Death of cash - a new twist

SpacePete

SpacePete

Well-Known Member
Silver Stacker
Earlier today, an establishment here was refusing all customers who could only pay cash. "The system is down, we can't open the till."

Cards were still ok.

Now I'm wondering if businesses with electronic tills, maybe even controlled from a central-office computer, could foreshadow an eventual requirement for ATO-linked tills in all businesses that still dare to accept cash from patrons.
 
Old Codger said:
Woolies and Coles may not like that idea.

after all, it IS "legal tender".

OC
Click to expand...
One of the proposals that was raised as a method of discouraging cash transactions without overtly banning it was to make handling of cash by businesses expensive, time-consuming and subject to annoying bureaucracy.
 
One of my old bosses: "When you put people and money together, the amount of money always gets smaller".

If a business (or anyone else) wants to rip off the ATO, they will.
E.g. just because you have an electronic till linked to the ATO doesn't mean you can't have a manual till not linked to the ATO sitting next to it. There are plenty of dark tills out there.
 
Big A.D. said:
One of my old bosses: "When you put people and money together, the amount of money always gets smaller".

If a business (or anyone else) wants to rip off the ATO, they will.
E.g. just because you have an electronic till linked to the ATO doesn't mean you can't have a manual till not linked to the ATO sitting next to it. There are plenty of dark tills out there.
Click to expand...
That should be: "When you put people, money, and government together, ..."

In your dark-till scenario I can certainly imagine ATO enforcers making random visits to businesses in targeted industries and making a cash purchase while monitoring associated updates to some hypothetical ATO system that tracks deposits and withdrawals from the networked till, with painful punishments for those found to bypass the system. This would be designed to discourage off-system transactions through fear.
 
SilverPete said:
Earlier today, an establishment here was refusing all customers who could only pay cash. "The system is down, we can't open the till."

Cards were still ok.

Now I'm wondering if businesses with electronic tills, maybe even controlled from a central-office computer, could foreshadow an eventual requirement for ATO-linked tills in all businesses that still dare to accept cash from patrons.
Click to expand...


Sounds like that establishment is run by idiots. Why wouldn't they just get a box to put the money in while they got their technical glitch sorted out?
 
Old Codger said:
The KGB is alive and well and living in Australia!

OC
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And getting more intrusive into everyone's lives. I think comparisons with the East German Stasi are more accurate.
 
sammy said:
SilverPete said:
Earlier today, an establishment here was refusing all customers who could only pay cash. "The system is down, we can't open the till."

Cards were still ok.

Now I'm wondering if businesses with electronic tills, maybe even controlled from a central-office computer, could foreshadow an eventual requirement for ATO-linked tills in all businesses that still dare to accept cash from patrons.
Click to expand...


Sounds like that establishment is run by idiots. Why wouldn't they just get a box to put the money in while they got their technical glitch sorted out?
Click to expand...
Good point. Maybe they don't trust their staff?
 
Maybe they were using some sort of integrated networked system that restricted access if things were not working? I just did a quick Google and the first result describes one offering:
EPOS Network provides full back office and multi-till operation for a single store, enabling centralised administration of product information, stock control, purchase ordering and reporting across any number of tills. Full till functionality is also included, if required.
EPOS Network includes the Ecommerce - EPOS Link to Business for synchronisation with online stores
Click to expand...
 
SilverPete said:
sammy said:
SilverPete said:
Earlier today, an establishment here was refusing all customers who could only pay cash. "The system is down, we can't open the till."

Cards were still ok.

Now I'm wondering if businesses with electronic tills, maybe even controlled from a central-office computer, could foreshadow an eventual requirement for ATO-linked tills in all businesses that still dare to accept cash from patrons.
Click to expand...


Sounds like that establishment is run by idiots. Why wouldn't they just get a box to put the money in while they got their technical glitch sorted out?
Click to expand...
Good point. Maybe they don't trust their staff?
Click to expand...

More likely they couldn't make the correct change.
 
If handling of cash becomes linked to complex systems and communications networks then one of the important benefits of physical cash is lost -- it is no longer robust against failure.
 
Exact opposite happened to me yesterday at a parking station. Had to pay $22, I always use a card for legitimate deductions, only to find the machine rejected two cards, so I had to pay with notes.
 
Old Codger said:
after all, it IS "legal tender".
Click to expand...

Only for debts.
If you owed Woolworths money for a debt, then they must take cash. But if you are just buying something from them, they get to chose what they want to take, you have no say in it.
 
sammysilver said:
Exact opposite happened to me yesterday at a parking station. Had to pay $22, I always use a card for legitimate deductions, only to find the machine rejected two cards, so I had to pay with notes.
Click to expand...

This would happen 100 times for every 1 time that won't accept cash because the till is down for whatever reason.
 
SilverPete said:
If handling of cash becomes linked to complex systems and communications networks then one of the important benefits of physical cash is lost -- it is no longer robust against failure.
Click to expand...

That's entirely up to the accounting system and procedure used by the company.
Having a law that forced such things would not go down well at all.
 
SilverDJ said:
sammysilver said:
Exact opposite happened to me yesterday at a parking station. Had to pay $22, I always use a card for legitimate deductions, only to find the machine rejected two cards, so I had to pay with notes.
Click to expand...

This would happen 100 times for every 1 time that won't accept cash because the till is down for whatever reason.
Click to expand...
Until "improvements" in till technology result in them being prone to similar failures.

It would destroy a major benefit of cash. Cash is simple and robust, or should be.
 
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