Disappearing ATM's

 

ATM's, "cashpoints", "holes in the wall" or "auto-banks" have become an urban symbol as ubiquitous as post-boxes and litter bins, since their introduction in the 1960's; but they are today an endangered species. In the last year and a half, over eighteen thousand of them have been switched off and not restarted. Many have been removed permanently. Those remaining are getting harder to find and more of them charge for withdrawals than ever before. This is partly because of the closure of small bank branches during the Covid 19 pandemic, but that is not the full story; or to be more precise, the pandemic was an opportunity to advance the agenda of closing ATM's. This financial advice site states it clearly; the main reason for fewer ATM's is the increasing use by customers of card payment: https://www.lovemoney.com/news/81496/why-cash-machines-atms-link-contactless-disappearing-from-uk-high-streets. Fewer and fewer people are using the ATM's. Like phone boxes in today's world of mobile phones, they are becoming obsolete technology. The pandemic merely accelerated the formation of a habit that was already on the increase anyway. Notes and coins are a vector for carrying the virus. Disinfecting them was a laborious and hazardous task for shop staff. There are also numerous conveniences for using your card instead of cash. Why carry around piles of metal and paper in your pocket when five square inches of plastic fiche will suffice? Cash can be lost or stolen. A card can only be used by its legitimate owner. Fiddling with change takes time and is inconvenient for retailers. It slows down checkout queues. This is why most people now pay with cards. The contactless system means there's no longer even any need to insert the card and remember your PIN. Just wave the card in front of an electronic sensor and Bob's your uncle. But there's a dark side. Using cards removes privacy and control from your entire financial life. Every penny you turn is organized by the banking system's computers. Everything you buy and sell will be recorded on a database. Profiles are being generated about you as a result of your financial habits. A time might come when passive observance could mutate into to outright coercion. Supposing you go to the doctor and get a diagnosis of a condition brought on by drinking too much. You then try and buy a bottle of Scotch from your local grocer and your payment is declined. Your medical records have been included as part of your profile and you can now no longer buy alcoholic beverage; "for your own good, you understand!" You may not like the idea that the government is treating you like a naughty child; well too bad, they already do. That's how they think of us. In China there is already a similar system called "social credit". Of course in the good old days you used to be able to say "That's alright, I'll just pay with cash."; but you cannot when there is no cash. Being able to pay with cash is essential for privacy and civil rights; and so few people appreciate that.  Right now it is not too late. As I said in my speech at a recent street protest in Oxford, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2022/01/world-wide-demonstration-for-freedom.html. Use cash! Pay everything you can with it. As George Orwell said, don't let is happen. To hell with the inconvenience; cash is a private and completely unregulated financial transaction between you and another person or organization. No bank or government need ever know about it and they cannot control it. This is exactly why they want to abolish it. Doesn't that matter to you? In a few years it will do! But by then it will be too late.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2012/07/cash-in-hand-traders-under-attack.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2014/12/contactless-travel.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2008/11/coins-are-dropped.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/08/barcodes-for-homeless-people.html.