There was a power outage in Spain for like 10 hours and people couldn’t buy groceries with their debit / credit cards or use the ATMs to withdraw some cash. People were literally freaking out and couldn’t understand what was going on. The older generation was much better prepared for this scenario.
From my understanding people who have lived through dictatorship, government overreach, police states, etc, tend to have more cash and precious metals in hand just in case shit hits the fan.
It takes only one bad government to arrive and all the information you willingly gave your bank of every transaction you made, could be use against you, your family and friends.
Europe is on the brick of war, the US is a mess and the rest of the world is a boiling pot. I truly think we need to prepare our society for the hard times that are most likely to come.
What are your thoughts?
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It only takes one bad government to change the currency or jack up inflation and render all of your cash useless. If we’re talking about being fucked over by bad governments, then there’s nothing preventing a bad government from fucking you over. The power outage issue is definitely a real thing and any attempt to go cashless is going to have to account for such things.
Cash is far more vulnerable. I have some older family members who store silver and cash in their house. Their house was broken into while they were gone, now that cash and silver is gone forever. That’s a far more tangible and immediate vulnerability than your power outage scenario (fixable with a generator or satellite internet) or your extreme government examples (at which point cash is the least of your concerns)
Uhh doesn’t using a cash register require electricity. Thus rendering your whole argument mute?
Oh no 10 hours without being able to go to the grocery store however will I possibly live
Oh wait I can just go to the fridge
Also most local grocery stores if there’s a power outage will just shut down anyways regardless of whether or not they accept cash as they don’t exactly want people digging through the freezers letting essentially the cold air out and potentially spoiling hundreds of thousands of dollars of product
I can go 10 hours without needing cash.
I mean, if the grocery stores didn’t have power, were they open at all? I’d imagine not if they have no power.
Bring back the raised credit cards.
If there’s a power outage can you even pay with cash since the registers and machines also use electricity? Can you even open the drawer? If the power is out then they don’t need to be in the store…
The more entrenched technology gets the harder it is for those who have never known anything else to respond or react.
I don’t understand the European / urban mindset of only having enough food for a day or two.
It also created a pointless middle man that has increased costs 3%.
I agree , I was on empty at a gas station
and they could only accept cash because the
“Machine” was down ..
I tore my car apart to find 15 dollars…
Bill C 2 in Canada will limit cash purchases .
Just the beginning.
I have a wallet full of cash ($2000) in my house and the worry is that someone could steal it or my house could burn down with the money in it. So not the safest either.
Companies always complain about the cost of credit cards.
Insurance on cash plus training plus mistakes are way more expensive than credit cards.
You can take info from cards without power, but it takes a significant amount of trust on both ends.
I agree. My partner and I had a flight back home to the UK on that day when Spain lost power. We always put money on our revolut card and use that for the entire holiday. We left our suitcases in this shop.. pre booked a taxi… and we had no cash or access to withdraw it. Thankfully the people of Spain were trusting and sent us their bank details and we transferred the money when we got home. We only had 2 euros spare for some water and that was it. Lesson learned – always carry cash!
While I agree cash should be accepted everywhere, the idea that cash is inherently protected from government overreach is a pipe dream. Who do you think issues that money? Gold and silver have some benefits, but trading with it requires know-how and for the person you intend to trade with to accept it as well. And when society inherently doesn’t function, gold and silver are a lot less useful than people want to remember. I’d say if you were in a truly, truly society reducing collapse, your best bet is to maintain a stock of food, water and other supplies and have the skills to get and produce more. Those would be far more valuable than a gold coin.
Ah yes my wad of cash will save me from the entire government turning evil
Yes
I’m prepared in a different way. If I needed to we have at least a couple months food at home and a water store. I’m looking into freeze dried / MRE backups
Being dependent is the goal of cashless.
I wonder you noticed that this late.
They were already testing how this works
I haven’t carried cash in 20 years and have never had any issues.
Por me in Ecuador, we we’re experiencing 8 hours blackouts daily for 3 months because of s draught.
in disasters, looting is survival.
The media have had their way scaring you. Europe is not on the brink of a war
Cash is king
I keep a few hundred dollars cash on me as a backup, but I don’t use it often.
This is why I’m a hoarder, trading for goods is the future!
If you are worried about facism or authoritarianism in any capacity, then thinking a cashless society is good is the most contradicting idea. Ignoring actual tools of abuse and manipulation in the name of convenience is exactly how these powers come to be. Don’t be sheep and diversify your assets as much as possible.
Not really as currency doesn’t have any value past the government backing it. In a lights out scenario the currency is also most likely worthless. If this is something you worry about buy gold
What’s the argument for cashless anyway?
Checks notes. No longer able to provide to those less privileged than you, and gives the banks complete control to freeze your funding if you become an enemy of the state.
Oh.
Ten hours without shopping? I’d just go home and eat what was in the fridge/cupboard and go again the next day. Hardly a catastrophe
I haven’t used physical cash in like a decade except for a deposit for a summer vacation home in 2023. I still have that in my wallet for emergencies like op describes.
I think it is why it is worth always having cash, same with any alternative way of paying, even Paypal, and a couple of backup cards. The reality if there is a huge power outage is many shops couldn’t function anyway, their till systems are electronic. Small places may take cash but they may be able to work around things anyway my taking card via an app.
The food storage in my basement and my 9mm dont need electricity
Good point. You have zero privacy if you don’t have cash. And yeah, you are exposed to a sudden account block for “suspicious activity” (like buying crypto) or a new requirement to fill some additional documents
Those things actually happened to me and some of my friends
Making people powerless without a currency that requires constant surveillance to work is the whole point.
Let supporters of a cashless deny it all they want, but that is their true goal.
Don’t know that this is an opinion, I think this is just a fact. It’s just a risk-tolerance thing, and I’m fine with taking my chances. I know people who have a bunch of their savings in the form of physical gold / precious metals, which I think is nuts, but they’re conspiratorially-minded and it’s the same idea. If the economy totally collapses they’ll still have something of value, but again I’m fine with just taking my chances.
India has UPI.
You need only your mobile and a UPI app.
When you buy something from a shop, its owner receives an audio notification from the machine about how much money has been deposited.
I still carry emergency cash.
Went to see some friends in Granada and they said everyone was out in the plaza, people were at restaurants having dinners and drinking wine and enjoyed their evenings.
Places of business can accept credit/debit cards without power. Credit/debit cards were around before electric registers and card readers. I worked as a waiter and when the power would go out we had a device that would use in to create a “stamp” of the card number
After Helen hit last year, my town (which was mostly unharmed) had no signal for a few days and companies wouldn’t accept debit/credit cards. This lasted for a few days before things got sorted out. Thankfully I had cash, so for the most part, I was fine. Physical cash isn’t terrible to have on hand.
When the blackout happened, I was surprised on the number of stores that still accepted my card. I actually had a good amount of cash with me, but that’s not the norm. For me that day wasn’t really a potential apocalyptic event, more like an annoying setback, as I had a lot of things prepared for that week.
I own a business and I refuse to go cashless. I don’t care how infrequently people use cash, or how hard the banks work to make it as inconvenient as possible for small businesses like mine to deal in cash.
Not only is it classist to refuse cash in my opinion, I also find it extremely alarming in general. Few things make me feel more conspiratorial than this topic. I’ve felt the pressure as a small business owner to go cashless, it’s real.
Always have cash on hand. Even if you can only afford to store away 20 or 50 bucks for an emergency, do that. I try to keep enough cash stored for 4 tanks of gas, and 5 days of food and water for two adults and my dog.
Government breakdown, natural disasters, tech meltdown, a worse pandemic, civil unrest, many catastrophes both predictable and not can cause banks to shut down.
I think I should have more cash on hand.
It’s convenient to use cards, but you have said the actual truth.
totally agree, not everything needs to be card oriented.
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I’ve certainly started keeping a cash stash on hand in the current political climate.
I think both are needed for a healthy economy
I can’t imagine going around cashless but I ain’t keeping much more than maybe some 20s in my wallet. The rest will stay on my card.
In case of mass outages or other disasters my government recommends to keep at least €75 in cash. So it’s not unpopular for them.
More precious metals in hand? Did the grocery stores in Spain start weighing out slivers off of gold bars and taking that as payment for groceries? I highly doubt it.
yes absolutely it also hurts people getting money mostly through cash like small market business or people in the trades. homemess people too
That’s why I’m starting to stash some cash again. 2-3 times a week I walk to the ATM now, it’s good exercise, I get 50 EUR or more, and put it away.
Same with buying silver and gold if / when shit really hits the fan.
Being rich with numbers on a screen won’t do any good when the internet is down, banks decide that “you don’t need that much cash right now” and businesses can’t process credit cards anyway.
Well when the world ends cash will be useless, banks long before the end, I’ve never trusted banks anyway.
Unpopular because keeping cash on hand = less interest earned over time. It’s risk vs reward and older people can afford to be less risky in investments because they don’t have many years left anyway.
Yeah. Never put all your eggs in one basket, just in general. If you can diversify, always do.
If a government does what you’re describing, your cash will be just as worthless as your credit card.
Relax. The rich want that stuff to stay afloat just as much as the poor. They lose money when you can’t use your credit card. If your local area falls apart because of losing power for a few hours, you should consider moving. Or go live in the woods off the grid. 6/1.
Can make you a non person if you live in a totalitarian state like USA or China.
I personally am getting to the point of preferring cash, but not because I’m turning into a prepper. Just because I’m sick of interest payments during times I’m unable to fully pay off my card for any reason. Trying to start using cash more for the little things so that it doesn’t keep adding up on top of using my card for bigger things. But believe me, “preppers” have been around all the while and often drive themselves into madness, poverty and isolation. Don’t be a prepper. Our ancestors survived through community and family, two things most post-1900 preppers give challengingly little thought to.
I’m sure the truck drivers in Canada have more cash now, after the government froze their accounts. No matter what side of an issue you’re on, having your money taken from you with a few clicks by the gov is scary as hell.
I’ll just take what I need and plead to the judge if I’m caught.
That’s assuming some long drawn out issue of power or some other emergency.
I remember people talking about the so-called “cashless society” back in the 2000s. How people would be carrying cards. “Cash is so yesterday!”. It’s as if people had so much faith in technology that they thought they didn’t need such “primitive” things like cash and coins in your pocket. That all the data centers would just magically stay on forever!
In the chaos of the digital age, not nearly enough is talked about the structural foundations that this digital-based society is founded upon. Data centers. Supply networks. And the usual infrastructure, of course. Plumbing, manufacturing, irrigation, electricity. These are either invisible to people or taken for granted.
When in truth, the digital age and all the computer systems and processes that power it are as fragile as a newborn.
I hate cashless !!! Its not convenient at all.
I usually go 50/50 between cash and cashless, even though I slightly prefer cashless for the convenience, always have cash on you for cases like this.
I think you’re right.
Weird that those who agree with your thinking are called conspiracy theorists
Places around here won’t even take cash anymore if systems are down, because they can’t do the math to give change back. Sad times.
Registers (if they’re modern) need electricity to open
I always keep a few hundred dollars in small bills (US) in my house for this reason. I’ve heard people who have been through hurricanes where power was out not be able to buy needed items because they didn’t have cash. Also, anyone who does have cash probably has large bills so the store quickly won’t be able to make change.
Always a good idea to have some cash stashed away.
A power outage is one thing. A major banking and internet outage is another. With the growing issue of cybersecurity I think the vulnerability of not using cash is growing every year. Reliance on technology, whilst convenient, makes us more and more fragile and vulnerable to a really major disruption and disaster.
Gracias a Dios que vi esto, me hiciste acordarme de todos los videos de españoles que pensaron que era el Apocalipsis porque se les fue la luz menos de un día. Lo del efectivo es importante eso si
I was in Madrid during the blackout.
Personally, no one was more or less prepared. It was more just how they reacted
In Australia we had some huge fires and some people got trapped in an area on the coast There was a petrol station there and a road leading out but people were unable to buy petrol because they had no cash and the atm network was down due to the fire. In the end the fire closed in further and the people had to be rescued by boat by the Australian navy.
I’m old..I always keep a few hundred in cash with me.
Thread is proving this guys opinion 100%, if your entire county or country loses power and ur sitting there not thinking about how you can get supplies you are already cooked. “I can go 10 hours without a grocery store”, “aren’t grocery stores closed” etc.. what if it’s 3 days are you still going to say yeah I’m good I don’t need more food. If shit really hits the fan people will begin looting and or selling goods guess what you can’t get shit with your cards. The idea of having physical money being an unpopular opinion is wild and scary.
“precious” metals are worthless in such a situation. And having physical cash only works until said government goes “Your cash is worthless paper and only people holding these new Government Bucks have any real money.”
A power outage is a good argument for having cash on hand. Bank shenanigans is a good argument for having cash on hand.
The government going rogue is a good argument for strong local community and community gardens. In a situation like that resources matter not things we assign imaginary value to and call money.
Sat phones are cool for situations like this, but you ever heard of satellite banking with crypto? https://blockstream.com/satellite/
One of these could support an entire shopping center’s worth of transactions, and customers don’t need internet if they have a wallet that supports partially signed transactions.
For a 10hr outage, cash will be better, keep some cash for any potential outage, great idea . But If it gets that bad that your government collapses, chances are even your cash will be useless. Your home currency becomes useless due to inflation and even if you have cash, there is a good chance there won’t be able to buy anything as the shelves will be empty.
Duh. I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion, cash is obviously necessary
It’s amusing that people think a police state would target their completely mundane shopping, like the secret police is going to hunt them down and execute them for buying the wrong canned beans.
But this is the mental disconnect that comes with trying to “oppose dictatorship” from the standpoint of the ideology that drives over half of dictatorships, military juntas etc.
Brick of war! 🧱
Hugely. We need to have way more non monetized transactions. I’m tired of a “pay per” reality. Needs to change.
If you can’t survive 10 hours for a power outage to be restored, you can’t survive in any of the tragedies you mention. Europe is not on the brink of war and the zombies are not coming to eat you.
It’s about control. Anything else are just excuses.
Imagine living in a dictatorship like in China, you do something bad in the eye of the party, like protesting and your bank account is froze.
Good luck surviving.
Tbh, I’m pretty sure the reason the government/people in power want people to go cashless is because it makes us vulnerable….
Dude I wish we would to back to cash. I felt more responsible and it was easier to keep track of your day-to-day finances. You can spend a lot of stupid money nowadays because all you see is that number on your phone.
I use cash usually because it’s way easier for me to budget and not spend money badly. That and I don’t like being followed. Using your card is like making a map of your habits. That’s why companies give deals if you use their apps. They’re spying on you.
I think this is a pretty popular opinion…
then dont go cashless. problem solved.
This happened in Portugal as well, everyone was so confused, we only got news updates through the car radio. I actually thought it was nukes or a solar storm.
cash is king. next best are valuables and things like sealed liquor, tobacco, drugs, ect. then provisions
The tills and barcode scanners wouldn’t even work without electricity.
It’s a true opinion. It also makes us less free with less liberty.
Having some cash on hand is just sensible. Going full prepper probably isn’t.
The reality is that if shit hits the fan to the point where people cannot access their normal funds for extended periods of time your money is also probably worthless.
Cashless is the worst and its incredible to see young people not realize the brainwash they have been exposed to.
Electronic money, gives government power over you!
See what happened in Canada and the truck protests. In Nigeria poor people had no access to money when the e-Niara came out and replaced cash.
China has a points system that limits your buying power and societal participation with e-yuan accoryto how loyal you are to the party.
Imagine one day you wake up and because you wrote F** the President your payment for your frappe at Starbucks doesnt go through.
You can’t buy candy because you have been deemed pre diabetic…
Life can become a prison in a cashless society.
$40 dollars cash in Central America, and the street vendors will keep you fed, clothed, and with a bed. Drugs too!
holy shit I should use more cash from now on