Cashless Society

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

thelad95

A cashless society in terms of day to day transactions is a lot further away than most people think in my opinion especially in a ‘no card transactions under 5 euro’ society!

As for salaries being paid cashless, I’m actually aware of plenty of people working in the catering industry paid cash in hand and many SMEs will pay wages cash in hand as well especially to part-time employees.

As for many landlords cash is still king and make what you will why the reason for that is

Wanderer78

Have the majority given up on it, or are we being forced to give up on it?

I do think one of the main reasons for the explosion of blockchain based currencies is that confidence is being slowly lost in fiat based currencies and their systems. People have had enough of this level of control over their wealth.

I also think confidence in commercial banks is near rock bottom because of most recent events

myshirt

It will be good for landlords, because if the state can track your financial life then if you ever defaulted on rent, destroyed the gaff, or pulled any of the fast ones that tenants have been known to pull, then as soon as you get a job, get any money, want to buy a house, are owed money, try to improve your life, or whatever way you interact with the financial system, the state will be right there to enforce landlord rights.

BrokenArrows

Id be fine with it.
Rarely pay for anything with cash unless im buying something tiny like some chewing gum.

Going full cashless would be a hard sell, especially to trades people who like to be flexible with the amount of tax they pay

Peregrinus

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Have the majority given up on it, or are we being forced to give up on it?

We're giving up on it because technology has brought us better, cheaper, more efficient alternatives.

Nobody ever banned faxes, but we don't send a lot of faxes these days. There are similar reasons for the decline in the proportion and value of transactions settled in cash.

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I do think one of the main reasons for the explosion of blockchain based currencies is that confidence is being slowly lost in fiat based currencies and their systems. People have had enough of this level of control over their wealth.

It's a bit off topic, but I'm not sure that cryptocurrencies give you any greater control over your wealth, given that they are very much more volatile than fiat currencies.

lawred2

mike_ie wrote: »

I hate the idea personally. It hands far too much control to the government in terms of knowing my movements, spending habits, etc, information that is completely out of my control once I decide to buy a cup of coffee, pint of milk or whatever.

There's also something inherently secure about having cold, hard cash in your pocket, that doesn't require a phone to be charged, a card reader to be working, etc etc.

how would the gubbernmint get to know any of this?

Cee-Jay-Cee

I’d estimate my cash usage at less than 10%. There are some weeks where I never have cash. Like it or not we are moving towards a cashless society, it doesn’t really bother me either way as whether you pay with cash or withdraw cash from an ATM the banks are charging you for doing it.

One pro towards cashless society is it would severely hamper criminals who deal in cash and make it harder for them to launder or use their money. There are certain sections of our community to still like to carry around the large roll of notes and peel off a bunch of 20’s or 50’s when they need.

A problem area though will be for Donestic services, ie when you call out the plumber or electrician, window cleaner etc etc paying them by card is difficult.

I can’t see cash disappearing anytime soon, I still think we’re 20 years away from it.

Dohnjoe

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I do think one of the main reasons for the explosion of blockchain based currencies is that confidence is being slowly lost in fiat based currencies and their systems. People have had enough of this level of control over their wealth.

Ironically most of the recent interest in cryptos is due to, quite bluntly, potential high cash/value returns. Trading, investing and speculation.

Their rapid rises and falls, high volatility, high risk (and exchange risk), market manipulation, lack of recourse/insurance make most of them currently unsuitable for currency use (outside of the black market)

Blockchain and distributed ledger tech are being developed and adopted by many industries, including financial because it can help speed up traditionally slow, cumbersome linear processes - which will improve efficiency and decrease cost

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Geuze

Jim Bob Scratcher wrote: »

What's your thoughts on it ?


Me personally I wouldn't be in favour of this. The government already have enough control over us.

I have moved in this direction, by using debit and credit cards more.

Nothing whatsoever to do with the Government.

Geuze

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Clearly, this will have to change as we move towards less cash use.

Zubeneschamali

mike_ie wrote: »

if I decide to buy an airline ticket for example, I have the choice between buying it online, and walking into a bricks and mortar travel agency

A what now?

Laois_Man

Although it's getting a bit of hype lately with the likes of Amazon about to begin talking payments in cryptocurrency (or they just have?), Blockchain technology still has a number of technical hurdles to overcome before it can be declared the new way of conducting business. e.g. its scaleability is laughably poor. Regulation is miles behind (as usual). There's limited technical expertise. The busier blockhains get, the likelihood of unintentional hard forks occurring increases. The Ethereum 'Ice Age' problem etc etc.

Banks are making themselves look busy trying to embrace the potential of it all but they are really only masking over the fact that if this thing really took off, it could easily make them completely redundant. If its not Blockcahin, it will be something else, or a different flavour of Blockchain like BigChainDB. But one thing is for sure. My children certainly won't be handling cash in adulthood. I doubt if I even will be myself in the 2030's (or possibly a lot sooner).

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Laois_Man

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Personally, I have absolutely no problem with that. In fact, I'd be appalled if they weren't doing that. I suspect it's primarily (although not exclusively) aimed at curbing the movement of dole money out of the state by non-nationals.

Zubeneschamali

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Well, sure, because they are living off state handouts, and certain people are always claiming they are ripping off taxpayers, so the authorities have implemented a lot of checks.

This is quite different to a taxpayer in good standing with the revenue spending on their credit card. It is businesses getting that data, not the government.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Dohnjoe

Laois_Man wrote: »

Banks are making themselves look busy trying to embrace the potential of it all but they are really only masking over the fact that if this thing really took off, it could easily make them completely redundant. If its not Blockcahin, it will be something else, or a different flavour of Blockchain like BigChainDB. But one thing is for sure. My children certainly won't be handling cash in adulthood. I doubt if I even will be myself in the 2030's (or possibly a lot sooner).

The big issue for mainstream adoption of cryptos is their persistent risk and instability. Ideally a currency needs to be relatively stable.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Wheeliebin30

Would surely stop a lot of drug use?

Wanderer78

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Would surely stop a lot of drug use?

not at all, humans have always consumed mind altering substances, and this will continue for as long as we exist, no matter what 'obstacles' are put in place.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

People spend more when they go cashless. I thought this would have been obvious, but most people on the thread have commented how they spend more when they use cash.

Monopoly money: The effect of payment coupling and form on spending behavior.

Does It Matter Whether You Pay With Cash Or A Credit Card?
#1. Paying with a credit cards is less painful than paying with cash. So shoppers spend more money.
#2 Credit card users not only spend more, but they also purchase more unhealthy things.
#3 Those who pay with cash enjoy a better relationship with their purchased products.


I personally pay all my regularly occurring bills cashless with my card. As it's quicker and easier to pay your electricity, internet ect. online.

When it comes to everything else I use cash. Bringing cash to a pub is far more advisable, giving cash money as a gift is more convenient, children don't have bank accounts, when there is a power outage cash is the only thing that can keep you going (ex hurricane Ophelia for example), trades people need to deal mostly in cash, going shopping in general is better done with cash. Then there's the problem if you lose your bank card, or to go down the conspiracy rabbit hole of if your card is 'turned off', what do you do then?

I think/hope there are too many obstacles for there to be a fully cashless society.

Tommy Ferguson

They may as well ram a tracker up our hole altogether.

Zubeneschamali

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

People spend more when they go cashless. I thought this would have been obvious, but most people on the thread have commented how they spend more when they use cash.

People who are used to spending cash may spend more when going cashless, I suppose. i do know a woman who had to cut up her credit cards because she was bad at managing them.

But people who grow up thinking money IS plastic will still understand money.

Laois_Man

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

My post was about Blockchain technology. If it takes off, there won't be any banks anymore that can make anyone a member of an "unbanked population" as you put it. It's incorrect to say we're nowhere near it. The theory exists, and elements exist in practice. But the scalabilty of other technical issues such as scalability and other issues are in the way still.

Have a look at Don Tapscott's Ted presentation on it which addresses your concerns and also the points above around data privacy. Well worth a look. Although he either doesnt know the technical issues, or just doesn't want you to know for fear it might hurt his book sales.

Also wortwhile looking up Andreas Antonopoulos too.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Laois_Man

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I don't know what you think Governments can do to stop it. And it's got plenty of value for them anyway.

As for the usability and accessibility, it really isn't any more complicated than counting coins and notes and handing them to a teller. They won't have to access any systems.

Cordell

Tommy Ferguson wrote: »

They may as well ram a tracker up our hole altogether.

Yep, for the moment we buy the tracker ourselves, some even stay overnight in long queues to make sure they get to have the newest tracker there is.
But most don't put it up their hole, although some may do.

branie2

Cashless society = Mark of the Beast