APS Stampshow Grand Rapids

And stay off my lawn!!

Seriously though, we are well on our way to being a cashless society. More and more commerce transactions are done electronically (whether via Internet, NFC/beaming, or swiping). There are several food/drink establishments on the college campus where I work that are electronic payment ONLY. No cash accepted.

Think about it: not having cash on premises means less of a security risk in terms of robbery and employee theft. The more electronic transactions, the more the IRS and other government entities can track and verify. Professional tax return preparers are already required to file electronically (no paper returns) and that requirement will eventually be extended to individual taxpayers.

At some point in the not too distant future, a business owner that doesn't accept credit cards or other electronic payments will likely find themselves out of business.

No real comparison between a college campus with essentially a captive population (with usually little cash anyway)and a stamp show. At stampshow there were perhaps 3 customers that asked about using a credit card, all the rest used either checks or cash. Most of today's stamp dealers will be long gone by the time we get to a true paperless society.

Well, yes. Out of business but not because of market pressures, rather, as you allude to but do not develop, because the Gubmint will simply outlaw cash precisely because it can't be tracked. The goal is to have every instant of your life monitored and tracked. Orwell thought Big Brother would do it by cameras mounted on the wall. He was half-right. We will have the cameras mounted everywhere (pretty much already do). But the real control will come via electronic monitoring of all economic transactions. The Apocalypse of St. John thought it would be by tattoing a mark on the forehead. Nope. Nothing so crude as that will be needed. Just electronic tracking of every transaction of your entire miserable life.

edited to correct quote coding

Jesus, dude. Have a Coke and a smile.

I didn't want to go down the conspiracy theory highway, just the reality of electronic commerce superseding analog, given the trend.

The number of checks I write each month is down to 2-3 from 15-20. I don't carry cash in my daily life. Everything is credit/debit card. I think the change from physical to virtual will occur more by natural attrition than government edict. There are those that would argue, and rightfully so, that having the entire world monetary supply exist only virtually, as 1s and 0s in the ether, is inherently dangerous. Granted, much of it (think stock markets) exist only virtually any way. Stock share certificates are a thing of the past.

Regardless of how it happens, when it happens, or to what extent, my original point stands, that as time goes on, businesses/dealers that don't accept some form of electronic payment will feel an increasing impact on their business.

So that's why you used the words "required" and "requirement"?? Tax preparers weren't smart enough to change over fast enough so the Gubmint helped 'em out a bit? BGubmint edict only recently made tracking of cash withdrawals as small as $1000 mandatory. Nothing to see here, move along now. Sheesh.

Incidentally, this is not conspiracy theory. It's just an observation of current bureaucrat rules (legislation by any other name is still the same)

Stop taking things out of context. My first comment you quoted was referring explicitly to the filing of income tax returns (which the IRS has oversight of, and hence the right to control the process), not everyday commerce transactions, which the second comment referred to. There's a difference.

Yeah, it was my first stamp show and I had no clue that a checkbook was a preferred payment method. Didn't exactly pack it up for my vacation. I don't think anyone under the age of 35 uses a checkbook these days....


But now that this thread is de-railed (sorry, didn't mean for that!) can we get back to the show. It was an overall great time in a very nice venue. One of the exhibits that fascinated me was the Censorship of Mail in the Canal Zone in WWI. I had no clue we interred German citizens in Panama at that time....

Well, you put it in the same paragraph. I was taught to start a new paragraph for a new main point. So the first sentence of that paragraph belonged with the preceding paragraph.

So stop putting thing into context that you don't want to be in context. Even in comboxes. If you wish not to be misunderstood.

There is plenty of legislation happening right now to control private sector commerce, restricting use of cash and forcing electronics.

Separate paragraphs? They were in COMPLETELY SEPARATE POSTS! You're the one that combined them and then made a single reply to both, for Pete's sake!

I'm done with this idiocy.