Eat sh*t, cashless society

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mike

mike

Ground Beetle
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Texan in Sweden
Recently, the buses in the city where I live in quit accepting cash, forcing people to either get a bus card or not take the bus. The result so far is a loss of 50 million kronor due to a large drop in spontaneous bus travelers who don't have bus cards.

:rotflmbo:
 
At times, I think the whole world has gone insane.
 
Such a ban won't work anyway - and cash is legal tender - so the fed preempts states on that. What they were probably trying to ban is transactions that don't result in sales tax collection.

Good luck suppressing the gray market!

Any government has to depend on some cooperation - we can't all be police, and an all-police state has its own issues anyway. But governments always seem to try and boil that frog, and put more and more things under their control. The thing is, when it gets to a point where it's perceived they're skimming too much - they lose the cooperation required to make it all work.

The tighter your grasp, the more slips between your fingers.

Edit:
As NRA and VCDL life member, we see states and localities passing laws all the time that are preempted by federal statute. It's a PITA to get them taken off the books, but we generally manage to, and even make progress. It usually takes a court case and some money to get it brought up in the correct venue, though.
 
I see it coming to the states already. Just try to get more than a few grand from the bank these days. They look at you as if you are a criminal. I have actually been told that I "can't" withdraw more than ten grand without a supervisor of the bank signing off on the transaction and that I have to wait a few days because they have to "order" the cash.
 
ancona said:
I see it coming to the states already. Just try to get more than a few grand from the bank these days. They look at you as if you are a criminal. I have actually been told that I "can't" withdraw more than ten grand without a supervisor of the bank signing off on the transaction and that I have to wait a few days because they have to "order" the cash.
Click to expand...

With ~95% of "money" and transactions being digital these days, most bank branches simply do not hold that much USD on site any more.
 
I understand that Benjamen, however the accounts I use are called Demand Accounts for a reason, it is supposed to be available to me on demand. If I put thirty grand in an account in cash, I expect for it to be made available to me in the same form it was deposited in.
 
Expectations are a devilish thing.
 
ancona said:
I understand that Benjamen, however the accounts I use are called Demand Accounts for a reason, it is supposed to be available to me on demand. If I put thirty grand in an account in cash, I expect for it to be made available to me in the same form it was deposited in.
Click to expand...

The original point of a bank was to charge you to hold your money is a box inside a vault. People have become used to "free" bank accounts, but do not realize their money becomes pooled and invested in other things.

If you are interested in an old school bank set up, just rent a safe deposit box at a local credit union and put your cash in the box.
 
Benjamen,
While banks originated from the goldsmiths who allowed folks to store their gold in a safe place, they did in fact morph in to what used to be an arrangement whereby you allowed them to hold your money in exchange for a small bit of interest, and in turn, they lent it back out for a slightly higher rate, which they kept. What we have now no longer resembles anything that used to be. It has become a total criminal enterprise.

BTW, I already use the credit union to exclusivity.
 
benjamen said:
With ~95% of "money" and transactions being digital these days, most bank branches simply do not hold that much USD on site any more.
Click to expand...

It's pretty pathetic that they can't even print enough funny-money to cover their ponzi scheme.
 
Hey Mike,
I have an off topic question. I heard that credit cards in Europe and Scandinavia are different than in the USA, in that they are now all "chip and pin". I presume this means they have a little flash memory deal built in and need a pin number to access the info during a sale. If so, will I have to get my kid a new card for her trip to Europe this summer?
 
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At a point not much over a grand (maybe two) the bank has to fill out forms to send to DHS on you. So they don't like doing that. They've got that much money in the average branch, that isn't the issue. They are prevented by law from telling you what the threshold is directly...but they are actually trying to help you stay off the list.

Or at least that's what my small town banker told me. Having known and worked with this person for a few decades - no reason to believe she's not telling me straight.
 
ancona said:
Hey Mike,
I have an off topic question. I heard that credit cards in Europe and Scandinavia are different than in the USA, in that they are now all "chip and pin". I presume this means they have a little flash memory deal built in and need a pin number to access the info during a sale. If so, will I have to get my kid a new card for her trip to Europe this summer?
Click to expand...

This is certainly the case in the UK.

A young person with a foreign 'sign only' card will struggle to use it, as 'signed for' is now the vendors risk.
 
I like that Rblong, it makes fraud harder. She is spending the summer on a student ambassador program that takes her to England, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany and Switzerland, so she is going to need cash. How easy would it be for her to use a UIS debit card in an ATM over there??
 
Sorry Ancona, i have no idea.

From my limited euro travel experience, Visa was the most commonly used and recognised card but i havent had a passport for 6 years and only have one credit card, so im not the best person to ask.

Methinks other students who are already travelling will be sharing their financial experiences on facebook / twitter ......

and as for being harder to fraudulently use chip and pin, the scallys seem to find ways of getting pins and cards.
The one i like is where they put a discreet catcher into the machine that stops the card from being released and have a discreet spy cam to record the key strokes.

You think your card got impounded cos you used the wrong pin and now theyve got your card and pin.
 
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ancona said:
Hey Mike,
I have an off topic question. I heard that credit cards in Europe and Scandinavia are different than in the USA, in that they are now all "chip and pin". I presume this means they have a little flash memory deal built in and need a pin number to access the info during a sale. If so, will I have to get my kid a new card for her trip to Europe this summer?
Click to expand...


Most of the big banks are offering chip and pin cards now, they probably cost more for the banks to make so right now they are not what the standard credit and debit cards are equiped with (yet), however you are able to request them to send you one. Plus as Rblong2us mentioned, it gives the banks less "chargeback" rights so they cant make the merchants cover fraud that occurs is thier stores. It is a pain traveling in most Europe without one, take it from me. Even if she does have one, make sure to load her up with some other forms of payment; Cash, travelers checks, debit card, etc., so that she's not stranded if her card doesn't work.
 
ancona said:
Hey Mike,
I have an off topic question. I heard that credit cards in Europe and Scandinavia are different than in the USA, in that they are now all "chip and pin". I presume this means they have a little flash memory deal built in and need a pin number to access the info during a sale. If so, will I have to get my kid a new card for her trip to Europe this summer?
Click to expand...

In Sweden, the terminals usually accept both types of cards.

In Denmark, however, I've heard they only take cards with pin numbers. But I can't verify, since I only have a chipped/pin card.
 
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