On Sat, 05 Feb 2022 11:39:55 -0700, Ken Blake <
[email protected]>
wrote:
<<snipped>>
I especially never want to use cash when I'm in a foreign country. If
I get some cash, I'm invariably left with some when I return home, and
it will be useless unless I ever visit the same country again. Even if
do revisit the same country, it may be useless; I still have some
Italian Lire.
Charity shops in UKland collect those sorts of dead monies from
countries you are never going to re-visit. Some of them even collect
really dead currencies like lira, francs and marks. If you mention
that the money may have collectible value to collectors some of the
smarter volunteers may even be able to aggregate lots which will
provide them with much desired funds.
Some coins and notes from local currencies can also be rare and
values even though they are circulating and a few charity shops have
volunteers who search for such things.
Perusing their websites may help with this. Look under "what we
accept".
<<snipped>>
Yes, and also the way of cash.
Cash will never die. No one is going to buy [no one except for the
people who trust the Nigerian Prince] illicit stuff with their credit
cards.
BitCoin-like crypto-currencies are not a solution to that problem. At
some point in the chain those, too, must be bought and if bought with
cards they can eventually be traced. Only cash-to-crypto is even
theoretically safe, and that only if the cash itself isn't marked,
tagged and tracked.
Politicians, judges, cops and informants, among many other classes
will always need brown envelopes stuffed with notes. They may wish
cash to become difficult for us honest folk to use but it will still
always be available.
Though some UKlander shop-girls do smile gently when I ask if they
still take cash.
By the way, I've been in several gas stations around the country that
didn't take cash. They required entering your credit or debit card
before you pumped the gas.
That makes it very difficult for those of us who don't have bank
accounts.
But perhaps that sub-section of the people don't have *cars*, either?
If not, then the petrol distributors won't give a rat's fart for them.
Speaking of credit or debit cards, I never use debit cards. I greatly
prefer credit cards.
For the protection?
I haven't had a CC for more than a decade. I've never missed them.
But I'm in UKland so maybe we're different?
J.
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