jonny (good kind)Sep 23, 2025
Fuck google pay, apple pay, any payment system linked to a phone. Fuck a cashless society. I needed to use google wallet for some event recently and couldn't because I'm running grapheneOS. Refuse to use this bull shit. The card processors are a cartel but they're nothing compared to Google owning all transaction data.
Show threadjonny (good kind)Sep 23, 2025
I see people using their phone for public transit, I see most people using their phone when buying groceries, that shit makes no sense to me. Why would you want your money to run out of batteries so that it can spy on you?
Show threadjonny (good kind)
Pre-pandemic I only used cash, now many places no longer even take it, at least in LA, which I didn't even know was legal. It just works and is not hard to use in any way.
Sep 23, 2025 at 9:09amWeb
Show threadjonny (good kind)Sep 23, 2025
Please assume when talking to me that I am aware that 1) businesses like money and 2) other things are also bad in addition to the thing I am talking about.
Show threadSven Slootweg, low-spoons mode ("still kinky and horny anyway")Sep 23, 2025
@jonny The usual reasons places don't want to handle cash:
- Counting out change takes time, so it takes slightly longer to serve customers
- Handling coins cost money; the consumed/received quantity is unbalanced and differs between denominations so you need to buy coin rolls and those have an extra cost attached
- Employees can make mistakes and/or 'appropriate' cash

So yeah it was never about whether it's hard to use, capitalists just don't like it because it's not to their advantage so they'll make up complexity if they need to, to convince people to pay digitally
Show threadEmber is so tired of people. ​Sep 23, 2025
@joepie91 @jonny imo the biggest difficulty is so many people paying with the biggest notes, rather than taking any effort to give an amount close to the cost, which leads to a needlessly high drain on the smaller notes and coins in the register
Show threadSven Slootweg, low-spoons mode ("still kinky and horny anyway")Sep 23, 2025
@Ember @jonny When I worked retail, people often made an effort to make 'round' change (eg. giving a 5 euro note plus a 10 cent coin so that I could change back whole euros) and it didn't solve the imbalance, this seems to just be a fundamental thing with change (and the imbalance is different for different industries!)
Show threadSven Slootweg, low-spoons mode ("still kinky and horny anyway")Sep 23, 2025
@Ember @jonny Like at discount stores and market stalls here, people often pay in small change and so they have too much of it, but at supermarkets and railway food places they pay mainly with bills so there's not *enough* change
Show threadjonny (good kind)Sep 23, 2025
@joepie91
@Ember
Currency is a public service that costs money and there is friction in circulation, yes. It is worth it imo.
Show threadSven Slootweg, low-spoons mode ("still kinky and horny anyway")Sep 23, 2025
@jonny @Ember Oh, absolutely. But convincing capitalists of that is a whole other matter...
Show threadSven Slootweg, low-spoons mode ("still kinky and horny anyway")Sep 23, 2025
@Ember @jonny (I should also note that in NL it's common to *ask* customers to make the change round if they can, if they don't already do so themselves, so that may be a cultural thing)
Show threadEmber is so tired of people. ​Sep 23, 2025
@joepie91 @jonny probably, in my experience most people rarely make an effort, and just assume that the store will have the change, which we often don't because it runs out so quickly from people doing this 🙃
Show threadAntonySep 23, 2025

@joepie91 @jonny I agree with you, just to add to your point: card networks aren't free either. While it costs to handle (and even make) cash, the card network operators also levy fees on transactions. Taking payments costs money. No idea what Google and Apple do but I bet it costs on top.

I'm very much against the push to move payments but also banking authenticators to phones.

Show threadKathmanduSep 23, 2025

@joepie91 @jonny

OTOH, electronic payments cost money too: there's always a fee to the credit/processor, sometimes more than one fee.

Show threadrefraction Sep 23, 2025
@jonny can still use cash here but we often forget to get cash and so we have to use our card
Show threadDoug WebbSep 23, 2025
@jonny read this, went into a shop and was confronted with this wall of digital payment options
Show threadwakest likes your bugs ⁂Sep 23, 2025
@douginamug @jonny Pluxee with benefits sounds erotic
Show threadmartensonSep 23, 2025
@jonny I don't give a shit about cash. Electronic payments can be designed better, offline, and much safer than cash. For now we have a monopoly crap implementation -- that needs to change.
Show threadRob RicciSep 23, 2025
@jonny have you tried passing them 50k in cash inside fast food bags? I hear that's popular
Show threadBradleySep 23, 2025
@jonny lately I have been offered to pay cash for a discount on my bill so let's hope it makes a comeback