Dollar Dollar Bill Y'all

My teenage son was *required* to have a bank account before starting any of the jobs he's ever held, even when he was a minor. Including even part time fast food. Direct deposit is the only way most places pay these days it seems.

Paisley said...

My best guess, as the daughter of a landlord, is that not having an actual bank account makes it harder or more complicated for your money to be garnished when the collectors come after you. My kids have had savings accounts since elementary. Not much going into them but they still had them.

That's really your best guess?

I know there is a resistance to reading linked articles, but this isn't a bad one.

In reality (not amusement parks), there is a direct correlation between humans in this country who have no health insurance and those without bank accounts. For this reason, a lot of people in the mental health fields work out of pocket; deliberately making the choice not to work with insurance companies and working with people in a way that many would view as antiquated, primarily because doing so makes you available. I can assure that avoiding wage-garnishment isn't in the top 67 reasons why they don't have a savings account. Maybe it's 68.

I agree with Vater about the notion of "options". I am not against using a card. But I like to have the option to use a card or if the bill is cheap enough, I can pay with cash I have on hand. I don't like to carry many things on me when I am out. So, a card is nice. But there are places that require a minimum purchase to use card. So, if I don't have cash on me, I am forced to purchase additional items to meet the requirement to use card.

I know the world is changing (not for the better IMO) and there are new things to get used to. We all have to deal with it. Life can suck, but it goes on. Hell, I still refuse to get a smartphone! :^)

Hmmmm, the folks complaining are probably also the ones who do not know how to simultaneously press Control-Alt-Delete...

OhioStater said:

I know there is a resistance to reading linked articles, but this isn't a bad one.

Great article! Add banks to the list of businesses that hate poor people.

CoffinBoy said:

I know the world is changing (not for the better IMO) and there are new things to get used to. We all have to deal with it. Life can suck, but it goes on.

You should go into the greeting card business. That's exactly the inspiration and positivity I was looking for on a Sunday morning.

I assume that is a dying industry?

A lot of people in poor nations are banking by phone, which implies that mobile phones are more ubiquitous than local bank availability in those places. Not sure why we can't do it in the US.

Shades said:

I assume that is a dying industry?

The greeting card industry > Rip Ride Rockit

We really need some new memes around here...

...but if we really did, I guess we'd already have them.

Cedar Point arcade is operating under a hybrid model apparently: game cards that both hold game credits and tickets, but the games dispense actual tickets that you feed into a counter/shredder, where you then swipe your game card to load those tickets you just shredded onto the card.

Mulfinator said:

Vater,

I think most arcades are now cashless and ticketless, but not all. I had the displeasure of frequenting a traditional arcade a few weekends ago. Juggling tokens and tickets for two kids was frustrating to say the least.

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I thought every arcade is ticketless now. I was in several boardwalk arcades in Ocean City, MD, a couple years ago and they're all coin/token driven and spit out paper tickets. I'd bet most large theme parks are, or will be, cashless and ticketless before long.

Jeff said:

I don't understand why some people don't have bank accounts, or why check cashing places are a thing. I've had a savings account since I was 12, checking since 16.

I've had both since forever as well, but there have been times that have made me want to withdraw every dollar I have and stick it in my mattress. The last instance of this was when my family was doing the tourist thing in DC (I grew up 30 minutes from DC, and now live a whole hour away) and my debit card was declined on a Sunday evening (when nearly 100% of banks are closed) while attempting to pay a parking garage to get our car so we could go home. Fraud protection kicked in, I guess because I was in a place I don't normally go spending money at several different places. It's great that there's a system in place that attempts to prevent losing your life savings if your card is lost or stolen...until it's a Sunday evening and your bank is closed when you're in an unfamiliar place trying to get your car out of a public garage so you can go home. What was worse is that the garage was close to closing for the day, so if I didn't act fast we would have had to Uber home from DC to WV, which would have been fine (albeit expensive) except for the fact that my account was on hold, so it wouldn't have been possible anyway, because...I didn't have CASH. Spent the next half hour on the phone giving the fraud services guy all of my deepest darkest secrets to verify that I'm the guy who'd been using my card so it would no longer be declined, and we were on our way. Not a terrible issue ultimately, but definitely an inconvenience. As someone who believes in the idea of personal responsibility vs. relying on external organizations to keep me from being stupid, it made me think twice about keeping my money in a place to which I occasionally lose access, for no real reason other than spending my money.

Delan said:

Hmmmm, the folks complaining are probably also the ones who do not know how to simultaneously press Control-Alt-Delete...

Probably. Except that I've been in IT and telecommunications for close to 25 years, so I think I've figured that one out.

Look, I get how I sound: like an old curmudgeon resisting any sort of change from what I'm used to. I'm really not. I understand the benefits to everything non-cash and use them daily in nearly every way (except maybe Apple Pay, but only because I don't find it any more convenient than using a card...sure, it'd be cool to not carry a wallet around and just keep my ID in my phone case, but what if my battery died, or the phone completely bricked? Yeah, I know, a rare occurrence, but I've lost data this way more than once). As I mentioned before, technology is great and wonderful and necessary and convenient; I'm a proponent of it not only because I use it but because it's how I've earned my living for the latter half of my life. But, one of the specific reasons I've made a living from it is precisely because it fails. As a tech support guy, I'd be out of a job if technology was failproof; I help fix problems with it and help people learn how to use it. Or I tell those people they're SOL until another team gets involved, because the problem is something I don't have the capability or access to fix. Sucks for them in the meantime (and I work in healthcare...telemedicine specifically...so it really sucks for them, and for us, if a problem prevents a patient from getting access to a doctor).

I digress.

Systems go down. It's nice to have a backup. When Kings Island's network crashes and I want to buy an I Survived The Great Pumpkin T-shirt (KI doesn't have a Dragon Wagon), I can pull $39.95 in cash from my pocket and the cashier can take it to put in the register later, and we both win--they still make a sale and I get to proudly repel sane people.

Vater said:

Systems go down. It's nice to have a backup. When Kings Island's network crashes and I want to buy an I Survived The Great Pumpkin T-shirt (KI doesn't have a Dragon Wagon), I can pull $39.95 in cash from my pocket and the cashier can take it to put in the register later, and we both win--they still make a sale and I get to proudly repel sane people.

On more than one occasion I've been somewhere (that takes cash) when the system has gone down and they still won't take cash and simply won't make sales until the system comes back.

And now I have an urge to go dig up my Geauga Lake "I Survived Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall" tshirt.

I'll immediately qualify this as a bit of an apples and oranges comparison and acknowledge that I've seen reasonable arguments against going completely cash free in this discussion, but isn't there a bit of the same "Muh freedoms!" claims that we've seen with respect to COVID mitigation measures and vaccinating?

I still carry two plastic cards on me. If neither one works, it's likely, at worst, an inconvenience.

New for 2022: Cedar Point announces cashless payment system that does not discriminate between the banked and bankless.

Upon entry into the park, all guests will receive a small microchip, safely and painlessly inserted under the skin. Guests will have the option of tying the chip to an electronic form of payment of their choosing, or, if they wish, they can be billed at home where they can pay by check or cash (exact change only, please). In-park guests can also attempt to barter their purchases for goats (babies only; they're cuter), chickens, pigs, and cage-free eggs. All donations will be sent to the Barnyard for immediate petting.

Not only will this chip be able to be used at every payment portal in the park, but each time your chip is scanned you get another entry into the new "Chip of a Lifetime" sweepstakes; one guest each day will have their tab picked up by the park!

*Insertion locations can be personalized.

OhioStater said:

Insertion locations can be personalized.

I would like insertion on the beach, after sunset with the sounds of the lake. Maybe under the fireworks. You know, something romantic.

Vater said:
.... As someone who believes in the idea of personal responsibility vs. relying on external organizations to keep me from being stupid, it made me think twice about keeping my money in a place to which I occasionally lose access, for no real reason other than spending my money.

(...) Look, I get how I sound: like an old curmudgeon resisting any sort of change from what I'm used to. I'm really not. I understand the benefits to everything non-cash and use them daily in nearly every way (except maybe Apple Pay, but only because I don't find it any more convenient than using a card...sure, it'd be cool to not carry a wallet around and just keep my ID in my phone case, but what if my battery died, or the phone completely bricked? Yeah, I know, a rare occurrence, but I've lost data this way more than once).

You're describing why I can't use Apple Pay. Apple won't let you activate it without enrolling in their 2-factor authentication, which sounds like a great idea...except for that two week period last July when my laptop computer, desktop computer, and iPod were all out of service at once. I still had a phone back then, but if it had been my phone instead of an iPod that got destroyed, I would have not had any second-factors to recover my Apple ID. Setting up my new computer and iPhone would have been pretty much impossible. On its face, 2-factor authentication looks like a great idea, but I had a close call that makes me not want to have anything to do with it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(who thinks MFA is a great idea, but only if you have lots of factors and a way to get around it...)

bigboy said:

I'll immediately qualify this as a bit of an apples and oranges comparison and acknowledge that I've seen reasonable arguments against going completely cash free in this discussion, but isn't there a bit of the same "Muh freedoms!" claims that we've seen with respect to COVID mitigation measures and vaccinating?

If there wasn't the option of the cash to card kiosk, assuming that there is no personal info involved, the argument can be made that everything you purchased while in the park from the shirt, to the funnel cake to the whatever you get throughout the day can be tracked and attributed to you personally. Normally at an amusement park this isn't likely to make a difference since they don't usually sell black garbage bags, zip ties, and duct tape but when you go cashless you leave a much more detailed trail behind you without always knowing who may view it in the future and whether or not it will matter. It usually doesn't matter but we never know what will "matter" in the future.

Vater - I know how you feel about the situation of being far away from home and having card denied. We had that once when we were in Wisconsin Dells. Luckily it was during business hours and was able to have bank correct. Another time our account was hacked. Bank called my wife asking if we were in Mexico. After that, whenever we did go traveling, we informed our bank where we would be going and how long so we could avoid any hassle.