Europe

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/34697875

Enough people have given up cash that it seems some widespread blindness/out-of-touchness on the assault on cash. This thread is collect scenarios of cash payers being hit with fees and other disadvantages as the war on cash moves ahead. This thread is pinned in !cash@slrpnk.net.

• Internet service: the only way to get an Internet subscription that is paid directly in cash is to buy a prepaid GSM then buy top-ups from press shops, and use the phone credit to buy Internet bundles that cost around €15 for 4gb. Subscribing to a proper ISP gets the lowest price but requires paying by bank transfer. And to do that, you have to pay a fee to a 3rd-party service that takes cash and makes a transfer.
• GSM service: same problem as Internet svc. Prepaid costs more. Postpaid incurrs fees by 3rd parties.
• rail transport: online tickets are the cheapest and none of the payment methods are cash-compatible. E.g. PaySafe cards are not accepted. OTC service accepts cash but has extortionate fees. E.g. a fee of €12 added to a ticket that costs €10. Or you can be a victim of dynamic pricing, and pay cash after boarding, when prices are the highest.
• buses: Dynamic pricing fucks over cash payers. You can pay online but only using a bank-dependant variety of payment instruments. You can pay cash to the driver, but only just before departure, when the price is 4× higher than the starting price.
• basic utilities: cash refused. Must use a 3rd party transfer service to pay cash, for a fee.

Any other situations where paying cash has a penalty?