Hacker News Reader

Comment by Xylakant | Hacker News Reader

I prefer cash and would at the same time use an encrypted messenger to communicate with the government.

While cards are certainly convenient, they have failed me at very inopportune moments. I’ve also recently witnessed how someone could not book a ticket for a ferry in one of the mostly cashless European states - cash wasn’t an option and they didn’t have a card. This was at the official counter at the harbor.

A few month ago, card terminals of a widely used type failed hard in Germany, only cash payment was possible.

Being able to do some purchases anonymously is also a good thing - even if it’s only my wife’s birthday present.

I prefer a society where cash is an option for all (in-person) transactions. And preserving that requires exercising the use of cash.

Encrypted secure communication with (and within) the government, or my medical provider is entirely orthogonal to that.

View on HN

I am not a young person anymore & card payments have almost never failed for me (unless it was for a specific/resolvable reason).

> A few month ago, card terminals of a widely used type failed hard in Germany, only cash payment was possible.

This exactly is part of my point.

> or my medical provider is entirely orthogonal to that.

I prefer a medical provider that does a good job & shares my data, rather than incompetent medical staff that adhere to privacy policies. I expect my doctor to be a good doctor, not a good data policy keeper.

I have had cards expire and the new cards sent to an outdated address, and when that was discovered, the bank blocked all cards since they could have fallen into the wrong hands. I happened to be traveling at that time. I’ve had cards be blocked due to random fluctuations in the usage pattern. Calling usually helps a to resolve this, though it usually takes time. I’ve had an ATM eat my card and not return it. I have entered the wrong pin once too many. I’ve had my bank replay all transactions from at the beginning of the month twice, debiting the rent and all payments twice, and overdrawing my account, blocking my cards. Shit happens. Cash was always an option to solve this.

> > A few month ago, card terminals of a widely used type failed hard in Germany, only cash payment was possible.

> This exactly is part of my point.

I don’t understand how this is part of your point. It was a bug that required exchanging the terminals - either some kind of hardware or a borked software update that left the terminals unable to function. Shit happens, in hardware, too. It’s not like other countries are magically exempt from failures of their digital infrastructure.

You're completely missing the point I'm making.

Other countries aren't exempt, but other countries also don't write case studies on how everyone else should operate.

It's absolutely baffling to me that Germany touts a more secure messenger, but can't get card payments working seamlessly / consistently. To your point, I was visiting there earlier this year & card payments were completely offline for 2 - 3 days.

But sure, roll out a more secure messenger.

Yes, the broken terminals happened earlier this year. You were unlucky.

I don’t get your point about “writing case studies how everyone else should operate.” - where does Germany write case studies about how payment systems in other countries should operate?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com