It is good thing that we are a "cashless society"

[question everything]

Not only credit and debit cards, but also "smartphone" and watches(?) so there is enough money, I think, in the ATM machines. (Have not used it for several weeks now, we pay for groceries with the debit card..)

I think that during the Depression many ran to their banks.

Looking for small things to be grateful for..

[customerserviceguy]

1. Watches?

I guess I'm an old fogy who's never heard of such a thing.

But, I guess it's another reason that time is money.

[question everything]

2. Don't know. I thought that Apple watched can do everything..

but perhaps not charge toilet papers from COSTCO..

[Ilsa]

10. Some Fitbit devices have a bluetooth tied to your cellphone,

and you enter your payment info into the fitbit app. You don't even have to take out your cellphone, just put your fitbit wrist close to the pos payment device. You get receipts in your email and a text on your phone for the transaction.

But I also carry cash, just in case.

[customerserviceguy]

11. I'd never have one of those

If I want an electronic monitoring system attached to my body (outside of a hospital or doctor's office), I'll commit a crime and get an ankle bracelet.

[Ilsa]

16. LOL.

The convenience and the hassle aren't for everyone.

[DFW]

3. We must be too stone age here

My wife and I HATE plastic and electronic money. It is just too easy for a clever crook or a less-than-benevolent state to just start confiscating people's net worth without their consent or even knowledge. It also leaves people at the mercy of machines. If a machine fucks up or has a defect, it doesn't say, "sorry," and it sure as hell doesn't try to make amends.

Last summer in the USA, my wife and I were in a small store in Massachusetts, and the woman ahead of us in line was just buying some formula to feed her baby. The electronic pay system broke down, and the cashiers called out, "cash only, folks!" The poor woman had zero cash on her, just plastic, and was in tears. My wife paid for her baby food, and shook her head. We ALWAYS pay cash when we can. Obviously not for cars or houses (well, we've only ever bought one house). But for most anything else of daily life, yes.

We obviously never saw the lockdown coming a month ago, but we keep a small stash of cash around the house all the same.

[question everything]

4. Yes, always carry cash. But when a weekly grocery bill is around $100

we are not going to carry that much cash on us.

Many years ago we lived in Chicago and a friend always had two wallets on him. The real one, and a second with $5.00. If someone demands your money, just give him the $5.00 so they won't be mad at you for not having any money..

[DFW]

5. Here in our small town in Germany

People do not produce guns and demand your money. So we always have a couple of hundred euros on us to pay for food or gas.

It's a different world here.

[question everything]

6. It is, indeed.

[customerserviceguy]

12. I understand that, but

the technology behind ATMs is nearly fifty years old. Of course, I keep some cash around just in case, but as long as most things are working normally, electronic payments are a tried and true method to manage money.

However, if you say that we are not in normal times, I can certainly see your point.

[DFW]

15. The key phrase is "as long as most things are working normally."

My brother works on projects for DARPA. He told me that electronic voting machines are hackable with as much as a cell phone and a laptop. I bet that the electronic payment system is just as easy pickings for someone who knows what he's doing, and that half the time, the banks don't even tell us when there has been one. In Cyprus, a few years ago, they had a budget crunch, and the government just helped themselves to 10% of the balance of every bank account over €100,000. No vote in any Congress or parliament. *Poof* the money was theirs, and no one could do a thing about it. Maybe next time, it will be 20% of every account over €50,000. Maybe the time after that 100% of every balance over €30,000. "They would never do that," one might say, and maybe correctly. But the mere fact that they CAN is something I find very unnerving.

[ripcord]

18. I always keep a couple of grand in the house safe

If nothing else the wife has bail money for me.

[customerserviceguy]

19. Ha!

My lady was planning to go to a destination wedding several years ago in Mexico, I told her two things, first, I'm not going, second, let me know where we keep the bail money!

It was just as well that she didn't go, they split up two years later. All that risk for nothing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Shops in the UK have asked people to use cards where possible

to cut down on the exchange of touched items from customers to checkout operatives. They've also increased the limit for contactless (and thus keypad-less) transactions to £45 from £30 too, so the customers aren't all touching the same keypad.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Actually, I've taken to using cards instead of cash...

the new machines, there isn't even any reason to touch the screen (credit cards, not atm), you just insert the chip card, watch it work and pull it out. No handling dirty money (that's always been true, but especially now) and you don't have to have anyone else touch your card. Virtually non-contact.

Under normal circustances, I'd feel silly using a credit card to buy my morning paper, but it sure makes sense now.

[JHB]

8. During the Depression bank runs, people were worried they'd lose all their money

That's why the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) was established: up to a certain limit, the government guaranteed people would still have their deposited money even if the bank failed.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. It's still best to keep emergency cash on hand.

* What if the internet goes down? You then have no card services or ATMs. It could happen if we lose too many key infrastructure people or we experience a massive hack.

* I would prefer to have the means to barter with neighbors if things come to that to survive. They don't take cards.

KY..........

[Totally Tunsie]

14. Since the Blizzard of '78, I started keeping $500 cash on hand at all times

to be prepared if systems go down. I remember stores and gas stations requiring cash because the ATMs/charge machines weren't operable. Cash was king, for sure.

Granted, that was a winter scenario, and COVID-19 shouldn't interrupt those systems, but who knows what will happen with bandwidth/internet with everyone working or schooling from home?

[miyazaki]

13. I'm definately cashless, as in fuckin' broke.

[Nature Man]

21. Hah! yes, what you said!

amen

[Nature Man]

20. Don't debit cards require actual money in the bank

to work properly?

[question everything]

22. They are tied to the checking account in the bank

which has money upon request.

But even if you just use credit cards, the balance due has to be paid on a certain date, or just the minimum amount and to have finance charge accrued. Thus, one needs a bank account from which to pay?

This is something that I've never understood about bitcoins. You purchase them with a credit card, say VISA and you charge say, $1000.00. But then, how do you send $1000 to the VISA?