Came across a piece on the BBC News website telling how a software update had disrupted electronic payment methods for two major grocery chains. A visitor from New Zealand had some interesting thoughts. Italics and bold added by me for emphasis.

Full piece here. Sainsbury'''s and some Tesco deliveries cancelled over technical issues

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Release the Kraken

"WAM" (walking around money)...
Don't leave home without it.

If cash was seedy, I'd bury some in the back yard and grow more!

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"I also cook."

ALWAYS.........Keep some folding money tucked back.

Also.....Pay with cash and NO paper/electronic trail of your purchase.

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S&W Accumulator

I bet half the people here would complain about a credit card only store, and the other half would complain about a cash only store.

Can't please everybody.

Since switching to a front pocket wallet with only a money clip, I use my credit card for everything, but I have enough cash in the clip to make me feel secure.

"If no one took card I couldn't eat today."
Hmm, go to another store? Go to the bank and get cash? Sell something to get money?
If the fact that 2 stores aren't taking cards keeps you from eating, you weren't that hungry in the first place. That's like saying you're gonna starve to death because one restaurant a half mile away doesn't deliver.

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The best I can with what I got

Hear! Hear!

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I have all three - cash, card, smart phone and use all three comfortably. For some reason, poor Gen Z snowflakes seldom do cash because it requires -ewww- math!
They don't even know the difference between simple arithmetic and math.
Don't ever hand a Gen Z $5.50 in cash for a $5.37 check - most will probably panic and demand a mental health day if the cash register doesn't figure the change for them.

We have a very good pizza restaurant here that’s cash only. They stay busy.

[QUOTE=s&wchad;141952726]"WAM" (walking around money)...
Don't leave home without it.

Dad always taught us 3 kids that if we couldn’t pay for it we didn’t need it. Dad was a gambler and bar owner and always provided for our family real good. He always made sure we had “walking around money” and that’s been passed on to our 2 boys and our grandchildren. You just don’t go nowhere without folding money in your billfold was what we were taught. I’m close to 83 years old now and didn’t get a credit card until I was about 45 years old because of not being able to write a check for some furniture at Montgomery Wards one day because I didn’t have a credit card to back up my check. WHAT ???—You’re kidding me right? Nope, no credit card, no check for payment of furniture. Well okay, so I paid cash for the furniture and left. It got to where you had to have a credit card for so many reasons, I got one. Credit cards are a necessity for sure in this world of online purchasing, direct deposit, direct withdrawal and so on. I still got my “walking around money “ in my billfold just in case I find someone who takes cash. 😎

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James
On the Llano Estacado

The wife and I have joint credit cards and she monitors the bills....so yeah, I pay cash for a bunch of stuff . Don

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Laus Deo! <><

Cash or check is all I've accepted for 50 years. 10% discount for cash. Hasn't hurt business one bit. I do have to remind the younger people no plastic etc. as many haven't a clue.

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My Daddy was a pistol..

My grandchildren, their cousins and their friends are Gen-Z "Zoomers".

They all know their sums and gazintas.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I did a few small gunshows a year, and was cash only. For two years I had one guy that insisted I take his check for a less than $10 purchase. He accused me of tax evasion. I didn't tell him what I thought, but suggested he bring a $10 bill to the next show. If his check bounced, I couldn't drive to his house for $10 to have him make it good. I always thought he was a scam waiting to happen, but he had very low self-esteem, he couldn't bring himself to go for a big score!

When we had the apartment complex, we refused cash payment of rent. That kept us from being at risk of a hold up. It was amazing how many people didn't use a bank for anything! They would pay outlandish fees for Check cashing and Money Orders. AS the X,Y,& Z's came in they wanted to do everything electronically. Again; NO MATH! I had a 15 year tenant that had two master's degrees, was a High School administrator, and couldn't balance a check book or write a rent check for the correct amount month after month! Stupid teachers created a stupid population!

There was an old carry-out about a mile from my wife and my first home. I would go over one evening a week and pick up change from the parking lot, to the amount of $15-20 a week. The local High School kids didn't want to carry coins, so after buying a snack, smokes, or whatever they threw the coins on the parking lot. So, I was a good neighbor and cleaned that mess up at no charge!

Ivan

I graduated H.S. June 1974. A $20 bill folded in the back of your wallet for emergencies was really all you needed. Now if it isn't a couple of $50's you are in deep doo-doo!

Ivan

I once saw a man berating a retailer for not taking credit cards. The fact that he was vendor at a motorcycle campout that took place in a cow pasture didn't seem to factor into it. Some people just expect the world to cater to their whims.

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The best I can with what I got

Electronic payments can be made with the swipe of a cellphone.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I don’t carry a walllet anymore,just a few cards and a car key,but there’s cash in that wallet…back home
(I’ll have to update my phone to pay with it)

Not with my cellphone.

Can you Pay after swiping a cell phone ? ? ?

Bekeart

leave not tree or politician unkicked

Vendors use them.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Where there is cell service. Large areas of this state there isn't any.

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The best I can with what I got

I like the convenience of credit cards, so rarely use checks. But I have noticed a trend where suppliers/providers will discount 3% for a check or cash. Just this week a plumber and my car dealer for brake fluid replacement. Plumber took a check and the dealer a debit card. True of most sellers I have encountered on GB, too.

“If no one took card I couldn’t eat today.”

1) a teachable moment - tech couldn’t work today.
2) hunger can be motivational.
3) starve.

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50 Years of DSOTM

The recent generations seem to be rather limited in their social experiences. Exactly how does one expedite a transaction with a morally flexible (or it's part of the culture) official/person with a credit card? Take advantage of a great opportunity?

My son is 18 and my daughter is 14. They use cash just fine, and actually prefer it most of the time.

But don't let my post derail a good "kids these days" generational bashing thread.

Technology can be a double edged sword. Some folks depend way too much on technology in their lives.

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- Change it back -

"Sniff, sniff, sniff." Did I hear the IRS?

"Ahem, ahem, ahem." Did I hear the state sales tax inspector?

"They stay busy." Just how busy?

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Ubi Est Mea

I get the feeling, from the article, that Conner Hassan, is a whiner.

BTW does anyone know what is meant when he said, "I just want to buy food right." "Right"!? what does he mean?

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Thread Killer.

Punctuation matters. " I just wanted to buy food, right (OK)?"

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Wait a minute... if we shut down electronic payments for a few weeks, that generation would 'go away'?

Hmm.....

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

my late father taught me, and I taught my son... cash for emergencies and firearm purchases.. dad always was ready to buy a gun if needed.. he would have people (cops) stop by his office with "stuff"... I even taught a Boy Scout Scoutmaster to carry cash... it was a trip back from a cold wet campout.. small town spot we stopped at for breakfast didn't take plastic... I paid for his and he paid me back at the next meeting.. was very proud of him, he always carried a $20 after that... electronics fail, cash always works...

It always feels good to spread joy along with Golden Dollars and $2 bills.

I think yours are more the exception rather than the rule and you've done a good job of raising them. A tip of the hat to you for doing that. However, not all parents or schools do the proper job you did, and too many abdicate their job of turning out competent, responsible citizens.

There must be enough characters like me running around leaving tips with Golden Dollars and/or $2 bills that young folks who act as serving staff seem to recognize and appreciate when I give them these in tips. Hopefully they remember I gave them a good tip because that's the important thing. I always tip in cash so the servers get the full benefit. I used to tend bar and that gave me an appreciation for the lives of people who work for tips for a living.

Well, it’s near city hall and the police station. Always patrol cars and city big wigs there.

I pay cash all the time. Only use the card when I must.

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No baby we aint

I do not think that my 22 year old daughter could find the local grocery store that she has gone to all her life without her GPS.

First I started with the "self-checkout." Then I opened a joint account with a debit card in 2010, never used it. Recently I started using it, run to the "Mini-WalMart" .9 miles from the house, throw what I need in the cart, weigh it/ scan it, bag it and out in less than half the time it used to take. Yeah, "they" know what I'm buying and how often but I am so boring a human who cares. I did get $500 cash for today's gun show but outside of $5 for 5 2032 batteries and a cool, cheap ($20) Chinese switchblade, I still got it. Last me for months where 5 years ago that was 2 weeks worth. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

That is the problem with this country.

No one has $60 in their pockets.

Everyone counts on a plastic card, even the people on welfare.

My local building supply and local farm supply have up signs....3% additional for credit card use.........So......I write a check or pay with cash at those locations.

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S&W Accumulator

There's a bunch of pot dispensaries seemingly, maybe literally, on every corner, and most of the folks I see are GenZ. Those dispensaries only take cash. Only SOME GenZ have issues with cash.

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Thread Killer.

I use a debit card for most transactions but keep emergency cash tucked away in a pocket in my wallet and some more in the bills section of the wallet for spending money. The cash has come in handy a few times when the card readers at the stores have been down.

“Morally Flexible “……….. I like it. I carry a card for convenience but always have walking around money. Zero chance I ever use my phone for a financial transaction.

Some Restaurants and gas stations are now asking if your paying cash. My last Hilton stay 4% was added to the bill.

I assume all purchases will add 4% on the bill for credit at some point. I pay cash whenever I can. It adds up.

I use a CC for so many purchases.. If they want to add 4% or whatever for CC ...I pay with check or cash. I don't have to stop at the bank to withdraw cash...I have cash in the safe at home. I'm sure as hell not putting an "app" on my phone to pay for purchases out of any of my checking accounts. Thieves can bleed you dry in no time..I don't attach a debit card to my checking or anything of the sort. Does no one understand OPSEC? or personal security??. I had to start a checking account for my ebay sales when they did away with Paypal. I keep a minimal amount of money in it too! I pay for the very minimal ebay purchases with a credit card just for online purchases. Call me a Luddite or paranoid but account info on a cell phone is absolute stupidity...in my opinion.

Understand...I do not base my life on a cell phone. I know where I am and where I am going.

I'm just sad that we millenials have passed the torch to the zoomers for the ire of the AARP crowd.

The vast, vast majority of payments at retailers are done by card/card adjacent (apple pay, google pay, whatever) means, and in the last decade or so I can think of two times that I unexpectedly had to pay cash vs. card, hell even craigslist/FB marketplace transaction are mostly Venmo rather than cash these days.

One tourist didn't have cash and had to go elsewhere to get food. A reporter on a slow news day found him, I'm not too worried about Connor not carrying cash being a significant problem the zoomers will face. Hopefully they can at least stay out of the financial hole that is avocado toast, then they're really in for it.

No snarkasm intended but I fail to understand what too much reliance on technology entails. All our financial transactions (income, shopping, bill paying) are done electronically. If I were to use cash I would need a stagecoach, a strongbox and a shotgun rider to move it around.

Almost all of the appliances I own have a keypad.

Earning a Luddite merit badge is something I will never strive for.

I'll take all the technology I can get.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Here's what reliance on tech with no backups can do - especially payment processors.

New Mexico Cancer Center impacted weeks after ‘Change Healthcare’ cyber attack

by: Jessica Salinas
Posted: Mar 14, 2024 / 05:25 PM MDT

New Mexico Cancer Center impacted weeks after cyber attack


There's also this:
Lovelace patients struggle to refill prescriptions, contact staff following cyberattack on health system
Megan Gleason, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
December 1, 2023
Lovelace patients struggle to refill prescriptions, contact staff following cyberattack on health system

Total reliance on tech...

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Thread Killer.

Luddite has been so embedded in the vernacular that it will forever be a pejorative.

The English economy was in shambles during the Napoleonic wars yet the greed of the aristocracy and brutal suppression of the working class remained unabated until the invention of the flying shuttle. A group of workers under the leadership of a most likely fictional Ned Ludd realized the danger to an entire class of workers in the textile industry and set to destroy the looms with the new tech.


These were people who were not against new technology per se but who were forward thinking enough to realize the dangers to the lives of the workers. Their actions forced business owners to meet with worker representatives and find a middle ground that would protect the worker's families and still allow for profits to be made which led to collective bargaining.


If the term Luddite still meant one who refuses to accept new tech as the be all end all yet embraces the upside I would be proud to wave that flag. One need only to read the many threads regarding technology in this Forum and look at the effects tech has had on society, everything from news media to the publishing and recording industry to self driving Ubers. I'll keep a wary eye and refuse to think it's raining while being peed upon.

What will Gen Alpha do?

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Sure you did