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What makes you think it would matter if you had cash, when the payment systems go down? It's not like the cash registers would work without their own connectivi

What makes you think it would matter if you had cash, when the payment systems go down? It's not like the cash registers would work without their own connectivity, which will be down too, if electricity is gone. Since there are almost no mom&pop shops in metropolitan areas anymore, which maybe could switch to pen&paper, abacus, that point is moot too. In reality you have personnel which shows a deep frown if the till says 42.52 and you give them 50 in bills, and 2.52 in coins, so they can give you an even 5 and 3 or 2 coins back. (adapt to your local currency and coinery) You can hear their mental scream "Oh my gawd! Aye need to calculate! Ze horror!" Fuel? With no electricity? Hand pumped? Somewhere far out in fly-over-county maybe.

u32480932048 3y ago
This is the argument against only having a Stripe terminal in your shop. I'm sure some of them would need therapy after making change for a $50, which is sad on at least two levels. But most places I've lived seem to have plenty of non-IoT cash registers, and it's not infrequently that something is wrong with their card system, EBT is down, etc. That the financial district Sweetgreen won't be able to take my money is a risk I'm willing to assume. It's a much bigger deal when you're walking (or in rural America) and are faced with an hour+ trek to another store (or pay $3.75 to get $20 out, assuming the ATM works). I've also had unexpected overdrafts that affect only my account, and having a couple hundred to a thousand-some dollars of cash in my house has saved me numerous times. Fuel options with no electricity do in fact involve talking to some guy named Jim Bob, Buddy, or Mack, who is gonna want cash or raccoon pelts, not more canned goods or bread (he has plenty already, and I'm all out of raccoon pelts). Which brings me back to my original point: in any real catastrophic event, it's going to be other random people you're dealing with, not the IoT devices of faceless corporations. And most are not gonna want to negotiate raccoon pelts to fuel oil (or gold shavings, for that matter).
jjav 3y ago
> What makes you think it would matter if you had cash, when the payment systems go down? Because then you pay cash, to state the obvious. Even here in silicon valley the local convenience stores every so often have a sign that they're only taking cash today because their network/computer/payment-processor is down right now. No big deal, pay cash.

u32480932048 3y ago

This is the argument against only having a Stripe terminal in your shop. I'm sure some of them would need therapy after making change for a $50, which is sad on at least two levels. But most places I've lived seem to have plenty of non-IoT cash registers, and it's not infrequently that something is wrong with their card system, EBT is down, etc. That the financial district Sweetgreen won't be able to take my money is a risk I'm willing to assume. It's a much bigger deal when you're walking (or in rural America) and are faced with an hour+ trek to another store (or pay $3.75 to get $20 out, assuming the ATM works). I've also had unexpected overdrafts that affect only my account, and having a couple hundred to a thousand-some dollars of cash in my house has saved me numerous times. Fuel options with no electricity do in fact involve talking to some guy named Jim Bob, Buddy, or Mack, who is gonna want cash or raccoon pelts, not more canned goods or bread (he has plenty already, and I'm all out of raccoon pelts). Which brings me back to my original point: in any real catastrophic event, it's going to be other random people you're dealing with, not the IoT devices of faceless corporations. And most are not gonna want to negotiate raccoon pelts to fuel oil (or gold shavings, for that matter).

jjav 3y ago

> What makes you think it would matter if you had cash, when the payment systems go down? Because then you pay cash, to state the obvious. Even here in silicon valley the local convenience stores every so often have a sign that they're only taking cash today because their network/computer/payment-processor is down right now. No big deal, pay cash.