refusing to accept cash
January 31st, 2018 at 2:06:56 PM permalink | |
terapined Member since: Aug 6, 2014 Threads: 73 Posts: 11786 |
I saw an Item on ebay I was interested in. The value of the item to me was about 60 bucks Bidding started at 1 buck but shipping was 100.00 which I thought was absurd. So I sent a question asking why shipping so high The seller really got pissed at me for asking that question. He banned me from the sale and relisted at 100.00 with free shipping I see a lot of over priced items on ebay Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World" |
January 31st, 2018 at 8:57:20 PM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | I've used ebay only a few times. I don't quite grasp this silly auction stuff and usually would deal only with priced merchandize. A few times I've bought items on the cheap with three to four week delivery periods rather than pay Amazon's price with two day delivery. The two-thirds discount in price was worth the wait. Currently waiting on one item for thirty dollars rather than Amazon's fifty dollars. Its just that Shanghai requires paypal only, nothing else. I'm fairly certain that 'new' on ebay seems to mean new packaging of a refurbished item or sale of an older, discontinued model. Wouldn't trust anyone on ebay. |
February 1st, 2018 at 2:27:59 AM permalink | |
beachbumbabs Member since: Sep 3, 2013 Threads: 6 Posts: 1600 |
One of the best places for me to use cash is with handymen/contractors. I got 10% off a new roof with cash, for example. Saved $600. I suppose they've had any number of issues getting paid - probably why they have the right to place a lien on a property if they don't. I usually have them quote me a price. Then I ask what they can do for cash on completion. Most of them want half up front or more, but the price improves considerably. Never doubt a small group of concerned citizens can change the world; it's the only thing ever has |
February 1st, 2018 at 3:03:40 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
1 USD =1,071 KRW
I am convinced that South Korea has the correct concept. The real drag on business is coins. If you eliminate coins then small banknotes will follow. South Korea will still make extensive use of its largest banknote, worth about $47 apiece. |
February 1st, 2018 at 3:46:17 AM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | Contractors often want a good chunk of cash upfront because they will be buying materials and don't want to be at risk of homeowner's whims. Sure workmen can file liens and often do but its still an expense to them to take any further steps on it. Most mechanics liens are filed by subcontractors who are worried about payment from the contractor. I find our card payment systems annoying. Often having to spend an inordinate amount of time declining cash-back, entering passwords for trivial transactions, dealing with screens that show only the fluorescent store lights, etc. |
February 1st, 2018 at 6:53:39 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
The value of the upfront payment in theory could be done via electronic transfer as well as with physical currency. Most countries of the world have a single city which completely dominates the population, government and economic landscape. Mass transit almost screams out for cashless payment systems. In the USA, outside of NYC, very few people ride mass transit, so we get by with cash. Since most of the comprehensive mass transit cards based on RFID date back to a period of about 12-18 years ago, these cities have naturally expanded their small cashless payment systems to snack trucks, etc. At any rate, most discussions of going cashless center on large value banknotes with the goal of eliminating money laundering, tax evasion, bribery, etc. The very largest banknotes, the US $500, $1000, $5000 and $10,000 banknote, the Swedish 10,000 kroner note, the 500 Euro banknote, the Singapore 10,000 dollar worth US$7600 are now gone.If Britain manages to eliminate the £50 = US$71 in the next five years, it will be the banknote worth less than $100 to be eliminated. But a lot more efficiency in business could be achieved by making small purchases cashless, |
February 1st, 2018 at 10:10:04 AM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | Eliminate money laundering? Or eliminate petit money laundering leaving only the big players able to engage in wholesale money laundering. Total cashlessness requires a greater incentive and a greater ease. Oyster cards, etc. will indeed be the way to go forward on this .... Bank of America offers a 'round off the darned cents' program wherein they round up the transaction amount to whole dollars. That might help eliminate coin use. Though I don't know if physical change is really that much slower than an electronic transaction. |
February 1st, 2018 at 10:48:44 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
it probably doesn't make that much difference in the payment of goods. It's the background where the try to reconcile accounts. Plus the difficulty of keeping enough cash on change. Then the stores must collect all the change and ship it to the bank. Plus the huge overhead of minting the coins and distributing them to banks and stores. Half the coins minted in the USA are pennies. Truckloads of them. European Monetary Union, United Kingdom and Japan all have a coin equivalent to the US penny, but for some reason they don't seem to have make nearly as many of them. The smaller countries have eliminated their tiniest coin. Notably Canada and Australia no longer use the penny but they still have coins close in value to the nickel. Swedish coins start at about the dime level. Korea has four coins starting at the penny level and working up to about 46 cents, but they plan on eliminating all coins by 2020. |
February 1st, 2018 at 11:01:56 AM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25010 | I saw a really good hour long talk on Utube by Frank Abignale, the guy they made the movie 'Catch Me If You Can' about. He's been an FBI agent for over 40 years, specializing in money crimes. He says he has never owned a debit card and never will. None of his grown kids have one. He went down a laundry list of the ways you can get royally screwed using a debit card. And how it's impossible to get screwed using a reputable credit card. He means screwed in the end, being on the hook for charges you never made. With a debit card, crooks can ruin you. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
February 2nd, 2018 at 11:30:48 AM permalink | |
JimRockford Member since: Sep 18, 2015 Threads: 2 Posts: 971 |
Saw this article today: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/stealing-from-self-checkout/550940/
Appearantly theft is pretty widespread. The mind hungers for that on which it feeds. |