dangerous are the same ones who will whine about how dangerous flying in planes is when there's a crash. That completely ignores the 10,000 other takeoffs and landings which took place that same day without an issue.
What is dangerous is carrying a cell phone. Between running into objects or distracted driving because you're engrossed with whatever text message you're trying read/send, having a cell phone is orders of magnitude more dangerous than carrying cash. This doesn't even include people robbing you of your cell phone which then gives them access to your accounts because you've conveniently put all that information on your phone.
The question becomes, which is worse: losing the few dollars you had in your pocket, or giving someone access to all your bank accounts?
You could put your whole life savings in a backpack, and if you didn't let anyone see that your backpack was full of cash, you'd be in no greater danger at all than carrying an equal volume of anything else in your backpack. But what if someone just randomly stole your backpack? The odds of this happening weren't any greater than if you packed the backpack full of dead weasels, but you would've just lost your life savings.
So I usually don't carry more than $200 in my wallet to keep the risk down, but there's nothing inherently dangerous about carrying cash, unless you let other people know how that you're carrying a remarkably large amount of cash. Flashing large amounts of cash is dangerous.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
OP here,
First they have to know I'm carrying cash. Second, I have to be somewhere that I'm going to get mugged. Third, I have to be stupid enough overall to create the circumstances where it'll happen (flashing it around, etc). I don't look like I carry up to $100 in my wallet. In over 50 years of life 'getting robbed' has never been a concern, and it's never happened. I have little worries about that. Meanwhile using cash for day-to-day purchases protects my accounts and my privacy too. Consider that.
Dumb fucking article. Don't post shit like this in the future. Thanks
You carry a card around that can reach into your bank account?
Let that sink in for a bit. If you are going to use plastic, the only rational choice is credit cards.
"His name was James Damore."
Somewhat in the same vein, I'd be worried about NOT having any cash, should I get mugged by someone that can and is willing to cause harm. What's he going to do with some useless plastic? Hand them a couple 20's and maybe save your keys, wallet, and health.
Maybe it's not so bright to regularly carry large amounts of cash (as in hundreds or more), but I don't see how anyone would think having a handful of 20's would hurt.
My girlfriend has been unsuccessfully mugged 3 times in NYC, in two different boroughs, and one of those times it was an old friend. So there's definitely evidence that you can safely escape a mugging, but it's also evidence that they're frequent enough that it's likely to happen to you at some point, assuming you frequent such areas.
Having a few hundred in your pocket is nothing compared to the $1000 phone, $1000 tablet, $3000 computer, etc that we're all carrying around with us and display very visibly.
CorpGov wants to track everyone. Everywhere. Always. Cash is difficult to monitor. With your Personal Tracking Device in your pocket, and your identify-linking electronic purchases absolutely tagged to you and you alone, CorpGov feasts. They get to do whatever they want with everything you do that they can track, and what is more definitive and commercially valuable than what you buy? And where? And when? So of course CorpGov is doing everything it can to sow the seeds of doubt about the safety of carrying cash, which they cannot so easily track. As if they held your interests in mind at all, let alone paramount. 'Cash Is Dangerous' is true to the degree that you are Sheeple.
Twice as crazy as I would be if I was half as crazy as I am.
You want to carry some cash, like $40 or something, in case you actually do get robbed.
Someone hard up for cash that is desperate enough to walk up and mug you will be even more aggressive if they get nothing out of it.
Having some token cash to turn over will satisfy their immediate need and usually end the transaction without physical harm.
Yes, I have been robbed. But I don't have even the slightest fear of carrying cash. I think I'm safer carrying at least a couple of 20s -- you never know when an emergency happens, and cards don't work for every situation, where cash does.
Here's the thing -- criminals don't know if I'm carrying cash or not until they rob me, and if I'm being robbed, losing my cash would be the least of my problems. Losing my ID, phone, and various important cards in my wallet are much, much larger problems, and that would happen whether or not I have cash.
I bet it is illegal in your country, too. Cash is legal tender
There is no legal requirement to accept cash in the US. You are free to demand payment in bags of feathers if you wish to.
Try using cash in one of Amazon's few physical stores. They don't take it. At all. I am not sure how they can do that, but they do.
You can refuse service to almost anyone ... unless you are straight the the person being refused is gay.
Why? The only difference in liability is what a company decides. In many countries you are no more lake for fraud on your debit card than fraud on your credit card.
Think you're safe because in credit you can reuse to pay the bill? Well in the good old US of A your credit rating is far more important than you bank balance.
It does often work. I've had similar experiences. Just a couple weeks ago a guy was following me for awhile, and when he started speeding up to catch up to me, I turned down a really dark alley, and then slowed waaaaaay down, but didn't look back. He took a couple steps down that alley, paused, and ran away.
You don't have to be a bad-ass of any sort, you just have to be in the less desirable target category. Typically, smiling at them and showing no fear works best. You don't want to challenge them; they're probably operating from the "lizard brain." They would be willing to pick a fist fight with a grenade if it insulted their moms, so you don't want to be like "f* you." But you might get away with, "No thanks. No thanks, I don't want any." It is the real-life "these are not the droids you're looking for." Their weak minds just can't operate fast enough to fit it into their immediate task, so they move on to the next victim.