Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Newyana2" Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android Subject: Re: Codes sent by text message Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:53:13 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 75 Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:53:19 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="698232c72097f69141208d8ec1371772"; logging-data="325824"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+U9HR6QKm4PB5eGF7KnMtf5pgOuXjTLE8=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:v9yhELN2qd6pgp+urHvmAXuvvE4= X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5512 X-Priority: 3 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Bytes: 4532 "AJL" wrote | That would be me. I visit my branch maybe twice a year to get cash for | emergencies (like if the checkout system is down) and tips. Everything else | is done with the credit card. Love that Cashback card. Also love that folks | who pay with cash help support it... | Yes, I remember that about you. The man who would buy an expired lottery ticket if he could get cash back. The man who wants to purchase a gravestone that says, "Here lies a man who never failed to get cash back." The trend seems to be much bigger than cash-back-mania, though. People in this thread are actually getting angry at merely the suggestion of having options besides cellphones for taking care of business. Cellphones have become a lifestyle. Many of those people are not even using charge cards. They're using debit, Square, Venmo... They've actually become accustomed to paying someone else to handle their cash, so that all transactions -- even lending $20 to a friend -- go through a payment service. Some people are just afraid of cash, fearing that they'll be mugged if they have money. Others feel Jetson-esque, waving their iPhone at Starbucks. Many young people probably know payment services as where money comes from. But I suspect the main motivator is just habit: Once people are constantly using their cellphone, it becomes convenient to do everything through it. As Carlos put it, people addicted to cellphones would like to believe that everyone else "does not matter". They not only want cellphone options, they want cellphone interaction to be enforced as the only option. They want to live in Cellphone World. I'm not so sure about automated checkouts, though. Some stores in the US are deciding to remove or reduce them due to theft. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html At the same time, you run the risk of being accused of theft when using self-checkout: https://www.coreycohen.com/blog/2022/12/have-you-been-accused-of-self-checkout-theft/ There's also a controversy around restaurants with QR code menus. Most people are happy to use their cellphone to read the menu, but then they're questioning why they should tip for barebones service... So we run into an entirely different issue: How does human society work without personal interactions? Maybe you'll be able to use your famous cash-back charge card to buy conversations... Perhaps Monty Python's argument service wasn't so farfetched. :) I used a self checkout for the first time recently. There were 8 women with full carts at the only Target register, and the self checkout took cash. I don't really mind it there. They have the best prices, by far, on household items. And Target seems to be the only place left to buy such a simple thing as a pack or sponges -- just a plain old 4-pack of kitchen sponges, without a "patented scrubber surface" or any other overpriced gimmick. So I accept that they need to cut corners. Though I have to find another source for underwear and socks now. Target has locked them in display cases! Apparently people were stealing them and sneaking through the self-checkout.