Cashless society, paperless office and the electronic library.

[nfotxn]

Cashless Society, blah blah blah

The anonymity aspect is interesting, but i'm not too kean of banks making money for every transaction made down to a pack of gum. It's funny how bankers talk about "yeah, virtual money baby. That's where it's going! It's the f-u-t-u-r-e!". Reading between the lines: "Yeah, all your money.. it's gonna be in our computer systems. Oh and if you ever wanna touch it we're gonna hafta charge you because.. well, just 'cause."

Also there's the issue of accessibility. Canadian coins and bills are discernable by the blind, but a balance on the screen is not. Easily remedied with a screen reader, but will that be implimented universally? I highly doubt it.

The practical benefits are few. Mostly it's a way so lazy people don't need to figure out change on small transactions in exchange for a service charge from the banks. That's pretty sad.

Comments

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

people don't realize that the fewer and fewer banks that handle your money leave open the possibility that The Great Depression could very well happen again. when all the banks went bankrupt and they lost ALL their money.

[five0xpres.livejournal.com]

The college I worked for used them. The cards doubled as the student IDs and were used to get a meal in the cafeteria or they had "cash" on them so they could get a quick sandwich or a drink from the snack bar downstairs. All we had to do was swipe the card and the amount of the transaction was deducted from the balance. Parents could also add more money to it if the student ran it dry. It guaranteed that the money they put on it was used for food and not beer or other various college refreshments. hehehe

[theotherqpc.livejournal.com]

Harvard has "Crimson Cash" on the student IDs (also used to gain access to dorms and the cafeteria, but the difference between this and Moneo is that there aren't any surcharges on Crimson Cash - however much money you put in (with cash, credit card, or check) is how much money you get.

[beardoc.livejournal.com]

The original Mastercard Stored Value Card Trial was in Belconnen (a shopping region of Canberra, Australia), back in 1993-94. It died because of bank charges. The issue is whether the new cards can do something now that can't be done otherwise - and the answer is "not yet". Will EFTPOS and Credit Cards able to deal with transactions down to $1, everyone can do virtually everything these cards can do - it's only when they're linked to security cards, etc. (such as at a university) when they become useful. Otherwise they're just yet another card that the bank can charge you on. Forget it.