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Most of the cashless festivals return your unused "credits" pretty quickly after the festival. The real problem comes when the system breaks down- which I've s

by tedivm 8y ago

Most of the cashless festivals return your unused "credits" pretty quickly after the festival. The real problem comes when the system breaks down- which I've seen happen at plenty of festivals. At that point if cash isn't an option then commerce simply stops- screwing both vendor and customer alike.

gammateam 8y ago
> Most of the cashless festivals return your unused "credits" pretty quickly after the festival. for a $5 processing fee
- metildaa 8y ago
  With a delay of their choosing, and a conversion factor for those of us that aren't locals. Cash has frictionless instant settlement, which is very hard to compete with as a centralized payment processor.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    > frictionless Except when they have no change (forcing you to find someone willing to change it or wait for them to do so) or refuse to accept a large bill. I often choose to use cash, but it's really not frictionless.
wild_preference 8y ago
Festivals I've been to will, say, require deposits of 100 peso increments and then the beers cost 80 pesos. And you can't get your money out. Even if you could get your money back, you're still waiting at lines to recharge the bracelet. It's a joke. With cash, you just come prepared and withdraw at any ATM long before the festival. Bracelets didn't solve any problem except disconnect the money handling event from the purchasing event so that you lose track of it, like how microtransactions are never priced in actual currency.
- addicted 8y ago
  Why can’t you load the same amount of money on your bracelet before the festival as the cash you would be carrying? If that’s because the festival organizers don’t let you retrieve your money easily or without a cost, that’s an issue with the festival management and not with the idea of digital money. I’ve been to a festival which allowed us to withdraw money freely (I think they had some restrictions such as only 1 free withdrawal after the festival was over, and/or it had to be done within a week or so) but that allowed us to simply load in excess money so we never had to recharge. That worked really well for us.
  - MereInterest 8y ago
    > If that’s because the festival organizers don’t let you retrieve your money easily or without a cost, that’s an issue with the festival management and not with the idea of digital money. The ability for poor implementations to exist is itself a strike against the general concept.
  - Aeolun 8y ago
    I think my problem with this comes down to ‘why the fuck are you bothering me with this?!’. We have perfectly valid working payment systems (cash, debit/credit), and for some reason you’ve decided that your festivals proprietary payment system is better? Have to load money, have to retrieve money, and have zero insight into how much I’ve already spent without even more apps or interfaces.
    - ycombobreaker 8y ago
      To add to that: because we all know that both parties know a working money system exists, then the most likely explanation for "why" becomes "because it is profitable for the festival host." The festival goer is tight to be naturally skeptical of sny alternative payment system (smart wristbands, "credit" cards, tickets/tokens). Even if some transactions have extra friction such as ID checks for age-restricted purchases, the less intrusive solution is color coded "dumb paper" wristbands.
    - 8y ago

by tedivm 8y ago

gammateam 8y ago

> Most of the cashless festivals return your unused "credits" pretty quickly after the festival. for a $5 processing fee

metildaa 8y ago
With a delay of their choosing, and a conversion factor for those of us that aren't locals. Cash has frictionless instant settlement, which is very hard to compete with as a centralized payment processor.
- icebraining 8y ago
  > frictionless Except when they have no change (forcing you to find someone willing to change it or wait for them to do so) or refuse to accept a large bill. I often choose to use cash, but it's really not frictionless.

wild_preference 8y ago

Festivals I've been to will, say, require deposits of 100 peso increments and then the beers cost 80 pesos. And you can't get your money out. Even if you could get your money back, you're still waiting at lines to recharge the bracelet. It's a joke. With cash, you just come prepared and withdraw at any ATM long before the festival. Bracelets didn't solve any problem except disconnect the money handling event from the purchasing event so that you lose track of it, like how microtransactions are never priced in actual currency.

addicted 8y ago
Why can’t you load the same amount of money on your bracelet before the festival as the cash you would be carrying? If that’s because the festival organizers don’t let you retrieve your money easily or without a cost, that’s an issue with the festival management and not with the idea of digital money. I’ve been to a festival which allowed us to withdraw money freely (I think they had some restrictions such as only 1 free withdrawal after the festival was over, and/or it had to be done within a week or so) but that allowed us to simply load in excess money so we never had to recharge. That worked really well for us.
- MereInterest 8y ago
  > If that’s because the festival organizers don’t let you retrieve your money easily or without a cost, that’s an issue with the festival management and not with the idea of digital money. The ability for poor implementations to exist is itself a strike against the general concept.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  I think my problem with this comes down to ‘why the fuck are you bothering me with this?!’. We have perfectly valid working payment systems (cash, debit/credit), and for some reason you’ve decided that your festivals proprietary payment system is better? Have to load money, have to retrieve money, and have zero insight into how much I’ve already spent without even more apps or interfaces.
  - ycombobreaker 8y ago
    To add to that: because we all know that both parties know a working money system exists, then the most likely explanation for "why" becomes "because it is profitable for the festival host." The festival goer is tight to be naturally skeptical of sny alternative payment system (smart wristbands, "credit" cards, tickets/tokens). Even if some transactions have extra friction such as ID checks for age-restricted purchases, the less intrusive solution is color coded "dumb paper" wristbands.
  - 8y ago