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> And when we inevitably leave our card somewhere and we need to get home? How is this different to cash? I also have Apple pay on my phone and watch. > Or it

> And when we inevitably leave our card somewhere and we need to get home? How is this different to cash? I also have Apple pay on my phone and watch. > Or it's blocked for some random reason I have a couple cards. Also, I've been cashless for 10 years across three countries and this has never happened. > Nevermind the services that just don't take cash Assume you mean card. Not a problem in many countries including Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. I travel a lot, remote, even random middle-of-nowhere merchants accept card. From a business point of view, cash-only makes zero sense. Why would a business turn away people who want to give them money? > or the fact that their card reader might be down Never had it happen. A couple of times the payment network has been down, and these terminals seem capable of making the transaction offline and syncing later. If you're from a country where any of these are legitimate concerns for you, it doesn't mean cashless is bad - it means the systems are bad. And they can be fixed, again, AU, NZ, and UK (and more, I'm sure) are proof. Haven't carried cash for 10 years and it doesn't occupy a single thought.

lisasays 3y ago
How is this different to cash? Of course there's no difference in regard to the risk of getting physically lost. I was referring risk of carrying a single value store (independent of type). I also have Apple pay on my phone and watch. Not sure how that's less cognitive overhead than a physical wallet, but as you like. From a business point of view, cash-only makes zero sense. Why would a business turn away people who want to give them money? Margins are thin. Apparently the overhead is significant for some merchants. Such that in my part of the planet, it's not uncommon for street merchants (and small shops) to only take card payments above a certain minimum amount. Oh, and some work under the table. Cash lets them do that. Meanwhile, the card-only places turn away customers all the time. If you're from a country where any of these are legitimate concerns for you, it doesn't mean cashless is bad - it means the systems are bad. Mmm - from first principles, and given that one system is orders of magnitude more complex (and subject to far many more points of failure) than the other - is may very well be an intrinsic liability of that system.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  Cash only places probably turn away more customers than card only places these days. People just like the convenience, and cash is on its way out.
  - lisasays 3y ago
    Whether cash is on it's way "out" (as opposed to contracting a bit and settling to a certain niche level) is -- as the article indicates -- far from an obvious, final matter. And in my view quite doubtful in fact. Either way - do as you like, and nice chatting.
  - tekknik 3y ago
    > People just like the convenience, and cash is on its way out. My favorite question that many of the people on this site love to ignore, what about natural disasters? Do you believe CC terminals still work when the rest of the infrastructure has failed? Cash is far from on the way out, you’re being naive.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      Sure, natural disaster occurs, then...maybe I have more things to worry about then having cash? If the POS is down at the store, the cell phone networks are surely down (since many POS these days are just cellphones attached to Stripe or similar), and I'm guessing your saying FEMA help won't come very soon, it will be everyone for themselves in the city? At least I won't be the only one suffering in such a DOOM scenario. I also don't live in a place where natural disasters (like hurricanes) are very common. I imagine people in Florida or coastal Texas would have a very different view on things.
      - lisasays 3y ago
        But with cash you can at least, you know, go down to the corner store and buy yourself a bottle of water. And maybe even something to eat.
      - deleted 3y ago

lisasays 3y ago

How is this different to cash? Of course there's no difference in regard to the risk of getting physically lost. I was referring risk of carrying a single value store (independent of type). I also have Apple pay on my phone and watch. Not sure how that's less cognitive overhead than a physical wallet, but as you like. From a business point of view, cash-only makes zero sense. Why would a business turn away people who want to give them money? Margins are thin. Apparently the overhead is significant for some merchants. Such that in my part of the planet, it's not uncommon for street merchants (and small shops) to only take card payments above a certain minimum amount. Oh, and some work under the table. Cash lets them do that. Meanwhile, the card-only places turn away customers all the time. If you're from a country where any of these are legitimate concerns for you, it doesn't mean cashless is bad - it means the systems are bad. Mmm - from first principles, and given that one system is orders of magnitude more complex (and subject to far many more points of failure) than the other - is may very well be an intrinsic liability of that system.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Cash only places probably turn away more customers than card only places these days. People just like the convenience, and cash is on its way out.
- lisasays 3y ago
  Whether cash is on it's way "out" (as opposed to contracting a bit and settling to a certain niche level) is -- as the article indicates -- far from an obvious, final matter. And in my view quite doubtful in fact. Either way - do as you like, and nice chatting.
- tekknik 3y ago
  > People just like the convenience, and cash is on its way out. My favorite question that many of the people on this site love to ignore, what about natural disasters? Do you believe CC terminals still work when the rest of the infrastructure has failed? Cash is far from on the way out, you’re being naive.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    Sure, natural disaster occurs, then...maybe I have more things to worry about then having cash? If the POS is down at the store, the cell phone networks are surely down (since many POS these days are just cellphones attached to Stripe or similar), and I'm guessing your saying FEMA help won't come very soon, it will be everyone for themselves in the city? At least I won't be the only one suffering in such a DOOM scenario. I also don't live in a place where natural disasters (like hurricanes) are very common. I imagine people in Florida or coastal Texas would have a very different view on things.
    - lisasays 3y ago
      But with cash you can at least, you know, go down to the corner store and buy yourself a bottle of water. And maybe even something to eat.
    - deleted 3y ago