Since COVID I never carry my wallet anymore.
I pay for everything by tapping my phone. Our state government just announced as of next month you can also keep your driver's licence on your phone so no need to carry a physical card.

It's started a bit of a backlash here, that on the fence about.
Places are starting to go cashless, meaning you can't pay cash.
There is a push to move to an entirely cashless society.

The cookers (a group I drift in and out of the fringes of) are pushing back and making a day of withdrawals, because they're scared about a social credit system.
It's already starting in China where insurance and vending machines can depend on your social credit score.

Should we embrace the cashless society for convenience or fight the POWAH!

What do you travel with?
For me now, it's phone, keys, wireless headphones and sunglasses.
Any more and I am bringing my laptop bag.

Phone in left, wallet and keys on the right.

I've made a thread or two about cash. I keep a few 20s in there, but I'm mostly only using it for gas/vending. Going cashless completely makes me irrationally afraid. I mean money is already make believe, but I actually do like to be reminded of what it is on occasion. Going completely digital worries me, but I suppose we must've peaked in capitalism. Feels like we're going towards credits. I mean when 10 companies own everything we might as well use pw bux.

Honestly take out cash and my wallet merely holds 3 cards. Could basically justify an accessory with my phone. But it's one of those things I can't move away from. Even in my car I don't have much in it.

But we're getting there. Gas stations now have self checkout. Never used it or seen anyone use it, but it makes ya wonder about a fully automated convenience store. Dude seriously what are people gonna do for jobs in the near future?

Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses.

We're going cashless and, that's a good thing. It's quicker, it's easier and I can pay or move large sums of money without a need to visit a bank.

What I hate are people who can't navigate their $2,000 iPhone and struggle at the register to unlock their phone, use the app or can't understand how the entire thing works. At least apologise to the 3 people behind you waiting.

Cookers gunna cook. If it ain't cashless mumbo jumbo, it's 5G, it's chem trails, it's 15 minute cities, it's digital IDs, it's their sovereignty, it's vaccines cause autism... it's something new every month. It's HAARP, you get the drift.

Phone. Keys. Wallet. Cash unless it's over a couple hundred $.

Apr 7, 2024 2:24:11 GMT NATH45 said:

Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses.

We're going cashless and, that's a good thing. It's quicker, it's easier and I can pay or move large sums of money without a need to visit a bank.

What I hate are people who can't navigate their $2,000 iPhone and struggle at the register to unlock their phone, use the app or can't understand how the entire thing works. At least apologise to the 3 people behind you waiting.

Cookers gunna cook. If it ain't cashless mumbo jumbo, it's 5G, it's chem trails, it's 15 minute cities, it's digital IDs, it's their sovereignty, it's vaccines cause autism... it's something new every month. It's HAARP, you get the drift.

Where my parents live there's an actual protest about a new mobile phone tower... It's embarrassing.
But the government started all this when they lied during COVID, some people just see the rabbit hole and decide they're going to dive right in.

Apr 7, 2024 2:24:11 GMT NATH45 said:

Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses.

We're going cashless and, that's a good thing. It's quicker, it's easier and I can pay or move large sums of money without a need to visit a bank.

What I hate are people who can't navigate their $2,000 iPhone and struggle at the register to unlock their phone, use the app or can't understand how the entire thing works. At least apologise to the 3 people behind you waiting.

Cookers gunna cook. If it ain't cashless mumbo jumbo, it's 5G, it's chem trails, it's 15 minute cities, it's digital IDs, it's their sovereignty, it's vaccines cause autism... it's something new every month. It's HAARP, you get the drift.

I really don't like that you can't withdraw 5k now without giving the bank a reason or they won't give it to you. You can totally lie about the reason, but you can't give none of you can't have the cash.

I'm going with hookers and blow if I'm ever asked... I'm sure I'm already on all the lists.

Apr 7, 2024 2:28:02 GMT iNCY said:

Apr 7, 2024 2:24:11 GMT NATH45 said:

Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses.

We're going cashless and, that's a good thing. It's quicker, it's easier and I can pay or move large sums of money without a need to visit a bank.

What I hate are people who can't navigate their $2,000 iPhone and struggle at the register to unlock their phone, use the app or can't understand how the entire thing works. At least apologise to the 3 people behind you waiting.

Cookers gunna cook. If it ain't cashless mumbo jumbo, it's 5G, it's chem trails, it's 15 minute cities, it's digital IDs, it's their sovereignty, it's vaccines cause autism... it's something new every month. It's HAARP, you get the drift.

I really don't like that you can't withdraw 5k now without giving the bank a reason or they won't give it to you. You can totally lie about the reason, but you can't give none of you can't have the cash.

I'm going with hookers and blow if I'm ever asked... I'm sure I'm already on all the lists.

I upped my limit to $40k on my banking app to avoid the need to go into an actual bank. I just do direct transfers now to avoid the bullshit.

Wallet, keys, phone. I keep some $1 and $5 bills for tipping. If I’m going to play poker I’ll also have a separate pouch with 100s and big chips.

The problem with cashless is the credit card fees. They cost the merchant around 4% of the bill to process. If you have a higher rewards card it’ll cost the merchant more as well. Those rewards aren’t free.

Those merchant fees are added into the cost of the product, it's an average percentage, but you're paying for it. Not the business.

Big business just hides it better than your Mum and Pop shops who display their surcharges proudly.

Apr 7, 2024 3:30:42 GMT NATH45 said:

Those merchant fees are added into the cost of the product, it's an average percentage, but you're paying for it. Not the business.

Big business just hides it better than your Mum and Pop shops who display their surcharges proudly.

Yes, that was my point - we pay for them.

And on rewards cards, it's no secret that your data is more valuable than the $3.00 you might save a month by scanning it.

Phone and keys.

Occasionally wallet if I need to show my physical ID but that’s rare.

Apr 7, 2024 2:28:02 GMT iNCY said:

Apr 7, 2024 2:24:11 GMT NATH45 said:

Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses.

We're going cashless and, that's a good thing. It's quicker, it's easier and I can pay or move large sums of money without a need to visit a bank.

What I hate are people who can't navigate their $2,000 iPhone and struggle at the register to unlock their phone, use the app or can't understand how the entire thing works. At least apologise to the 3 people behind you waiting.

Cookers gunna cook. If it ain't cashless mumbo jumbo, it's 5G, it's chem trails, it's 15 minute cities, it's digital IDs, it's their sovereignty, it's vaccines cause autism... it's something new every month. It's HAARP, you get the drift.

I really don't like that you can't withdraw 5k now without giving the bank a reason or they won't give it to you. You can totally lie about the reason, but you can't give none of you can't have the cash.

I'm going with hookers and blow if I'm ever asked... I'm sure I'm already on all the lists.

Many banks in the US straight out cannot cover 5k these days.  And it makes sense, banks invest your cash, so they keep a bare minimum for transactions on hand as that is money serving them no purpose.  

Apr 7, 2024 5:00:40 GMT c said:

Apr 7, 2024 2:28:02 GMT iNCY said:

I really don't like that you can't withdraw 5k now without giving the bank a reason or they won't give it to you. You can totally lie about the reason, but you can't give none of you can't have the cash.

I'm going with hookers and blow if I'm ever asked... I'm sure I'm already on all the lists.

Many banks in the US straight out cannot cover 5k these days.  And it makes sense, banks invest your cash, so they keep a bare minimum for transactions on hand as that is money serving them no purpose.  

Define “many”. If I couldn’t get $5,000 cash from any bank I’d be very concerned.

Go around and try. In NC when I had the lawyer bills none of banks I tried would cover that. Could do like 2000 a time, but if you asked for 5000 they would claim they do not have the cash. Would have to do to two or three banks to get the lawyer cash as he was cash only.

In Georgia when I needed cash bond after my ex went WWE on the cops, banks would not give more than 1000 at a time.

Not sure if you need to hit certain banks and branches were not good enough to get large amounts, but was fucking weird as hell to me.

Mate, you could walk into any bank in Oz and get $5k no worries what so ever. I'm sure if you wanted $100,000... you'd have it, if you've got it.

I've paid for any number of things with cash in the past. $5k, $10k, $20k without any drama at the banks.

Easiest thing to do if your are worried, set up a meeting with the bank. I used to do it whenever I was organising a trip overseas. The travel agent I use always wants cash, so I'd give the bank a call first - I want x in AUD, I want x in Euros, I want x on a travel visa card and I'm overseas on these dates, so expect some movement on my cards. No problems.

Some of these supposed realities peddled by cookers ain't too different from that yappanomics you see on Instagram ie; there's no money in the banks, etc and even if you wanted your cash, you couldn't get it, etc. The only difference is, they always offer the alternative of dumping all your money into crypto or whatever snake oil they're selling.

Yeah it seems like for heavy withdrawals you basically gotta set up advanced notice. There's no scrooge mcduck vault with all the cash. With more and more banks moving away from brick and mortar it's only gonna get worse.

When Australia's second biggest telco went down, it highlighted how much more support is needed in the background to keep all of it online. But it's happening. It's safer, quicker and easier than carrying large sums around.

I've grown quietly wary of anyone carrying thousands of dollars around in their wallets.

Nothing wholesome is happening with anyone carrying around a lot of cash.

Most times I'm phone, keys, wallet. Tapping a card on contactless is a wee bit more efficient than using the phone app. I don't take my wallet to the gym, if I need to buy something there like a protein bar I'll use the phone. I still carry some cash.

That's one area we're lagging, instant payment. Virtually nobody does it. I'm not sure if it's incompetence or just no demand...

Apr 7, 2024 15:19:43 GMT @ness said:

That's one area we're lagging, instant payment. Virtually nobody does it. I'm not sure if it's incompetence or just no demand...

Either the payment processor doesn’t support it or the merchant doesn’t want to pay for it because it’s an extra fee.

I think that being able to pay with your phone is one of the best technological advancements, I haven't carried cash or cards for years. Man's got a bad back, we can't be having bad alignment from sitting on a wallet.

Not one person in here carrying condoms.

This was on NPR today coincidentally.
www.npr.org/2024/04/07/1241841908/apple-pay-phone-credit-spending-frictionless-payments

Apr 7, 2024 23:48:20 GMT Gyro LC said:

This was on NPR today coincidentally.
www.npr.org/2024/04/07/1241841908/apple-pay-phone-credit-spending-frictionless-payments

The "I used to spend less because occasionally I would forget my cards, but I never forget my phone" explanation doesn't really hold up for me. 

I don't think I've ever gone to a store and realised I couldn't buy something because I didn't have anything to pay with.

It honestly depends now. I used to use my handbag for everything but now occasionally I’ll just take the items I definitely need.

If I have my handbag it has - phone, wallet, keys, mints, Panadol, happy pills, lip gloss, a million paper straws left over from the movies, maybe a book or environmental bag if I remember to grab one.

If I don’t have my handbag - I have my phone, whatever cards I may need that aren’t saved into my phone, and keys. This is usually when I’m just taking Bones for a walk or just ducking out somewhere.

My gym bag - towel, earphones, keys, phone.

Ironically my phone is the one thing I make sure to have with me and yet I left it home last week when I took bones for a walk, and then misplaced it in the car last night and couldn’t find it for an hour 🤦🏻‍♀️ panic truly set in a bit because it had my physics ID and bank card too