You are paying a price for that. The second someone steals your phone, you lose it, drop in into water or your battery runs off, you are temporarily poor and if you might find yourself in trouble if you can't get somewhere where you can charge your phone
The second someone steals my cash i don’t have it anymore. If someone steals my phone, it is locked and the money attributed to it are safe. Sure, i may have lost my phone but my money is safe.
If someone steals your cash (as much cash as you can carry): you don't have it anymore.
If someone steals your phone (you will lose at least the value you paid for the phone) and once they force you to unlock the phone and to hand over the passwords, you will lose:
- as much cash as they can take out before you can access a device that will allow you to freeze the card
you will also be a more attractive target for hacking (especially if you are using Android and your phone is like the vast majority of targets that receives security updates very late or it simply does not receive them)
Seen it happen more than once. Yes, you are smart but so are thiefs
Of interest, and I really don't know as I've never had a smartphone, if your phone is stolen, what stops it being used to pay for something? The point of the convenience was - I thought - that you just swipe. Couldn't a thief?
Also how do you do anything if your phone is gone - travel, call, let the bank know, buy a new phone, let your partner know you're in trouble, anything?
Also how much is you phone worth? A quick look suggests ~£1000 for an iphone 11, although I guess that's needlessly high, but you're carrying a large cash equivalent, highly attractive? I've never had £500 or the equivalent in my pocket, ever (max ~£350 for 1/2 hour IIRC).
And cash doesn't break if you sit on it. I'm not entirely convinced of your case quite yet.
that does not contradict or invalidate that the idea behind them was/is to force processing fees on merchants. whatever benefits you may or may not enjoy are unrelated to the purpose behind cards being offered.
A very privileged perspective. Most of the world still counts their pennies, and the surcharges on non-cash monetary transactions make a sizeable, noticeable dent if pointed out to them. It's a tough balance they have to navigate.
Though I'm extremely privileged now myself, I'm not so far removed that I have forgotten those days when down-to-the-penny accounting mattered. In the US at least, if you had the right education (which sadly many lack), you can live amazingly inexpensively by forgoing many societal conventions and expectations.
less hassle, enhanced security. I can spend hundreds of dollars without having to carry that much cash on me, or having to go to an ATM ever. It's more convenient and more secure, which is almost never true today.
I would not necessarily call it enhanced security if you are using Android and your phone is not one of the latest models. Plus of course someone can just steal your phone, force you unlock it and steal more than they could ever steal from you if you only had cash.
Your enhanced security is a box containing more money than you can carry. This box can (most of the times) only be opened with a key but this key is always with you. So whoever steals your force will just force you to open the box
Sure, if someone specifically wants my money, but that is unlikely in a Bayesian sense. And the bank will interrupt in any case because of anti-structuring and max-spend limits.
If it's bayesian-unlikely they want your phone then why should it be any less bayesian-unlikely they want your cash. That's one weird argument. And BTW your phone is usually quite visible, like sticking out if not actually being used.
> and max-spend limits
Ok, now they've got your expensive phone and can spend up to your limit.
Phones becoming bricks when stolen AND reported hasn't and won't stop most thiefs from stealing them and it won't prevent you from losing your expensive phone and having to buy a new expensive phone. And if the phone is insured, well then you are paying a monthly fee for having a money holding device
indeed it's down to personal choice and I can't criticise yours but then I don't want a personal tracker on me almost as securely as if it were a collar, not having my buying habits tracked. This to me is normalising personal monitoring. I thought that's what americans were so idealogically against, and so loudly. There will be consequences, but I guess convenience trumps everything.
> Some people are born blind too. Shouldn't we adjust our hiring practices for them too?
Not only should we adjust our hiring practices for blind applicants, there's a legal obligation to make "reasonable adjustments" for these candidates under the Equality Act! *
> As usual, if you want to be healthy, you pay extra.
It's been like that for centuries. Healthier food costs more than unhealthy food. That's why poor people have a lower life expectancy than their rich counterparts.
You seriously think all people are equal and/or should be treated equally and/or should have equal outcomes? Ha.
I don't get this. The cost of a stir fry with rice or a pasta with fresh sauce is going to be less or close to any processed meal and the preparation time is of the order of 15m or less.
Are fresh vegetables insanely expensive where you're from?
Freshly prepared food is more expensive for all sorts of reasons than shelf-stable, highly-processed junk food. To buy fresh vegetables, you need to be able to shop frequently. To prepare fresh food, you need the time and energy to cook plus the skills and equipment plus a kitchen.
No. As a consumer, I enjoy immense value by carrying around zero cash. In fact, I don't even carry around physical cards (thank you Apple/Google Pay).