Ok but what if I wanted to shop without a smartphone, or don't own one?
Don't get me wrong this is great for the current situation but like all things it doesn't only have good things about it.
Don't get me wrong this is great for the current situation but like all things it doesn't only have good things about it.
a) Expected to have, engage with and be active on a smartphone
b) Be accessible via the mobile network (have an active phone number that can get SMS)
c) Be "always online", frequently checking the bank in 'real time' to verify transactions, account balance etc
d) Have battery life on your device. It's no good if you have just 5% and your phone turns off, your smartphone to person uptime needs to be very very good (your phone needs to be online quite often to be a very good citizen!).
e) Be verifiable to you. The make, model and other information needs to be tied to you as a person. The SIM card needs to belong to you and you need to be traceable and trackable via your smartphone at all times, 24/7.
If you do not meet those requirements you WILL be locked out of some functions in society. This is already the case today and will be the case in the future. No smartphone? No digital cash? Not for you.
Our phones are becoming and will eventually be a part of "us", they will be a digital heartbeat and will need to output a "pulse", if your pulse stops, so will your societal inclusion (perhaps you can't go to a place without scanning a QR code, for example).
The levels of exclusion will vary depending on criteria, for example, Covid passports will likely use an "app" as most things do otherwise you'll be denied access.
Eventually, it'll be a law to ensure your digital pulse is active and working 24/7, every citizen will be issued a digital ID and a personal device that will need to be kept on your person at all times, it'll talk to various networks (telephony, GPS etc), and will act like a "tag". We're not there yet but the pathway to reach that point has been made obvious during the covid pandemic. "Health passports" are the next step, various smartwatches that record health data (Apple, Fitbit) are getting into that territory. Eventually you as a human will be constantly monitored and uploaded to a server 24/7
And not just any smartphone: a smartphone controlled by Apple or Google. Further cementing their influence over society.
My issue is not that you need to be using Android in general for example (base Android is FOSS, so the user can in principle have full control over their device), but that often for these things you need to be using Android with Google services, with all the tracking and such that entails.
In Germany for example, that had resisted a lot of technological progress (online credit cards, Google Street View, etc.), I had to cancel my internet subscription by fax in 2015... It was hard enough to get a fax service, and then send personal details, etc. to prove my identity.
I'd rather have a streamlined experience with apps and technology than have to deal with loads of bureaucracy.
The claim "sorry you don't have a smart phone you can't buy food / clothes" has implications for people (children, the elderly, the disabled, the poor). Just replace "smartphone" with "stairs" (if you can't climb stairs sorry no food / clothes for you). Hey if its a problem, just order online, or get a friend to do it, why should we have to cater to people who aren't normal?
Combine that with a culture where your phone can be disabled for many reasons (failure to pay, socially unacceptable views, employer owned) and you're creating a rather distopian picture.
I'm all for a more streamlined version for people who are able, and that may well be the vast majority, but it makes sense to make provisions for those who aren't and not to say "sorry history has moved forward, if you don't have a car you can't have a job or go shopping." (as another example)
Those who cannot, do not or will not have a smartphone will become marginalized and excluded from society. The expectation and norm will be to obtain and fully use your digital extension (and there are many smartphones that are very cheap).
Eventually, smartphoneless people will become a percentile point of the population that are easily discarded and hidden, and from my perspective that's becoming more and more obvious as time goes on.
To me this is simply an observation, not a commentary as to whether it's good, bad, but it seems this is the direction society is accepting since I don't see any movements against smartphones or this type of future.
What makes you think that those are the same people? At first blush it seems like people in favour of easier access to vote and easier access for the disabled would be the same people that advocate for more inclusive access to shops.
Because (in the USA) the ADA exists, and has been shown to help even non disabled people. Elevators were mandated on multi floor buildings because of wheelchairs, but they have a benefit of also being available for non disabled people who have their hands full of groceries.
Also, what is “normal” to you won’t be the same as someone else. Is a wheelchair bound person normal? A highly autistic person? What about high functioning autism? If you’re going to define “normal”, you’d be drawing a line somewhere where you can’t please everyone.
They are saying that with the way society is moving forward, if you do not own a smartphone you are not considered "normal". We have the ADA in the USA for this reason, so that all aspects of society are accessible.
There is nothing currently that prevents you being excluded if you do not have a smartphone and are therefore not considered "normal".
For example, "we" didn't collectively decide one day we absolutely need to have credit cards. But if you don't have one now, there are a ton of things you can't really do.
https://uxdesign.cc/the-ux-of-sainsburys-smartshop-f7b94af6e...
Sorry to disappoint aboringusername, but this is not a ploy to starve us all into carrying surveillance devices. Still, the tinfoil hat at least looks fetching.
Shops without access ramps lose probably more customers, and yet there are plenty of them.
https://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/technology-media-and-t...
Your point about the access ramps also makes alot of sense, didn't really think about that case.
In another town the banks shared an office and each day of the week was for one of the banks to recieve customers lol. WeBank
Could have the same but backwards, give cash, recieve e-coupon, scan e-coupon in store.
The largest store in every town is usually a "financial correspondent" of one or more banks.
The services available are: Remmitance sending/receiving, deposit and withdrawal using bank card, credit card payments, service payments (Eelctricity, Phone, University), service withdrawal, (Drive sharing driver withdrawals), among others.
The tricky part for banks and businesses is offering services with similar deposit/withdrawal amounts so cash is always available without having to organize cash delivery to/from the bank correspondent.
Having a mobile bank that drives around is another solution.
In Netherlands we used to have ATMs in loads of places. Stores had semi-moveable ones. That stopped due to criminals blowing regular ATMs up. The explosives sometimes took out entire walls and made the entire building unsafe. Most stores removed those semi-moveable ATMs. Similarly, loads of regular ATMs were removed, especially ATMs close to a house.
As Netherlands tried to do something about it the criminals started to attack the ATMs in Germany more. The criminals also often stole really quick cars, so Dutch police recently and finally have a few quick cars again. Before the quick chase cars the criminals often just outran the police. Oh, Dutch police take safety into account (try to minimize the risk for others).
Smartphones are now cheap as dirt. The bigger problem would be having a bank account.
Do they have a work around for non Swedish users?
In other words, if you live in Sweden you'll likely have bankid. As a tourist or seasonal worker, not so much.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised if these stores were cashless, in several Scandinavian countries shop attendants handling change manually are already on their way out
Germans are not luddites, they are careful with privacy. They have more than one reason to be careful with it [0, 1]. There's a tradeoff between "personal convenience" and "civil liberties" like privacy.
Being scared of Google street view and continuing to use fax machines are not wise worries about privacy, sorry
Yes I know about the historical reasons they're "worried" about privacy, but it's a misplaced worry because they don't address their real privacy shortcomings, like requiring registration of people (+ sensitive privacy info) who live in a city, using last names (and not apartment numbers) in mailboxes, limited anonymous internet access (to please the copyright lobby, etc) and their lax internet security capabilities (like the Berlin courts who were still on Windows 95)
So again, if they really worry about privacy they're addressing it through the wrong angle.
This drive to a cashless system has downsides for the more vulnerable, poor and elderly - it also pushes extra risks onto the customer (which is why I don't do online Banking the UK)
*edit* Banking for Baking