6 ms·
What does a kid need a special debit card for? When they’re old enough to get a job they can just get a regular bank account.
by basisword 5y ago
What does a kid need a special debit card for? When they’re old enough to get a job they can just get a regular bank account.
- chrisseaton 5y agoHow many kids do you know with a job? Now that a lot of society is cashless, children need a way to spend their pocket money even.
- basisword 5y agoI was considering teenagers “kids”. Surely parents can just use their own debit card when the kid needs something that can’t be bought with cash? Special debit cards for kids seem to add unnecessary complexity (and opportunity for abuse) to the solution for a really simple problem.
- chrisseaton 5y ago> Surely parents can just use their own debit card when the kid needs something that can’t be bought with cash? What if the child's gone to the store on their own?
- basisword 5y agoStores accept cash.
- chrisseaton 5y agoWhere I live, many do not anymore. That's a trend that's only going to spread and accelerate. Hence the product.
- basisword 5y agoReally? Mind if I ask where? As much as cash use has dwindled here in the UK (at least anecdotally) I’ve never come across a store that won’t accept cash. I know a couple that didn’t accept it early in the pandemic (due to fear of covid spreading on cash) but that didn’t last long.
- zbrozek 5y agoI got a drink at Happy Lemon in Sunnyvale, CA a couple days ago and they didn't take cash.
- ipaddr 5y agoWas there another place to get a drink that accepted cash?
- nrmitchi 5y agoYou're moving the goalpost. The statement wasn't "there exists a store that still accepts cash", but "many stores no longer accept cash".
- ipaddr 5y agoThe larger point is not to send your kid to that store if they only accept a debt card. They only exist if you keep going to those stores.
- chrisseaton 5y agoDo your children not have minds of their own about which store they want to go to?
- ipaddr 5y agoI would think they would go to the one that accepts a form of payment they have would be a priority.
- mason55 5y agoNYC banned cashless stores because they exclude the un-/under-banked
- ryanlol 5y agoHow do you transfer cash to the child from a remote location? Western Union is not exactly cheap or convenient.
- watwut 5y agoThis assumes the parent is either with kid constantly or parent gave his card to kid. You cant imagine 9 years old to go to buy ice cream or toy?
- basisword 5y agoSure, you can give them cash. If the parents aren’t around (e.g. they’re with a babysitter)…they can wait until the parents are around to give them cash.
- chrisseaton 5y ago> …they can wait Well now you can see the point of the product then... it's about giving your children some freedom and responsibility for themselves.
- usrusr 5y agoBut then they might learn how to make a buying decision based on its impact on some long term balance, not just based on "is the money available now: yes/no". Sounds good, but at the same time they'll miss out on quite a bit of learning that almost everything (that a child might want) can be had if only they beg/negotiate/throw a fit hard enough. Life gives me the impression that in a ruthless-takes-all world the negotiation skills taught by the latter have far more impact than the being reasonable about money skills taught by the former. (sorry for the sarcasm)
- watwut 5y agoThe whole point of pocket money is that it is theirs and you dont gatekeep every buy. And kids can go to store without babysitter.
- basisword 5y ago1. Not “gatekeeping” their decision. They just might have to wait a few hours before they can carry it out. 2. I’m not sure of your point here. I meant if the parent wasn’t around to provide the cash the kid might have to wait until they are around. Not that they need someone to take them to the store (although this is highly dependent on where you live and the age of the kid).
- bwship 5y agoWe have two different teenagers in our neighborhood that help for a couple hours a week to clean the kitchen. Also, it seems that almost every restaurant and store in the Charleston area has a ton of teenage employees.
- ModernMech 5y agoIt's the next stage of capitalist indoctrination. As a society, we aim to turn our children into consumers as quickly as possible. We advertise sugary, fatty, fast food to them on the TV shows they watch. We get them addicted early to the dopamine hit of a the next big toy, an obsession which carries through to high tech gadgets and cars in adulthood. My local grocery store even has a tiny child-sized shopping cart with a flag on it that says "Future Customer in Training", so kids can mimic their parents as they consume. In that context, debit cards for kids are a logical next-step. As soon as they hit 18 and can earn an income, now companies will have a nice fat history of buying habits and consumer behavior for these kids that makes them easily targetable.
- MattGaiser 5y agoTeenagers working isn't really a thing anymore https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/disappearance-of-the-summer-job/529824/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/disappe...
- fighterpilot 5y agoPurely for the software it's coupled with, to teach them about budgeting and basic financial literacy (interest rates etc).