Something I observed on my vacation: The Netherlands are quickly becoming a cashless society. Many places don’t ask how you want to pay and immediately pass you the credit card terminal.
@jeroensangers Same here. We were not fully on board with cashless up to maybe five years ago, but the pandemic helped. Most of the time I'm not carrying money at all. I've found myself stuck at parking lots more times than I can remember, but appreciate the fact I can pay for everything now with the phone. I consider that an improvement.
@maique @jeroensangers I'm out traveling and it's quite notably how we have gotten used to pay with the phone or card. It's has been quite an eye opener since some of the places I've visited are so small that shops can't afford card readers, and the choices are Swish (Swedish way to paying via phone) or cash. Unfortunately, I don't have much cash on my and I haven't started to use Swish. So sometimes someone else have to pay for me 😳
@maique What surprised me is how quickly elderly people have adapted. Most of them only carry their bank card or mobile.
@jeroensangers It's so much easier! As long as you trust the system, there's no turning back 😊 No more counting coins and bank notes, no risk of losing the money,… some here always doubt technology, but we have a huge campaign going on on the stores to make people use contactless payment methods. Some shadier store owners would prefer cash, as they could hide some sales from the IRS, so good for them they cannot now 🤣
@maique @jemostrom @jeroensangers I haven’t kept actual cash money on me for as long as I can remember, and I don’t miss it one bit. Pandemic aside as a good enough reason to get rid of filthy money, there’s also the fact it costs money to coin and print money, so there’s that.
@pimoore The main reason I keep money in my wallet is for helping small businesses who pay relative large commissions to the banks. In larger stores and franchises I always pay with a card.
@pimoore Indeed. Same here, don't miss it. Didn't even consider the associated costs with printing and coining, it just feels cleaner 😊
@pimoore @jeroensangers @maique @jemostrom There's something comforting about buying something and having no one else know about it. "No thanks, I don't need a receipt." :).
@maique I fear the battle for privacy/anonymity has been lost for a while. Paying with cash is almost nostalgia at this point. Weird.
@jack I left home after our initial talk, and a good friend of mine got his wallet to pay for his beer, with cash. I told him about our conversation. Hadn't seen him do it in a while, but today he did. I don't think he was considering the privacy aspect, but he did mention something about feeling like something out of the past...
@Miraz Yep, checks out. My barber is the one place in my life where I know I'll need cash (except those old parking machines). What's with hair professionals and cash?
@jack That’s a really interesting take on this topic. It’s never crossed my mind because I hate having cash on me and having to fumble around with it, but I can see the benefit for sure. Completely agreed about the battle for anonymity and privacy being a losing battle for the most part. I think you can only take it so far before it involves far too many compromises to a normal life.
@jeroensangers I’m actually planning to go back to paying with cash whenever I can. I find I spend more when I pay with my card/phone. I think because I don’t physically see the money disappear.
@jeroensangers I overcome this with notifications. Having lots pop up, makes me stop and see where money is being spent.
@Pilchuck You can still be anonymous. Prepaid cards, and gift cards work for that. Of course this assumes you're going into a store and picking them up, not buying them online. You can't pay with cash online anyway.
@JohnPhilpin Yes, that, and potential crisis is why we still need money. We can stop using big notes though.
@Pilchuck Yes, that’s who I though of. I have only the first season on DVD, but used to watch it on TV in the 90s. No wonder they’re after him, he looks so guilty! I read on IMDB that The Fugitive was the first TV series where they had made a final episode in advance, not knowing how long the series would run.
@jeroensangers I’m not sure I’ve carried cash with me the last ten years. At least not here in Norway.
Going on vacation I have though.
@furstenberg I have one more reason to take cash with me on this vacation: after ordering a new iMac, I’m afraid I’m going to reach my credit card limit this month.
@pimoore It's more than "privacy" in the abstract. Once we let apps mediate our access to goods and services, they can make buying anything like buying a plane ticket (with variable pricing, putting customers into tiers, charging extra for this or that, etc.). See here: reallifemag.com/subscribe...
I figure I'm doing a public service by reverting back to spending cash. As long as there's enough people like me that insisting on cards/devices would hurt business, everyone is somewhat protected.
@mbkriegh You probably should've reconsidered that one 8 years ago, but it's certainly a good thing that you're doing so now.
@pimoore Digging for cash is so inconveneint for me. I'm totally blind, so it's hard for me where to remember where I put the cash in the wallet. No, I'm not very organized lol. I do have a decent amount of cards, but all I have to remember, is that my bank card is on top.
@jeremycherfas I mean I suppose if you really wanted to be anonymous, you could go into the store with a mask covering your face lol. Double points if you cover your eyes, which I do. I don't use them anyway. They're just there for looks, I guess lol.
@ladyhope I hate digging for cash as well, and inevitably it gets misplaced or left in different pants from the ones I’m wearing. I’ve never liked it, even before the age of privacy invasion and digital surveillance. Sounds like you’re organized to me, it’s only the topmost card that you have to worry about so you’ve got a perfect system going.
@jeroensangers Elderly Dutch here. We have had several monetary transactions now, so going from analog to digital is no biggie. Many use a debit card, though, since credit cards used to be for people above a certain income here, and debt is still frowned upon by my age peers.
@pimoore Usually nothing gets put back in exactly the same place, except the bank card, because if I can't find it, I'll loos my stuff in the store big time, and not being able to pay for something would not be fun.
@ladyhope Don’t feel bad, mine has looked better too. I’m on two weeks vacation after today so I need to give it a good once over.