Hacker News Reader

Comment by calini | Hacker News Reader

I'm very much a fan of choice here. I haven't personally used cash more than twice in the last 3 years, I love the convenience of Apple/Google Pay, but cash clearly still needs to exist

View on HN

I have found when I use cash I don't overspend as often. So I looked it up and this is a known expectation of the banking industry. So I converted to cash as much as I can and my finances are much better.

The internal argument is that it is not convenient for me to need to work only with cash. That is true it is less convenient but when I sacrifice due diligence for convenience then it turns out long term cash is more convenient.

Use it or lose it.

Very true. There's a small segment in the netherlands who are doing just that, with the slogan "betaal bewust contant" (~pay cash consciously/purposefully), e.g. they go out of their way to pay cash at supermarkets even when there is only 1 cash register that allows it and all others are cashless. As I understand a similar movement exists in germany and is much more popular there (I guess due to their history with totalitarianism and persecution).

I can't disagree, but there's also reasons I don't use it.

I challenge you to analyze them over the long term. I believe you will find they are poor reasons that don't hold up to long term thinking.

Cash is weird because in theory it's a simple way to conduct a purchase but increasingly the coins become lost in the mix. I'm in the U.S., if someone hands me a few pennies/dimes as change they have effectively given me metallic trash for me to hold. I have a digital bank, so no way to deposit coins. I'm not going to carry coins around with me like I do whole bills. I'm essentially left with the option of taking them to a "coinstar" machine which will give me just a portion of what they are worth and to make that worth it I have to save up all my coins for multiple years since I get so few of them.

I haven't been to a Coinstar in ages even though I have a big bucket to cash in. (Basically on rare times I get coins I just toss them in when I get home.) As I recall, you can often get gift cards (e.g. Amazon) for the full value. I should look next time I'm in the grocery store.

I have heard if one accidentally gets unplugged from the network and rebooted, the fee is lower. Do with that what you will.

Of course it needs to exist, but at the same time using it for huge numbers like 3000+ euros is in practice almost only done by criminals. It's a good balance imo.

You can easily spend 3k on a bike, motorcycle, car, a few hookers, high end restaurant with friends, and many other things. You're just regurgitating pro surveillance propaganda.

Of course people spend that regularly, but not with cash.

I've owned seven vehicles in my lifetime. Five of them were paid for with cash transactions greater than $3,000. It's quite common for private sellers to prefer cash.

Maybe in the US.

My bank has 27 offices left in the entire Netherlands, and I don't think many of them take cash. I wouldn't even know how to get 3000 euro in cash into my bank account these days.

Ah well if you live in a country where the war on cash has advanced that much it's not surprising you see little cash usage.

Otherwise known as "Your society has actually advanced the payments and banking industries beyond the 60s that the US is perpetually stuck in"

People don't use cash because there are better options that better meet their needs. Most people's needs don't include "the government can't know I'm buying this"

How is that argument different from banning Signal? eg: People don't use end-to-end encrypted messaging because there are better options that better meet their needs. Most people's needs don't include "the government can't know I'm saying this".

Is there really no monetary exchange you've made in your life that, if your government knew about, could get you into trouble? And are you so confident in the future of your government that you're willing to give them that power? I'm not.

> Is there really no monetary exchange you've made in your life that, if your government knew about, could get you into trouble?

It's not just the monetary exchange itself, financial transactions include a counterparty and location info too.

Are you saying something doesn't exist because you don't see it?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com