Cash in hand is a physical manifestation of personal freedom. You can buy what you want with privacy with no electronic record of your identity tied to the purchase. You can buy what you want without a requirement for Internet or electricity to be working for the transaction to be processed. You can even buy things that your government says are illegal for you to buy. That's true freedom.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm someone who almost exclusively pays for things digitally, but even I agree that getting rid of cash is a horrible idea. The Internet goes down, electricity goes out, but you'll never not be able to pay for something with physical currency. It is absurd to try and abandon it if only for the fact that it is a foolproof backup.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Heck, there are people in Hawaii right now who desperately need propane but they can't get it because the dealers are only accepting cash. One of the best bits of advice I ever got was to have a small emergency fund of cash on hand - and to make sure that it includes lots of small bills because a lot of places aren't going to be able to make change.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can even buy things that your government says are illegal for you to buy. That’s true freedom.

Yep. The only reason I still interact with paper money is to pay the weed dealer once a month.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Damn, my weed dealer is the government

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That headline makes it sound like they are totally fine with leaving the vulnerable behind but there are fears that it will affect other groups as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Now that you point it out... it does!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally I hate using cash, especially coins, but going completely cashless is a terrible idea. My university's canteen no longer accepts cash and I wanted to buy a coffee. So I tap my phone like I always do. Payment won't process. Okay, so I try my physical debit card. Still nothing... Luckily a friend could help me out in the end but it would have been far less embarrassing if I could've just handed them a fiver.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

True, problems arise when options are taken out completely.

Live and learn

Hopefully, you see it as a laughing matter where a friend came to the rescue!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maybe the UK is very different from the US but I find I use cash more now than I used to since I got into buying used items from private parties. This includes cars, farm equipment, mowers, camera equipment / lenses, and more. If you're at auctions you get a discount for paying cash (which honestly I think is a bit of a scam, but there it is), same for buying gas at a gas station. If you're at a swap meet or the like, or a yard sale - no one is setting up a square account or something, nor do they want to deal with your paypal or venmo or whatever. They want you to give them $10 or whatever and take the used item.

So - some of this I'm sure is the limits of the US banking system, but also no one wants to need to do extra IRS paperwork for a one time sale of something. Yes, a lot of it is "dodging taxes", but I also see the other side - if I'm selling my old books and that bike I haven't used in a decade in a once a year or less yardsale - it's a little ridiculous to need to do sales and income taxes on each $2-$50 item that would be required with digital payments.

Well. I rarely use cash in stores or restaurants, but I also see it for local chicken BBQs or little town fairs - the local legion or whatever doesn't have a portable card machine...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

No-one in Britain would even think about tax implications, because there is a generous tax allowance on sales of private possessions, and private vehicle sales are wholly exempt

Last time I sold a vehicle the guy paid me via a bank transfer and the money was in the account by the time I'd loaded by banks app to check. So yeah, very different. I haven't touched a note in at least four years

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes US is very different in that aspect. I live in the Netherlands. Most people here have an app from their bank, with which you basically can do all your banking with. For payments between people, you can simply create a payment request in your banking app, and send a link to it via text, whatsapp, whatever. When clicking the link it will open the receivers own banking app with which the transfer can be me. Just the bank accounts, and amounts are already preset. It's very easy to use, works with every bank, and everybody just uses the app from their own bank with all it's safety measures.

Personally I hardly ever use cash anymore. Just tapping your phone to pay is so much more convenient. Also keeping track of where you spend your money is easier.

Out here we used to have atm machines everywhere. Their number has declined greatly though. They are still around, you will usually have to check a map if you're in place where you don't know their locations. Cash usage has definitely declined a lot these last year.

That being said, I think getting rid of cash completely is a bad idea. Cash certainly has it's usage / advantages.

It also seems to differ from country to country by the way. For example Germany, still uses cash a lot more than we do here.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I barely ever use cash anymore, never have a reason to. It's never more convenient to pay in cash and then have to deal with whatever change you get afterwards too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, but the problem is removing the option for people to pay for things by cash.

What of the people that don't have bank accounts and phones, or those that can't afford them?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cash in the UK is extremely dead already. I've not even seen any of the plastic notes except for the £10.

I had a taxi in Crewe say "cash only" and the fury on my face was incredible. What the fuck do you mean cash only?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He meant, "I'm not reporting this revenue to the government, thank you very much!"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Yeah and that shit can get fucked.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I agree. Since the 1990s New Zealand mostly uses an electronic system called EFTPOS and when that goes down it's bad enough, almost no one can buy or sell anything.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I haven't used anything but my phone to pay for things since android pay was released in 2015 😂 your fears are a little late there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is more on removing the option and giving more power to banks and gov'ts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah because the banks don't already control (and create) all the money. Again, a little late.