5 ms·

I haven’t had anything this bad but always use credit cards online and maybe even in real life and pay off the balance as the protections are so much better - i

I haven’t had anything this bad but always use credit cards online and maybe even in real life and pay off the balance as the protections are so much better - it is stupid really.

clairity 5y ago
yes, never use your debit card and use only credit cards online, but cash is better for non-major in-person purchases as it's inherently private and anonymous. it's also better for the payee (hopefully a local retailer not a mega-corp), since they don't have to pay the fees. for major in-person purchases, the extra (fraud, warranty, etc.) protections provided by the credit card may be worth the privacy/anonymity tradeoff.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "non-major in-person purchases as it's inherently private and anonymous" Most of the time that's an anti-feature - there is no point of hiding transactions of you buying bread, it could provide you an alibi in case you are accused of a crime, but there is no conceivable way it could be used against you.. (people don't stop to buy bread on the way to the crime scene)
  - clairity 5y ago
    how many common crimes are you committing for that to be your primary concern? sometimes you just don't want to share every single bit of purchase data with hoarders like visa, chase, kroger, and google.
    - nobody9999 5y ago
      > how many common crimes are you committing for that to be your primary concern? sometimes you just don't want to share every single bit of purchase data with hoarders like visa, chase, kroger, and google. I think that GP is concerned with being able to show that they didn't commit a crime, rather than that they frequently commit them. That said, I generally prefer cash for in-person transactions, not just for the anonymity, but because most smaller retailers pay much higher fees to the credit card processors than big ones. An excellent example is NYC taxis. The CC processing goes through a couple different levels of "service" providers and the drivers get dinged for 5% on every transaction. Whereas a large retailer is likely only charged 0.5-0.75%. Which can make a big difference for people like cab drivers. As such, I always pay cash for taxi fares.
  - ilammy 5y ago
    You should consider wearing a gopro in public and stream at all times when you go out, that would surely provide you with an alibi /s
    - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
      You joke, but we do that in high-risk environment, like driving in Russia (dashcams) or protesting. Paying by card has saved my butt several times, when I was able to prove to a retailer when and where I bought a product for warranty purposes, or get out of a contract that had 2 weeks 'cooloff' period to terminate but the agency kept playing dumb and 'loosing' all my letters and emails.
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Cash is wonderful too for tax evasion. Hence cash only businesses.
  - clairity 5y ago
    yes, but that’s a non sequitur. tax evasion via cash-only businesses is likely a rounding error on national receipts, and most of those businesses are straight up illegal (fencing, drug/weapons/human/sex trade, etc.), so justice is difficult/expensive and can be pursued more aggressively via criminal law anyway. we should worry a teeny-tiny bit about mom-n-pop taxes and service worker tips, and rather a lot about tax enforcement for big businesses and the well-off.
    - voidfunc 5y ago
      Where are you living that cash-only businesses are mostly illegal enterprises? In the northeast there are tons of cash-only bars and restaurants (im sitting in one), food places (especially hot dog stands lol), and housing/plumbing/electrical contractors (friends with a few that offer _steep_ cash-only discounts). Cash is king if you want to avoid government scrutiny.
  - gscott 5y ago
    Not anymore with the bank reporting coming up. Unless if you keep all the cash under the bed.

I haven’t had anything this bad but always use credit cards online and maybe even in real life and pay off the balance as the protections are so much better - it is stupid really.

clairity 5y ago

yes, never use your debit card and use only credit cards online, but cash is better for non-major in-person purchases as it's inherently private and anonymous. it's also better for the payee (hopefully a local retailer not a mega-corp), since they don't have to pay the fees. for major in-person purchases, the extra (fraud, warranty, etc.) protections provided by the credit card may be worth the privacy/anonymity tradeoff.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
"non-major in-person purchases as it's inherently private and anonymous" Most of the time that's an anti-feature - there is no point of hiding transactions of you buying bread, it could provide you an alibi in case you are accused of a crime, but there is no conceivable way it could be used against you.. (people don't stop to buy bread on the way to the crime scene)
- clairity 5y ago
  how many common crimes are you committing for that to be your primary concern? sometimes you just don't want to share every single bit of purchase data with hoarders like visa, chase, kroger, and google.
  - nobody9999 5y ago
    > how many common crimes are you committing for that to be your primary concern? sometimes you just don't want to share every single bit of purchase data with hoarders like visa, chase, kroger, and google. I think that GP is concerned with being able to show that they didn't commit a crime, rather than that they frequently commit them. That said, I generally prefer cash for in-person transactions, not just for the anonymity, but because most smaller retailers pay much higher fees to the credit card processors than big ones. An excellent example is NYC taxis. The CC processing goes through a couple different levels of "service" providers and the drivers get dinged for 5% on every transaction. Whereas a large retailer is likely only charged 0.5-0.75%. Which can make a big difference for people like cab drivers. As such, I always pay cash for taxi fares.
- ilammy 5y ago
  You should consider wearing a gopro in public and stream at all times when you go out, that would surely provide you with an alibi /s
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    You joke, but we do that in high-risk environment, like driving in Russia (dashcams) or protesting. Paying by card has saved my butt several times, when I was able to prove to a retailer when and where I bought a product for warranty purposes, or get out of a contract that had 2 weeks 'cooloff' period to terminate but the agency kept playing dumb and 'loosing' all my letters and emails.
voidfunc 5y ago
Cash is wonderful too for tax evasion. Hence cash only businesses.
- clairity 5y ago
  yes, but that’s a non sequitur. tax evasion via cash-only businesses is likely a rounding error on national receipts, and most of those businesses are straight up illegal (fencing, drug/weapons/human/sex trade, etc.), so justice is difficult/expensive and can be pursued more aggressively via criminal law anyway. we should worry a teeny-tiny bit about mom-n-pop taxes and service worker tips, and rather a lot about tax enforcement for big businesses and the well-off.
  - voidfunc 5y ago
    Where are you living that cash-only businesses are mostly illegal enterprises? In the northeast there are tons of cash-only bars and restaurants (im sitting in one), food places (especially hot dog stands lol), and housing/plumbing/electrical contractors (friends with a few that offer _steep_ cash-only discounts). Cash is king if you want to avoid government scrutiny.
- gscott 5y ago
  Not anymore with the bank reporting coming up. Unless if you keep all the cash under the bed.