[Travel] O/T Cashless Society

[btnbelle]

I have to admit I used to give mine my contactless card! Nobody ever gave a monkeys when they paid that way.

I paid for something in cash (fuel, about £50) yesterday, and it just felt weird! Made me realise just how little I use cash these days....

Absolutely agree we should have cash and cards, though. Cash will remain, but the government (and the card companies who earn money from the retailers by us using them) will always push for more and more electronic ways of payment.

I am not sure an eight year old using their parents card would be accepted? (Not to mention they could purchase extra items on a card, that you did not wish them to buy)

It doesn't teach them how to manage money or the value of it, in the same way.

Using a card to pay is great but it is in the populations interest to never give away our right to pay in cash.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Thought the bit about the microchip was interesting.....

Ask most people in Sweden how often they pay with cash, and the answer is “almost never.” A fifth of Swedes, in a country of 10 million people, do not use automated teller machines anymore. More than 4,000 Swedes have implanted microchips in their hands, allowing them to pay for rail travel and food, or enter keyless offices, with a wave. Restaurants, buses, parking lots and even pay toilets depend on clicks rather than cash.

 

[Knocky's Nose]

I am not sure an eight year old using their parents card would be accepted? (Not to mention they could purchase extra items on a card, that you did not wish them to buy)

It doesn't teach them how to manage money or the value of it, in the same way.

The card was always accepted, and they've been brought up well enough not to thieve from their parents!

They've both turned out to be very reliable with money. Far better than I was at their age, so they've not been scarred by the plastic...

 

[pearl]

The window cleaner is paid by bank transfer. He puts a card through my door to let me know he's done them.

Can't you tell?

 

[btnbelle]

The card was always accepted, and they've been brought up well enough not to thieve from their parents!

They've both turned out to be very reliable with money. Far better than I was at their age, so they've not been scarred by the plastic...

It was my brother who tried that one...

Although my Mum didn't have the heart to tell him off, he bought her a gift with her own change....

 

[pearl]

It was my brother who tried that one...

Although my Mum didn't have the heart to tell him off, he bought her a gift with her own change....

.... typical male then

 

[driddles]

Use very little cash anywhere at the moment. Paper in general seems to be disappearing, I was surprised to have an actual physical ticket when I went to the Fulham match in Sept. Sporting events over here are switching to bar codes accessed via apps. Is that what season ticket holders to the Amex use? or are they still on paper tickets?

 

[BN9 BHA]

Use very little cash anywhere at the moment. Paper in general seems to be disappearing, I was surprised to have an actual physical ticket when I went to the Fulham match in Sept. Sporting events over here are switching to bar codes accessed via apps. Is that what season ticket holders to the Amex use? or are they still on paper tickets?

Season tickets for the Amex are similar to a credit card.
For cup games we have an A4 sheet of paper, printed at home with a barcode. Think paper tickets are also available for cup games.

 

[KZNSeagull]

A cashless society is fine until someone breaks it and no-one can buy anything. It is bound to happen sometime.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

A cashless society is fine until someone breaks it and no-one can buy anything. It is bound to happen sometime.

In what way could someone break it? If computer systems go down or similar?

 

[KZNSeagull]

In what way could someone break it? If computer systems go down or similar?

More that systems could be compromised somehow. Diverting funds for example. I expect that there are loads of cyber criminals trying to find ways of doing this as we speak. One day they may be successful. The more technology seems to progress and the more reliant on it we become, the bigger the danger imo. All rather tin hatty, but a possibility at some point I reckon.

 

[beorhthelm]

A cashless society is fine until someone breaks it and no-one can buy anything. It is bound to happen sometime.

it has. couple of occasions in past few years, there was the bank system failure that closed off large chunk of people's cards, and further in past a major network outage meant no cards working for half of south east.

 

[KZNSeagull]

it has. couple of occasions in past few years, there was the bank system failure that closed off large chunk of people's cards, and further in past a major network outage meant no cards working for half of south east.

Indeed. I have it on good authority that one of those failures was purely human error - someone pressed the wrong button. They caused chaos, but I am thinking more of a major security breach that could disrupt everything for weeks. I know people say it is impossible, but I am not so sure. Fingers crossed it never happens.

 

[The Spanish]

Last September on a trip to Barcelona with mates we all set up 'Revolut' accounts. Basically it's a bank in an app on your phone (you receive a Revolut bank card too). You top it up from your regular bank to a maximum of £200 per day. You can convert your cash to different currencies within the app, at a great rate, no commission, and use it to pay for stuff with the card. You can withdraw cash from foreign ATMs with the card and know that the currency exchange already took place in the app on your phone.

Here's the best bit, The Whip....

You tell the app who you're with (it uses your contact list and looks for those with Revolut accounts, and checks proximity, you just tap on the names in your group). Whoever wants to hold the whip sets it up in their Revolut app (say €450), hits split, and your mates all get tapped up for an equal contribution via the app (so 9 of you would contribute €50 each). They tap the notification and it sends the money in to your Revolut app. You can name it 'The Whip' then buy beer all day specifically from that fund, either by contactless, withdrawing cash, whatever you want. If you need to top up, you enter the total amount, hit split, tap your mates up same again.

Even if there's no whip, say you want to split a big bar/restaurant bill, you just enter the total amount, tap on the people your splitting with, hit split and it asks them all for their contribution. This goes straight in to your account so you can pay the bill.

It works in any currency, comes with loads of extra features like switching your card off if you lose it, or switching contactless on & off, AND IT'S FREE! It also keeps an accurate record of everyone's contribution & everything you spent money on that day (not always a good thing...)

I use it for literally all of my social spending now, and so do all of my mates, it is so easy to set up and manage.

I cannot even begin to contemplate a trip with a load of blokes where proposing that system for a whip would get past the first few words of explanation

 

[hampshirebrightonboy]

Shame it’s not cashless at the Amex. Would speed the queues up a bit.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Shame it’s not cashless at the Amex. Would speed the queues up a bit.

Doubt it.
Staff at the kiosks knowing what they are doing will speed the queues up.

 

[jonnyrovers]

I cannot even begin to contemplate a trip with a load of blokes where proposing that system for a whip would get past the first few words of explanation

Yeah on reflection I’ve made it sound complicated. It takes a few minutes & it’s easy....

 

[Gwylan]

Shame it’s not cashless at the Amex. Would speed the queues up a bit.

It was for the first couple of seasons - don't you remember the top-up system. It got scrapped because it slowed everything down

 

[hampshirebrightonboy]

It was for the first couple of seasons - don't you remember the top-up system. It got scrapped because it slowed everything down

I remember, but pretty sure contactless with card or phone would be much faster than that system.
You would not have problems with people not having the correct amount on their cards for a start.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Amazed if it's as much as 10-15%. Spent a lot of time there about 5 years ago and would have said 2% max back then. All seemed to work very smoothly and we could learn a lot.

Then again I was in the bigger cities, so could be different in rural areas.