Prepping for Brexit thread

Jazee

As long as the donations are still being I made I don't think it matters if you have a new poppy.

Blue_Doggy

Mx_Emmin wrote: »

I don't drive so I dont pay for parking, plus I've seen parking meters that accept card payment these days

I dont shop at the small stores, sorry. If a place doesn't accept card, because I never carry cash, I just have to walk out. But I dont buy newspapers, I read online, and I try to crack down on small random packets of sweets. I mostly shop at Asda. The last time I went somewhere too small for card was because I needed to break a note for the bus. It was two months ago. I usually have a bus card, which I pay monthly by card, I was just going somewhere out of network

If cash works for you, that's great! It doesnt work for me anymore, it's too inconvenient for the way my life is set up.

As for the companies tracing me... I kinda think the cats out of the bag on that one. They can trace me. I cant stop them. I'm not doing anything secret.

The poppy sellers in my local mall accepted card this year

🤷 :shrug: it just works for my life

Am I right in guessing that you live in a city or large town, where all your needs can be easily met, and where there is good public transport? In that case you are perfectly rational to adjust your lifestyle to your preferred payment method.

There is not sufficient infrastructure everywhere for people in many areas to be able to manage without cash, and for some it is important to support small local businesses, read a paper newspaper, give a small packet of sweets to a child, or other person.

As unrecordings said, when POS equipment fails, or a network goes down, or there is a power cut, electronic payment methods don’t work, but cash is still operational.

Like you, we all do what works for our lives.

unrecordings

As I've been summoned :-)

I don't go out much these days, so cash is rarely used apart from the chip shop, and where possible other odd small purchases from independent shops where I know their Visa/Mastercard fees would eat into their profit margin. Parking round here is still very much cash, but my Blue Badge now takes care of that. My once highly maintained penny jar is now annoyingly difficult to cash in - especially given that it seems that post office franchises can get away with refusing to change coinage - even correctly bagged.

I think the death of cold hard cash will only begin in earnest once digital currencies (think bitcoin) are properly regulated and seen to be stable for some undefined period, even then they may only displace Visa/Mastercard as electronic options to good old cold hard cash

Blue_Doggy

unrecordings wrote: »

I think the death of cold hard cash will only begin in earnest once digital currencies (think bitcoin) are properly regulated and seen to be stable for some undefined period, even then they may only displace Visa/Mastercard as electronic options to good old cold hard cash

I wonder what the carbon footprint of bitcoin etc is, given the large amounts of computing power required?

unrecordings

Blue_Doggy wrote: »

I wonder what the carbon footprint of bitcoin etc is, given the large amounts of computing power required?

Probably as bad as the internet in general, which is pretty bad. Both in power consumption & heat dissipation. That begs a further question - would a digital currency replacement to the existing Visa/Mastercard systems require more or less footprint

unrecordings

Found this:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/bitcoin-use-causing-huge-co2-emissions-study/articleshow/69821838.cms?from=mdr

and this (from 2009):

https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/carbon-footprint-credit-card-1276.php

and then lost the will to live once I got to the Visa corporate homepage

mardatha

I'm tjhinking now the prepping for B is going to be a different kettle of fish than I thought. It's looking now more like years of more expensive food

Jazee

We've been running our freezer stocks down from three to one and a bit. Partly to make room in the interim for some Christmas treats but mainly because we're now focusing our Brexit/emergency stocks on tinned, jarred and dry stock only.

I expect we will sell one of the freezers soon.

Mx_Emmin

Blue_Doggy wrote: »

Am I right in guessing that you live in a city or large town, where all your needs can be easily met, and where there is good public transport? In that case you are perfectly rational to adjust your lifestyle to your preferred payment method.

There is not sufficient infrastructure everywhere for people in many areas to be able to manage without cash, and for some it is important to support small local businesses, read a paper newspaper, give a small packet of sweets to a child, or other person.

As unrecordings said, when POS equipment fails, or a network goes down, or there is a power cut, electronic payment methods don’t work, but cash is still operational.

Like you, we all do what works for our lives.

Pretty much, yeah, although that's not necessarily why I cant drive - it's a bit chicken-and-egg, that.

It's not like I couldnt get my hands on cash if I needed to - but as a general rule, it's more convenient for my life to be cashless. I could get a newspaper or sweets of I chose, they would just be from a supermarket. The only time I struggle is supporting small local businesses, but more and more I'm seeing those stores use those small chip and pin readers you connect to a smartphone.

unrecordings wrote: »

I think the death of cold hard cash will only begin in earnest once digital currencies (think bitcoin) are properly regulated and seen to be stable for some undefined period, even then they may only displace Visa/Mastercard as electronic options to good old cold hard cash

Maybe, but I think the tipping point will be when Visa/Mastercard makes themselves more accessible to smaller/more rural communities. To be honest, this might be the wrong board to say it on, but I cant wait for the sci-fi chips in your hand you just swipe to pay - or using your fingerprint, or whatever. The convenience! Never losing your card! Never forgetting it, having it stolen, no wallet in your pocket, always have ID on you.... but I'm an idealist sometimes with overly rosy expectations of the future (typo corrected!)

mardatha wrote: »

I'm tjhinking now the prepping for B is going to be a different kettle of fish than I thought. It's looking now more like years of more expensive food

Why do you think years? I'm only planning for a month or so.

unrecordings

Typo alert - did you mean racy ?