refusing to accept cash

Quote: AZDuffman

I hope you keep more than that on hand at home. Even just walking around that is a dangerously low amount to have.

Nope, I don't keep any cash at all.

How is it dangerous?

Quote: gamerfreak

Nope, I don't keep any cash at all.

How is it dangerous?

Very simple. Suppose something happens to your bank accounts and credit cards. Suppose even if you are clean that the IRS or someone "mistakenly" cause them to be frozen. Suppose we have another 2008 moment and large parts of the system freeze. In the 1980s, many banks in Ohio were ordered closed with no warning for I forget how long but several days.

After many disasters, phones can be down or other problems that let businesses take only cash. How many times do you hear, "our card reader is down so it has to be cash?"

It is the same principal that you should always have 2-4 weeks of food in the house and several gallons of water stored. One should always try to keep 2-4 weeks pay at home and in smaller bills of $20s or less.

I haven't paid cash for gas since the
late 90's when I got my first debit
card. I'm amazed at the number of
people that do pay cash. Where do
they get it, why do they want it.
It's so much easier to pay with plastic
and you have a detailed record of
where your money went.

I only use cash in the casino and
nowhere else.

Quote: AZDuffman

Very simple. Suppose something happens to your bank accounts and credit cards. Suppose even if you are clean that the IRS or someone "mistakenly" cause them to be frozen. Suppose we have another 2008 moment and large parts of the system freeze. In the 1980s, many banks in Ohio were ordered closed with no warning for I forget how long but several days.

In Puerto Rico, 50% of the people are still out of power.

Quote: AZDuffman

Very simple. Suppose something happens to your bank accounts and credit cards. Suppose even if you are clean that the IRS or someone "mistakenly" cause them to be frozen. Suppose we have another 2008 moment and large parts of the system freeze. In the 1980s, many banks in Ohio were ordered closed with no warning for I forget how long but several days.

After many disasters, phones can be down or other problems that let businesses take only cash. How many times do you hear, "our card reader is down so it has to be cash?"

It is the same principal that you should always have 2-4 weeks of food in the house and several gallons of water stored. One should always try to keep 2-4 weeks pay at home and in smaller bills of $20s or less.

These are things I don't really worry about. In the same way I have CCW friends who cant fathom why everyone does not have a gun on their hip .... I don't go through those pains because I'm really not worried about it.

I'd be more worried about criminals or cops stealing my cash than the global banking system going down.

Quote: gamerfreak

These are things I don't really worry about. In the same way I have CCW friends who cant fathom why everyone does not have a gun on their hip .... I don't go through those pains because I'm really not worried about it.

I'd be more worried about criminals or cops stealing my cash than the global banking system going down.

Each his own. I've seen stuff happen, maybe you haven't. Do remember one thing, it is probably not the global banking system going down that you have to worry about. It is probably more local and personal. A stolen wallet or identity theft.

Quote: Evenbob

I haven't paid cash for gas since the
late 90's when I got my first debit
card. I'm amazed at the number of
people that do pay cash. Where do
they get it, why do they want it.
It's so much easier to pay with plastic
and you have a detailed record of
where your money went.

I only use cash in the casino and
nowhere else.

I can't remember the last time I paid cash. Remember when you wanted $5/10/20 and just bought that much? The only time I do not totally fill up is when I have a free gas bonus about to expire and I need room in the tank. After I got a company gas card in 1996 that was it, even after I lost is when I was let go. Swipe and fill.

Quote: AZDuffman

Each his own. I've seen stuff happen, maybe you haven't. Do remember one thing, it is probably not the global banking system going down that you have to worry about. It is probably more local and personal. A stolen wallet or identity theft.

Hurricane Sandy, Houston last year and Florida. Cash is handy at times, you still get some better deals.

At the gas pump, I am a plastic man myself. I don't want change anymore, it's really hard at this price to stop the pump on an even dollar. Pay first, pffft. I fill till it clicks and I'm done.

The one that scares me the most is our debit card account. That could be drained pretty easy by a crook. Once a week it seems it shows another scam on the news about someone stealing dc and pin #'s. I feel more protected with visa, although ours has been hacked a few times, we never had to pay. Things cost so much now, it is a hassle to carry that much cash.

Quote: gamerfreak

I'd be more worried about criminals or cops stealing my cash than the global banking system going down.

You sound young. The global banking system doesn't have to go down.

But there are local crisis that can develop like the MD savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Sometimes there are simply widespread power outages. I was caught in the aftermath of a hurricane in 1989 where I would have killed to have some cash. Iceland had almost no cash from 1986 to 2006 but then every bank went bankrupt in the country. Suddenly they needed banknotes.

But huge percentages of the population in Sweden simply don't carry cash.

You don't even have to limit it to disasters. The Blackout of '03 just *bloop* happened. Suppose it's not life and death in this day and age, but even $100 cash is the difference between looking around in awe as dark city by dark city passes you buy, or you being stranded in said dark city until ??? because you can't get what you need.

It all comes down to how risk adverse you are. My cards are carried loose with all manner of BS in my pockets, so a too-scratched stripe is always a concern. As is a crack of the card itself. $20 is the difference between a regular day and being stuck out of state 2hr away from anyone you know.

A $2 bill saved my bacon once. You don't need "leave the country" cash, but having none is daredevil.