From Birch Gold Group
World governments have been slowly fighting against cash for years, but now a major assault is coming from the private sector too. Visa just announced a new program that essentially bribes retailers to phase out non-electronic transactions, and the company’s executives are sending out war cries against cash. What does this mean for the future of physical currency?
Here’s what you should know about Visa’s cashless agenda, and what you can do in response…
Why Visa Despises Cash
You can probably guess why Visa has such a vendetta against cash: It hurts their bottom line.
Every time a transaction takes place with cash, Visa is losing potential revenue. Therein lies the incentive for the company to wage war against cash.
Plus, it’s far easier for Visa to increase its profitability by fighting cash and increasing card usage than by winning new customers from rival card companies. And according to the company’s executives, cash is particularly vulnerable to such an agenda in the U.S.
Bloomberg reports:
“The U.S. still has an enormous amount of headroom to grow in terms of displacing more cash,” said Jack Forestell, head of global merchant solutions at Visa. “It’s a much more significant opportunity for us than trying to steal share from a competitor.”
Consumers are warming to the idea of cashless transactions, but resistance from the general public isn’t Visa’s biggest problem. Compliance from businesses is the real hurdle. Obviously, businesses are motivated to accept as many payment types as possible to accommodate customers and make it easy for people to buy.
But now Visa is offering a bribe for small businesses in order to make the proposition of running a cashless operation more attractive.
The Plan of Attack
What could soothe small businesses’ pain of giving up potential profit by banning cash transactions? Maybe a little bit of the “green poultice”.
That’s why Visa is offering $10,000 each to 50 small businesses who vow to abandon cash transactions permanently. Presumably, these businesses will collect the cash, see all the wonderful benefits Visa claims a cashless business can experience, and serve as poster children that will encourage other businesses to do the same.
Visa is also about to publish a heavily slanted report extolling the operational advantages of running a cashless business. From the report’s teaser claims, New York businesses could be saving approximately $6.8 billion annually by dropping cash entirely.
Keep in mind, this is Visa’s first attempt to force a new trend away from cash with monetary incentives. There’s nothing stopping the company from doing this again, or on a much larger scale. Plus, other private companies who share Visa’s interests could do the same.
Preparing for a Cashless Society
Visa isn’t swimming against the tide when it comes to their efforts to kill off cash. Instead, they’re riding a massive wave that’s set to continue rolling in their favor. According to a Gallup poll from 2016, cash use among Americans is already declining steadily. At the time of the poll, Americans were using 12% less cash than five years prior.
The simple truth is that consumers are moving away from cash voluntarily. But add to that the pressure against cash from world governments, plus this new assault from the private sector in the form of Visa’s new initiative, and it’s easy to see the future doesn’t bode well for those of us who prefer to deal in physical currency.
So where does that leave you? You know the risks of going cashless, being separated from your money by the vast abyss of cyberspace.
You might be a millionaire. But in a major crisis, cashless millionaires could be left without a cent — all it would take is an institutional collapse, infrastructure failure, act of cyber warfare, severe terrorist attack, or any number of easily possible scenarios.
But that isn’t the case with physical precious metal ownership. Even if your metals are held in a depository, your ownership is always verifiable by paper hardcopy records, and you can visit or withdraw them whenever you please.
That kind of “real money” security could soon become priceless if Visa and its fellow cashless crusaders get their way. And as this war on cash continues, you can count on precious metals growing more valuable and scarce, simply because people like you want to opt out of the coming cashless society while they still can.
Birch Gold Group helps Americans protect their savings with physical gold and silver. Clients can purchase precious metals for physical possession, or move their IRA or 401(k) into a Precious Metals IRA. To learn more, request a free Info Kit on Gold – there is zero cost and zero obligation to you. All you need to do is enter your details at www.birchgold.com
AS far as I am concerned, businesses that go cashless can kiss my business goodbye. If a retailer in my area goes cashless, I plan to make their lives miserable. Here’s how–go into the store on a regular basis, fill up a shopping cart to the brim with items that you normally use, go to check out and tell them that you only have cash, no credit card. They then have the choice of accepting cash in payment or restocking all of the items back on the shelf. LOL!!!
Yes, and be sure to load up the bottom of the cart with perishable meat, eggs and milk.
And lots of ice cream!
A late trend I’m seeing is to make using a credit/debit card much easier to use than cash.
Sometimes robot checkouts only accept credit cards and cash payers have to stand in line at an inadequate number of checkout lines where the robot checkouts with cards just whiz through.
As for me, I prefer to use cash and do so for virtually everything except gasoline that requires cash payment up front and I have to guess at how much will at least come close to filling up without paying for too much in advance. (I understand this being necessary since that policy developed out of non payers driving off to steal their gas)
What’s the problem with paying too much in advance? I always fill my rig up to the brim, so that I can calculate mileage accurately. I just make sure to pay plenty in advance so that I can be sure of a full tank, then go get my “change” after I’m through pumping. No trouble at all.
If Visa’s scheme goes vogue, I reckon we’ll soon see whose theory isn’t subject to legislative fiat: Gresham’s (Copernicus) Law or Thier’s Law.
A “class action” lawsuit should be able to put a stop to this. As it stands now, CONGRESS has the power to “coin money” as “lawful money” is “legal tender for all debts public and private”. Visa may have to pay billions…
Congress may have the power to coin but what if they stop exercising that power?
Lol. Congress stopped exercising that power with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.
Personally, I have been moving away from credit cards due to the simple reason that credit cards are insecure.
I have had fraudulent charges appear on my credit cards periodically. Enough that I limit their use as much as possible.
Any business that won’t take my cash simply won’t get my business.
We spend cash everywhere. Gas is the only thing we use our debit card for and I write checks for bills that must be mailed. Many of our local grocery stores have pay stations where you can pay utility bills in person with cash too.
The people who run Visa are evil MFers especially if you’re a merchant. I recently had a client fraudulently issue a chargeback in order to receive services for free. Despite 18 pages of documentation that services were provided, Visa decided in their favor. Of course I could have taken it to arbitration, however the losing party had to pay the $500 “arbitration fee”. Easier to just take them to collections, which I’ve done.
This isn’t the first time Visa has let a client rip me off. But I’ve never had similar treatment from any of the other card providers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… buy gold.
Paypal screws sellers as well. Full refund was issued because the buyer didn’t bother to read the 100% accurate description on fleabay. He also wasn’t required to return the item.
Time for working people to Push back! boycott Visa
Pretty sad actually and the majority don’t even understand the increase in costs credit forces.
My wife tried going cash only for about 6 months and it was non-stop bitching by her customers. She finally relented and got a card reader. I had her immediately raise her prices a little. Plus she charges an extra 50 cents for a card transaction. The card outfit takes 2.75% per transaction and 3.5%ish for manually typing in a card number.
Some of the morons I work with never carry any cash or coin…and it drives me batshit crazy to see them use a credit card to buy something from a vending machine. Pure lunacy.
My question to all the plastic junkies is this: What happens when the power goes out?
My Question is what happens when your only avenue to purchase is funneled through these counterfeiters. Yes Counterfeiters who print a card with nothing backing it that can be converted to goods or specie.
I will tell you, they then own you, your life and your existence. But I guess most here understand that but that leaves billions who do not.
The Great Modi experiment is the first wave for total domination of all people because if he can get illiterate people on a card (with a small bribe) the rest of those billions of souls will fall in line.
https://hbr.org/2017/03/early-lessons-from-indias-demonetization-experiment
Won’t happen.
The amount of revenue the government generates through drug trafficking alone is too much of an income stream for them to to voluntarily relinquish.
Was in upper Mich this Spring camping. Was happy to see “cash only” signs at 2 restaurants near where we were staying. I’m guessing the vig Visa wants is too much for the owners to put up with.
“So where does that leave you? You know the risks of going cashless, being separated from your money by the vast abyss of cyberspace.
You might be a millionaire. But in a major crisis, cashless millionaires could be left without a cent — all it would take is an institutional collapse, infrastructure failure, act of cyber warfare, severe terrorist attack, or any number of easily possible scenarios.
But that isn’t the case with physical precious metal ownership. Even if your metals are held in a depository, your ownership is always verifiable by paper hardcopy records, and you can visit or withdraw them whenever you please.
That kind of “real money” security could soon become priceless if Visa and its fellow cashless crusaders get their way. And as this war on cash continues, you can count on precious metals growing more valuable and scarce, simply because people like you want to opt out of the coming cashless society while they still can.
Birch Gold Group helps Americans protect their savings with physical gold and silver. Clients can purchase precious metals for physical possession, or move their IRA or 401(k) into a Precious Metals IRA. To learn more, request a free Info Kit on Gold – there is zero cost and zero obligation to you. All you need to do is enter your details at http://www.birchgold.com”
It’s a f’ing advertisement………..
I don’t see how this could be done within the law.
“This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.”
If payment is tendered and refused, tell the merchant that the goods are yours.
Take them and go.