Cash is already pretty much dead in China as the country lives the future of mobile pay right now

[EMNofSeattle]

No that is being behind what else would you call adopting a technology more slowly than everyone else. The US is a laggard in payment technology despite creating it.

No, we are not behind, we have the technological capability to use such a system, we just don't want it. There is little market demand hence it is not being adopted

 

[calamity]

I'm not sure I would like to conduct only cashless transactions. So, it's a good thing I'm not Chinese.



I guess it would make sense in a country that wants to centralize their economy. This sort of technology meshes well with data collection. But I'm not sure how this will affect the Chinese people if their economy is expanding at the same time. Aren't Chinese businesses becoming less regulated?

We will have to wait and see what measures are taken to keep the population in check.



Oh, and don't forget to look out for creeping communism, America. Those mobile pay apps are really taking eastern Asia by storm. Wow. Maybe the apps will include propaganda ads to brainwash communists into thinking that the government is good and foreigners are bad.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/china-is-living-the-future-of-mobile-pay-right-now.html

I never carry cash anymore. Cell phones and credit cards made cash obsolete.

 

[apdst]

Meanwhile in the rest of the Western world contactless payments through phone or card are already commonplace. It is only strange to Americans because for some reason the US is about 10 years behind in payment technology.

Two words: indentity theft.

 

[Rexedgar]

No, we are not behind, we have the technological capability to use such a system, we just don't want it. There is little market demand hence it is not being adopted

I cannot find a link, but it has been my understanding that the US lags behind in more secure credit transactions because the cost of fraud and theft was less than the cost of updating the entire system. Estimated losses have to be staggering!

 

[apdst]

Look at the post above yours, the chip still is not accepted most places, let alone more advanced forms of payments.

How did this turn into a "hate America" thread?

 

[Harshaw]

No that is being behind what else would you call adopting a technology more slowly than everyone else. The US is a laggard in payment technology despite creating it.

Ummm . . . preferring something else?

Meanwhile, it's been a LONG time since I've seen a place without a chip reader. Anywhere.

 

[Nilly]

So what?

The merchants will all have them by next year and in three years all the cards without them will be cycled out

Chip and pin is oold news in England, at least.

They're all about contactless now. To get around London you can just tap your card literally at the ticket barrier, tap again when you leave the ticket barrier at your destination and it get's automatically calculated and charged.

 

[Grand Mal]

Chip and pin is oold news in England, at least.

They're all about contactless now. To get around London you can just tap your card literally at the ticket barrier, tap again when you leave and it get's automatically charged.

I saw people getting on buses in Scotland and doing something with their smart-phones at the screen beside the driver. I have no idea what.

 

[Rexedgar]

I frequently carry less than 20 dollars in cash, using my debit card other times.

20$? That’ll get you locked up for vagrancy most places! :mrgreen:

 

[Carjosse]

How did this turn into a "hate America" thread?

How exactly is saying America is behing in payment technology turn the thread into a "hate America thread" is all criticism of America hate?

 

[Rexedgar]

I saw people getting on buses in Scotland and doing something with their smart-phones at the screen beside the driver. I have no idea what.

last year we were in London and had pre purchased tickets on the Heathrow direct train to London. As insurance, I printed the tickets out and used that for back up, but was able to use the images on my phone. The conductor just scanned the barcode/image from the phone.

 

[Rexedgar]

How exactly is saying America is behing in payment technology turn the thread into a "hate America thread" is all criticism of America hate?

You aren’t new here........

 

[Grand Mal]

last year we were in London and had pre purchased tickets on the Heathrow direct train to London. As insurance, I printed the tickets out and used that for back up, but was able to use the images on my phone. The conductor just scanned the barcode/image from the phone.

It all left me behind long ago.

 

[Nilly]

I saw people getting on buses in Scotland and doing something with their smart-phones at the screen beside the driver. I have no idea what.

Yeah I'm back in England for a week and thought I'd get an Oyster card again so I didn't look too touristy. My friends (who still live there - and always rip me for being too touristy) asked me why I was stuck in 2015.

That said, even in the US many people are beginning to use apps to move money around. Aside from square (which is the point of sale system) my friends and I transfer money almost exclusively through Venmo or Cash app now. With cash app you can even get a 'debit card' which is linked to the app on your phone. I don't link mine to a card (I'd rather have my cash earn interest in my own bank account, thankyou very much) but I still use the apps to send and receive money regularly.

 

[Nilly]

How exactly is saying America is behing in payment technology turn the thread into a "hate America thread" is all criticism of America hate?

Fragile egos.

 

[Carjosse]

Two words: indentity theft.

It is actually harder to steal your identity this way, encryption and the use of chips makes identity theft much harder. When you pay by phone you are not transmitting your card number, you are transmitting a one-time use code that the bank then uses to connect that payment to your account. A lot safer than just stealing the data from a magnetic strip.

 

[Carjosse]

No, we are not behind, we have the technological capability to use such a system, we just don't want it. There is little market demand hence it is not being adopted

No, it is refusing to adopt an objectively better technology, that is being a laggard.

 

[Rexedgar]

Fragile egos.

Egos are fragile from the top, sorta like stink and fish........

 

[Grand Mal]

Yeah I'm back in England for a week and thought I'd get an Oyster card again so I didn't look too touristy. My friends (who still live there - and always rip me for being too touristy) asked me why I was stuck in 2015.

That said, even in the US many people are beginning to use apps to move money around. Aside from square (which is the point of sale system) my friends and I transfer money almost exclusively through Venmo or Cash app now. With cash app you can even get a 'debit card' which is linked to the app on your phone. I don't link mine to a card (I'd rather have my cash earn interest in my own bank account, thankyou very much) I still use the apps to send and receive money regularly.

Gawd I feel dinosauric. I landed in Glasgow last September with about 15 hundred pounds in my pocket and felt cutting-edge for getting sterling out of my account with my debit card.

 

[Absentglare]

If I could do without a bank account, or credit card, I would. I prefer the independence of cash and carry transactions.

There are several problems with "electronic cash" that the convenience does not excuse.

1. No matter how secure, as the recent Equifax hack has shown, electronic data sources can be hacked and your funds may not be as secure as one hoped. In response to the point "they are guaranteed," I counter with the problems created by identity theft that will still take serious time and effort to clear up.

2. What do you do if the system crashes or your card fails? Being wholly dependent on electronics means you are going to be out of luck unless you also carry sufficient cash or your checkbook.

3. I don't like the idea of my funds being intangible. If it were up to me I'd keep my wages in cash in a home safe. I actually did that for several years after Bank of America lied to me about conversion fees on a trip to Europe and I ended up spending $500 in unexpected fees. I stopped because unlike the good old days, now your "credit report" is necessary to rent apartments, buy a car, etc.

Meanwhile, these days if you keep large amounts of cash in home people think you are some sort of criminal. :roll:

4. I don't like anything that smacks of government control and monitoring of my life...and that includes my finances. Electronic assets can be "frozen" for all sorts of reasons. Cash in your safe deposit or home safe is immediately at hand.

I guess I prefer independence over convenience. :coffeepap:

That's just a less convenient, older-fashioned form of the exact same social dependence.

 

[Absentglare]

No, it is refusing to adopt an objectively better technology, that is being a laggard.

Yeah, we're pretty much appealing to superstition to avoid change at the cost of efficiency.

 

[apdst]

It is actually harder to steal your identity this way, encryption and the use of chips makes identity theft much harder. When you pay by phone you are not transmitting your card number, you are transmitting a one-time use code that the bank then uses to connect that payment to your account. A lot safer than just stealing the data from a magnetic strip.

Until some computer geek figures out a way around the security.

The people who invent the security systems sure as hell don't want to create an ironclad system. That would mean the end of the internet security business.

 

[Carjosse]

Until some computer geek figures out a way around the security.

The people who invent the security systems sure as hell don't want to create an ironclad system. That would mean the end of the internet security business.

That is the point of the one-time use thing, even if they do get that number it is useless. Why do you think there is some grand internet security conspiracy? That is just insanity.

 

[apdst]

That is the point of the one-time use thing, even if they do get that number it is useless. Why do you think there is some grand internet security conspiracy? That is just insanity.

Tech companies are no less prone to scamming people than any other industry.

 

[Nilly]

Until some computer geek figures out a way around the security.

The people who invent the security systems sure as hell don't want to create an ironclad system. That would mean the end of the internet security business.