Another little step towards a cashless society.

[pseudonym]

We use cash all the time

Same here, I withdraw it from the bank to pay for items, often get a small discount that way. I did for both the kitchen and bathroom refits.

[jansman]

We use cash all the time Jansman and in big shops like John Lewis we get ushered quietly away to a till in the furthest corner. The husband hates it when I say loudly "Oh is this the drug dealers till then?"

Ha ha! The vet's receptionist had to get a witness,AND both sign a form to state what was counted in.FFS!

[diamond lil]

Yep, JL is the same. Everybody acting as if cash is unclean or undesirable. People are such sheep - easily herded into compliance eh..

[Deeps]

Yep, JL is the same. Everybody acting as if cash in unclean or undesirable. People are such sheep - easily herded into compliance eh..

My dentist sometimes struggle with change, if I know I have money in the bank I'll pay by card but if I'm unsure (the missus mostly deals with our finances) I use cash and invariably end up rounding it up and being in credit for the next time because they don't have change. I guess it will be whats evolved, if more and more people are using cards its maybe a hassle to run with a 'fully stocked' till. Saying that, this is nuts.....

Ha ha! The vet's receptionist had to get a witness,AND both sign a form to state what was counted in.FFS!

Unless you were paying it in coins.

[Arzosah]

Even with a gold based system we still have to have trust that the gold is actually worth something. We've had this discussion before , gold has very little practical use . You can't eat it , wear it , burn it or make tools out of it but we still have trust , or faith or whatever term one chooses , that it is valuable . In that way the pure mathematics and encrypted codes act the same , no real practical uses that I can see.

I absolutely accept your general points, grenfell, but in the last 50 years or so, gold has *become* of practical use: for electronics. Apparently more than 100 tons a year according to Industry Week http://www.industryweek.com/none/connec ... s-industry. Weird.

With my hat on, I'm going to insist that that's why the Ancient Egyptians found it so valuable, because the aliens who built the pyramids used it for all sorts of stuff too

[Arzosah]

And the other use for cash is hiring someone to do a foreigner, as it was known in Liverpool when my mother was a child its still in the urban dictionary now Taxman will get more of their pound of flesh if the government eventually succeeds in making us cashless

[grenfell]

Even with a gold based system we still have to have trust that the gold is actually worth something. We've had this discussion before , gold has very little practical use . You can't eat it , wear it , burn it or make tools out of it but we still have trust , or faith or whatever term one chooses , that it is valuable . In that way the pure mathematics and encrypted codes act the same , no real practical uses that I can see.

I absolutely accept your general points, grenfell, but in the last 50 years or so, gold has *become* of practical use: for electronics. Apparently more than 100 tons a year according to Industry Week http://www.industryweek.com/none/connec ... s-industry. Weird.

With my hat on, I'm going to insist that that's why the Ancient Egyptians found it so valuable, because the aliens who built the pyramids used it for all sorts of stuff too

Well I did say "of very little practical use" as opposed to no use. I've heard of people making a living removing gold contacts etc from old computers and the like and seem to remember in my youth hearing how astronauts helmet visors were coated with the stuff to help reflect sunlight so I admit it is of some use . Even other precious metals such as platinum find their way into catalictic converters and following on from that I have read of someone exploring the possibility of extracting it from road dust.
Going off topic , I'm not quite sure about aliens and pyramids and the like but I do sometimes think about the paradoxes in Star Trek for instance . They have replicators that can create anything from food to engine parts and such a thing would make gold , or any physical form of money obsolete, energy would be the only thing of any value , yet there are races such as the Ferengi who still lust after their gold pressed Latinum .
Oh and that term "foreigner " is used around here too.

[jansman]

Precious metals are becoming more sought after it seems,because of electronic gizmos.Gold's always sought after,but its reckoned that as silver becomes more sought after for electronics it may become a finite resource.Who knows? Even lithium, that answer to all our energy problems is a finite resource,although it is 90% recyclable.That said,gouging minerals from the Earth will never last forever.

[Arwen Thebard]

Precious metals are becoming more sought after it seems,because of electronic gizmos.Gold's always sought after,but its reckoned that as silver becomes more sought after for electronics it may become a finite resource.Who knows? Even lithium, that answer to all our energy problems is a finite resource,although it is 90% recyclable.That said,gouging minerals from the Earth will never last forever.

Gold and silver prices are down again this week, its hard to find any "pre-owned" coins or bars from the usual suppliers. There is plenty of newly minted stuff but very little used bullion available at the moment. Are the prices being kept down while large buyers stock up? if so then prices will rise again, hopefully?

"to do a foreigner"
First time ive ever heard that expression, had to go and look it up. At first I thought it meant taking out a contract hit or something.

[peejay]

I remember reading a while back that apparently these days there's more gold in a ton of computer waste than there is in a ton of gold ore. I think the main difference is the cost of extraction.