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?
@rumschlumpel@feddit.org
Did you do something naughty to slrpnk.net by any chance? I only saw your comment incidentally when viewing my thread directly on the custodial host. I cannot even force your comment to appear by searching the URL on slrpnk.net. I am not blocking feddit.org either.
Anyway, not sure you will see my reply because I cannot use the reply button on your post; but I’ll answer here:
I’m not sure if this Flixbus problem is published anywhere. I can only speak from experience. A ticket starting at €10 will often get as high as €40—60 at the moment of departure. You can verify this just by looking at buses departing today and comparing to the same route a couple months into the future.
(edit) I imagine you are thinking in terms of public transport. In that case, some bus networks outright refuse cash at all possible sales points including drivers. There are some press shops that sell tickets for cash but only as a 10 pack, not single trips. So a cash payer who needs a simple one-off to go to the airport is fucked.
I don't think I interacted with that instance enough, and generally I don't really do much that can be interpreted as "naughty". IDK, maybe they defederated my instance? There has been that whole thing recently with dbzer0 accusing feddit.org of being "zionist". I don't quite understand how defederation works TBH.
Yeah, long distance connections are definitely not the first thing I think of when someone says "bus". Thanks for clearing that up. The ticket vending machines for my local bus network and the national train monopolist (Germany) still accept cash.
I am able to see this reply from you to me -- though after a very long delay. I still cannot see your 1st reply from within slrpnk.net though.