It is a reminder to go back to cash, ATMs and machines where you can enter you transactions instead of using the Internet.
There is no reason to give money to US middlemen for everything you do.
The whole of the EU should do this, too. I stopped using Internet banking after my bank moved from SMS Tan to hardware Tan generator (one of which didn't work) to forced mobile app. No thanks.
How exactly do I use cash for online payments?
Commonly available in Latin America
www.pagoefectivo.la
You select 'pay in cash' in the online checkout, walk to your neighborhood convenience mart, and they scan a QR code (or you give them a code if you don't have a smartphone) linked to your checkout session. It rings up the total, and you pay the clerk in cash. Once you hand over the cash and the clerk hits confirm in their POS system, the online store is notified instantly that you have paid, and your order moves directly into processing or shipping.
That's great for people that don't have any online-capable payment method, but I'd consider it a huge step backwards for those that do and are comfortable using it.
Naturally, it is one of several payment options at checkout. Never the only option.
In Israel, we used to have post-office issued debit cards. You buy the card at the counter, with cash, and then it could be used for online payments, until you exhaust your credit. This is not entirely different from a bank, of course, but it allowed users to separate their purchases history from their income history.
Post office is also used for things like utility payments. You can pay them online, or write down the invoice id, the recipient, and pay with cash at the post office. I'm not sure how it works from the recipient perspective: i.e. how would you register your business with the post office, but, the existence of some such payments implies it should be possible.
NB. Also, technically, these services while physically provided in the post office are sometimes referred to as being provide by "postal bank". I'm not sure why it's called a bank though, since it doesn't provide key banking services s.a. loans or check-in accounts... Maybe it's just a "historic" name.
The problem is not online banking. The problem is the banks we use.
Accounting cash is extremely complicated and whether you like it or not, you will be forced to do an online transaction at some point.
Are you going to be wiring money across the country to buy stuff?
Instead of going back we should stop centralizing everything.
We are centralizing the internet with Cloudfare. We are centralizing mobile compute with Android/Apple
I don't want to be dependent on any of those platforms to access my bank
Also: please use a credit union and use mutually-owned insurance agencies. As a general statement, you'll be in way better hands.
Wait but...if you use an ATM, you're going to be hit by ATM (read: middleman) fees every single time. Also, you massively increase your risk of getting hit by identity theft via compromised ATM.
> you're going to be hit by ATM (read: middleman) fees every single time.
This is highly country specific. In many countries, (at least domestic) ATM withdrawals are still free.
> you massively increase your risk of getting hit by identity theft via compromised ATM.
What exactly does a compromised ATM do in terms of identity theft that a POS terminal can't do? Both can read your card, which today is not a big problem anymore, and certainly not yours or your bank's.
Cryptocurrency actually works and doesn't involve US middlemen under governmental oppression. It's a fact.
Also, they stopped capitalizing the "i" in "internet" some time ago. Wake up from the year 2000 already.
Hahaha, that’s a good joke
some ways of using crypto are pretty common in countries with high inflation rates
weak src: me, a citizen from a country with high inflation rates
It's not a joke. It's 100% true. People tend to be extremely uneducated wrt crypto, also favoring to dwell in their ignorance.
I spent months in South America and tried to use crypto in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. I was motivated because of this pro-crypto article: https://devonzuegel.com/inside-argentina-s-currency-exchange...
People in many South American countries should be highly motivated to use crypto because fiat is usually damn shit.
I was motivated because cash machines were extremely crappy for a tourist (when you could find an ATM that even had any money in its cassettes). Argentina was a USD8 withdrawal fee plus the super shitty official exchange rate and half the time you could only withdraw maybe USD30 maximum so you maybe needed to do multiple transactions. I also had NZD bank fees and poor exchange rates from my own NZ bank added.
It was a total shitshow trying to use crypto. I would honestly have been better wandering around with gold in my pockets.
Crypto was high risk: dangerously unsafe. Also mostly unavailable unless you were really lucky. Complex. Massively taxed for recipients if they used anything that officially supported crypto. Arbolitos (street money changers) would take a 10-15% cut and it always felt super effing dodgy (felt like a risk of getting kidnapped).
I can't recommend it. There was no way to learn how to do crypto transactions safely, even though I have conversational Spanish.
Scary as all fuck. My kind of holiday, but I couldn't recommend anyone take those risks unless they're as stupid an idiot as me.
I'm mostly relaxed about countries taking advantage of me (or other tourists), but South America was so OTT that I mostly wouldn't go back. That said, I loved Brazil even though I can't speak a word of Portuguese. That's the only place I would make an effort to return to from my 3 months travelling in South America.
So don't pay with it in unsafe settings. For them, crypto still can absolutely be a very valid means of saving money. When the local currency is inflationary and the banks restrict dollars, crypto saves the day wrt holdings. Transfer to bank account in local currency as needed.
And you should never allow anyone to take advantage of you or any tourist. It is never acceptable, and it happens because of relaxed dotards who don't fight or prevent it. As a tourist, being taken advantage in dollars is what I consider scary.
You are suggesting that people should illegally hide their crypto from their government and taxation.
I assume if you live in say Argentina, then you really have little other choice.
But they don't have the knowledge to be safe, even though they strongly understand the need for security. I prefer not to advise other people to perform risky actions.
> you should never allow anyone to take advantage of you or any tourist
And you should never tell other people what to do.
I am actually pretty okay with being generous and paying "too much". I've traveled to places where I'm relatively a fucking rich bastard. I don't see that I should be a selfish arsehole towards people that earn cents compared to me.
I hate foreign governments ripping me off because I know the money isn't going towards anything useful.
But I attempt to be thoughtfully generous towards individuals.
Although I avoid tipping culture (as a New Zealander it feels prostitutionally sleazy to me).
I remember some Germans telling me I was ruining it for other tourists by not haggling enough. Fuck those tight wankers.
It works to buy darknet drugs, sure. Wake me up when I can go to the grocery store and buy some peaches. "Don't worry, cashier-bro, the transaction will only take 20 minutes to go through, trust me!"
There are so many valid criticisms of crypto, but transaction confirmation time has been solved a long time ago.
It does work for groceries, although not at a physical store, because the store is controlled by government henchmen wrt to their payments. Fwiw, one can trivially by an Amazon gift card using cryptocurrency, using which one can then pay for online groceries.
As for transaction confirmation times, there are cryptocurrencies in common use that confirm nearly immediately. The lack of your knowledge shows.
Nothing stops a physical store from accepting cryptocurrency, unless they need to also make agreements with the payment card networks.
Sure, good plan. I'll just walk into thr local CVS to buy a gift card and... oh, wait, no. Exact same issue.
It is a working means. The gift card is exclusively bought online. It's not usable in store anyway since there is no physical card. There is no issue with online purchases.