4 ms·

What? Cash is the bane of society. We would live better without it on every single aspect imaginable. (including but not limited to health, environment, crime)

barry-cotter 8y ago
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
Vaskivo 8y ago
"Cashless" does not mean "moneyless". Cashless means that it doesn't accept physical money, paper bills and metal coins. It only accepts credit or debit cards. Or any other kind of electronic medium.
- gerbilly 8y ago
  If I give 5$ to a homeless person and he then tries to go buy a coffee at a cashless coffee shop, what do you think will happen? After all he has money, right?
hourislate 8y ago
I try to use cash as much as I possibly can. It is no ones business to track what I buy, when I buy it, how often I buy it, etc. In the event of an emergency (environmental, energy, etc), how do you propose using a credit card to purchase anything? The biggest problem I face is tellers that can no longer do simple math and have problems counting.
SolaceQuantum 8y ago
OK. Let's say this is true. How would financial nonpersons be serviced in a cashless society? (i.e. homeless or home insecure persons, bad credit, and other judges of financial risk on humans established by non-governmental authority)
metalliqaz 8y ago
extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
dexen 8y ago
> We would live better without [cash] While I love the ease of use of electronic payments of all stripes, your assertion runs counter to my general knowledge and judgement. Can you support the assertion somehow? In my understanding the ease and safety of use of either cash or electronic payments is pretty much ensured by the easy and safety of the other alternative. Competition FTW.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
heavymark 8y ago
When you mention you can't imagine a single negative aspect, I presume that you are not a low income minority without a credit/debit card? Cash is more convenient for many (especially nearly the entire demographic of Hacker News), but the point of the article as you may have noticed is about how a large percentage of low income people and minorities do not have bank accounts and thus are not able to shop at these establishments. Hopefully someday states can help solve these underlying issues and then we can live in a world where payments are more convenient for all.

barry-cotter 8y ago

If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.

Vaskivo 8y ago

"Cashless" does not mean "moneyless". Cashless means that it doesn't accept physical money, paper bills and metal coins. It only accepts credit or debit cards. Or any other kind of electronic medium.

gerbilly 8y ago
If I give 5$ to a homeless person and he then tries to go buy a coffee at a cashless coffee shop, what do you think will happen? After all he has money, right?

hourislate 8y ago

I try to use cash as much as I possibly can. It is no ones business to track what I buy, when I buy it, how often I buy it, etc. In the event of an emergency (environmental, energy, etc), how do you propose using a credit card to purchase anything? The biggest problem I face is tellers that can no longer do simple math and have problems counting.

SolaceQuantum 8y ago

OK. Let's say this is true. How would financial nonpersons be serviced in a cashless society? (i.e. homeless or home insecure persons, bad credit, and other judges of financial risk on humans established by non-governmental authority)

metalliqaz 8y ago

extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

dexen 8y ago

> We would live better without [cash] While I love the ease of use of electronic payments of all stripes, your assertion runs counter to my general knowledge and judgement. Can you support the assertion somehow? In my understanding the ease and safety of use of either cash or electronic payments is pretty much ensured by the easy and safety of the other alternative. Competition FTW.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

heavymark 8y ago

When you mention you can't imagine a single negative aspect, I presume that you are not a low income minority without a credit/debit card? Cash is more convenient for many (especially nearly the entire demographic of Hacker News), but the point of the article as you may have noticed is about how a large percentage of low income people and minorities do not have bank accounts and thus are not able to shop at these establishments. Hopefully someday states can help solve these underlying issues and then we can live in a world where payments are more convenient for all.