News article in West Australian this week that the use of ATMs has dropped so much that Banks and 3rd party suppliers are now reducing the number of new units installed and gradually they will phase them out altogether.
Reason - cards are being used to pay for goods more than money at most retailers now.
Problem - when Telco networks (like Telstra) fail, the Banks own network fails, or the one or many EFTPOS machines in the retailers shop or supermarket fails. Worse out in remote areas when this happens. Often Roadhouses who loose ATM connectivity will often wait for weeks for a fix - no cash, no fuel.
Solution to this many failures - pay cash ! Ooops - wont be able to soon, as few or no ATM machines, Banks charge for over the counter cash withdrawals and aren't open evenings or most of the weekends.
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
It's ironic...when I was a Bank Manager years ago our Union produced a single called 'The Hole In The Wall".....it warned of the dangers of the 'Hole in the Wall' taking replacing Bank Tellers positions....which it did to a large degree...the Banks of course argued that Fees would be so much less for the consumer with automation....just like the Fuel Garages argued years ago if 'you served yourself' we would be the benefactors through reduced fuel costs.....
How ironic that the 'Hole in the Wall' is now being replaced....I really don't want to be around in 30 years time....which I won't be of course......no doubt like many Yank Banks do now.. you won't even be able to walk in the 'Hallowed Cathedrals of Cash' aka Banks doors without paying a fee or proving your worth to them with a card access.....
The ultimate absurdity of course is just round the corner...negative interest rates like Japan and others now have means YOU get to pay the Bank for looking after any money you may have with them....or stick it under your bed for free.......they need low interest rates of course because the poor multiple house investors just would not be able to afford even more homes if rates were to rise....remember when we had to contend with 17% Housing Loans under Keating......its all Alice in Wonderland stuff now....no wonder we seek/find a quiet spot in some Free Camp to contemplate our navels for free.....Hoo Roo
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'The secret of happiness is not in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less'.Socrates BC399.
'Be a Cheerful Nomad, not a Grumpy Gromad, it's the Surly Bird who catches the Germ'!
We are on the way to a cashless society. Each small coin taken out of circulation is a step closer. The 5c coin is next on the list to disappear as it costs 6c to manufacture.
-- Edited by Grumpytoo on Thursday 14th of July 2016 05:12:41 PM
I remember when I was a kid my Dad worked for the ANZ Bank and was responsible for bringing in the Bankcard to SA & NT. He said coins we around since the Roman days and it's time for something new.
Organised Crime would suffer if we did away with cash as we'd always have a paper trail to investigate.
Personally I'm Loving the Tap-and-Go system and I use it for everything. Even very small amounts eg. An ice cream. (But I keep a supply of cash just in case) Makes for a light and thin wallet in my back pocket. :)
Agreed Dorian,�....there is little difference between negative interest rates and the Legislated returns from Poker machines..which """guarantee""" min/max? return of 87%..........how does anyone make a profit by suffering a loss...?.......go figure.....now where's that quiet spot out in the donga I go to, with no phone coverage, and no -one with an Agenda to push....
I've learnt one important lesson after watching the ""SYSTEM' for the past 50 years, disadvantage ordinary/average/decent folk....could be a Grey Nomad default position in Life..
..'Modern Economic Management isn't about letting man/woman be free.....it's about incrementally increasing his/her economic slavery by making him/her dependant on the Banks and the State'.......
Hoo Roo
-- Edited by goldfinger on Friday 15th of July 2016 08:41:53 AM
-- Edited by goldfinger on Friday 15th of July 2016 08:46:22 AM
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'The secret of happiness is not in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less'.Socrates BC399.
'Be a Cheerful Nomad, not a Grumpy Gromad, it's the Surly Bird who catches the Germ'!
The real big problem is the cashless world and it has already started , Went to buy a coffee the other day and the cafe only accepted card no cash transactions . So like Woolworths rewards card they know what we spend our money on , And has for pokies you now can use your card already .
Don't think this will come about - I cannot use cards! I have what is basically numerical dyslexia - Cannot remember numbers in correct order. When the bank here went PIN only transaction I pointed out my disability and that their own rules preclude keeping the PIN with the card. I now have a credit card that is signature only and have to do cash withdrawals at the teller, where there is a note on file that I cannot use PINS and I provide other ID.
Don't think this will come about - I cannot use cards! I have what is basically numerical dyslexia - Cannot remember numbers in correct order.
I choose a PIN that translates to a word that I can remember. Then I just need to ensure that I have access to a keypad with both alphabetic and numeric characters. All phones are built this way.
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"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."
I don't have a problem with a "cashless" society, if there is a guarantee that retail (like Coles for example), Banking and Telco networks wont fail and then you can buy anything until its back on line.
If I'm travelling remotely. I always carry about $1000 cash. I saw at a Roadhouse in Northern WA where the EFTPOS had failed and the owners had been waiting for more than 2 weeks for Telstra to turn up to repair the problem. Meanwhile people were calling in to buy fuel with Cards and couldn't buy any.
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
What about Greece no matter how much you had in the bank when they had melt down you could only draw $80 a day out of the bank , Cash under the bed would have been better than the cashless society
yeah Brickles look what happened to people with large bank accounts in Cyprus when the govt "needed" some money.
Didn't Bob Menzies burgle the (separate from income tax) pension fund in the 1950's to support Govt spending
and replace it with the "you'll be right" pension system we enjoy today?
it's already against the law to be poor in Australia - try for a cheap beachside van park holiday these days, or camp in your car
becasue you have no home.
once they have control of our money via cashless society, they can dictate where we can go and what to spend on.
Unless there is a national "crisis", in which case they will just confiscate it.
Fast losing freedoms in this country - don't be so wiling to give them up just for convenience sake.
Recently at Tennan Creek I filled with $260 worth . Card didn't work . Did the old click - click on card . I see after 5 days it's gone through . Don't worry they get the money .. Long time cleaning to pay off that much !! Lol
