# theres a war on cash ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324 "2018-11-10T21:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/21 "2018-11-12T14:10:32Z")
It sounds like you were pretty rude to him. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/22 "2018-11-12T16:28:05Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > A form popped up on his monitor to enter all of my info from my ID, including height weight and eye color. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Then he got shitty with me when I said I didn’t want to wait around You know who gets really shitty when you don’t want to give all your personal info to some random stranger are the cops. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/23 "2018-11-12T18:04:19Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > You know who gets really shitty when you don’t want to give all your personal info to some random stranger are the cops. I am the cops. Nothing I’ve done and the precise way I did it was illegal. You think I’d post something that was? Which reminds me, Friday my wife and I are going to Dubai for 10 days. Before then I will be withdrawing $6500 from the bank. What is going to raise more flags: \*Refuse to write down on the form what I plan to do with the cash or \*writing down “for the mid-east” or “for the Persian Gulf” or something like that. Smart ass, yes, but the truth. But that truth might suffer more scrutiny than simply refusing to sign the form. Or not. Either way I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/24 "2018-11-12T19:22:08Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Either way I don’t care. Yes, you don’t care very much. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/25 "2018-11-12T19:58:02Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Those “minimum wage employees” see peoples’ ID all the time – what the hell do you think they’re going to do with it? Well, he might have a point by now. When you see confidential information 1000 times a week it’s just background noise, and it never occurs to you to think otherwise. Even when people are jerks, well, that’s just people, you knew it going in. Once in a while, tho, you meet a special one. They might have problems with an old school professional, but mostly doctors and lawyers scare them. Where they come into their own is dealing with people they find inferior. It must be terrifying to realize that the guy you just tried to have fired for not smiling and thanking you for letting him pick up the used tissue you just threw on the floor might have access to some unofficial recourse, didn’t take an oath and doesn’t even face possible sanctions from the College of Minimum Wage Workers. Not terrifying enough to get over themselves and stop trying quite so hard to be the biggest, best asshole they can be, but it’s something. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/26 "2018-11-12T23:54:53Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > He wasn’t going to just look at it. A form popped up on his monitor to enter all of my info from my ID, including height weight and eye color. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Then he got shitty with me when I said I didn’t want to wait around while typed all that in (he was very inept at that computer). You DO realize that all that was NOT something said worker cooked up for shits and giggles, right? It’s part of his job. If you don’t want to give the information then don’t, but don’t get your panties in a bunches and treat people like crap because a bunch of rich, paranoid guys in Washington voted in laws that require this sort of thing. You don’t like it? Complain to the guys in Congress, who made the laws that require such questioning, not the poor drones who are forced to say the questions and put up with the general public’s reaction to the actions of the people they voted into office. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/27 "2018-11-13T00:55:52Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Today I went to buy 2 money orders at Walmart, one for $900 and the other for $500. They told me because I was buying more than $1000 worth of money orders I had to show ID and they were going to enter it into some data base. The only thing that surprised me was how low the amount was that triggered it. I know that, in Las Vegas, if you try to buy or cash in $10,000 or more worth of chips, or make a bet of $10,000 or more, they have to make you fill out federal forms because they think you might be trying to launder money. (This is entirely separate from the IRS regulation where if you win, for example, $1200 or more on a slot machine or $1500 or more in a single keno game, they generate a W-2G (Gambling Winnings) that gets sent to the IRS.) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/28 "2018-11-13T15:06:49Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Which reminds me, Friday my wife and I are going to Dubai for 10 days. Before then I will be withdrawing $6500 from the bank. You are going to go to Dubai with $6500 in cash? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/29 "2018-11-13T15:19:50Z")
Taking the question seriously, I believe the vast majority of the US one-hundred-dollar bills are circulated outside the country, for both legal and illegal uses. I think the same thing is true for some other currencies, which is one reason why Europe is going to stop printing the 500-euro note. I’ve heard the suggestion that the US government stop printing the one-hundred-dollar bill for the same reason. I would find that annoying, because it would make even legitimate cash transactions involve a giant stack of twenty-dollar bills. It seems clear that the authorities in various countries would prefer transactions to be as traceable as possible. (One thing I’m wondering; some of those little currency counting machines can read and record the serial numbers of the banknotes as they count. I wonder if “they” are actively tracing notes by serial number to see how and where the money comes and goes.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/30 "2018-11-13T15:21:21Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > You are going to go to Dubai with $6500 in cash? What the hell are you planning du bai? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/31 "2018-11-13T15:46:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve heard the suggestion that the US government stop printing the one-hundred-dollar bill for the same reason. I would find that annoying, because it would make even legitimate cash transactions involve a giant stack of twenty-dollar bills. Yeah, when I have to pay something like my rent in cash I’d rather use seven or eight bills of one hundred denomination than a stack of 28-32 twenty dollar bills. There are legitimate reasons for honest people use hundred dollar bills, either by necessity or choice. Part of my job at work is counting the store’s cash. Lately, the bank deposits have been creeping towards $50,000 a day. I’d rather at least part of that be in hundreds - it’s a lot easier to handle 500 separate bills than 2500 of them, which is what a stack of twenties of that amount would be. 5 times as much physical stuff, all of which has to be counted, guarded, and eventually transported. (In reality, about 1/3 of the deposit right now are hundreds, with the rest being 50’s and 20’s) With inflation making the smaller bills worth less there’s another reason for not abandoning the 100. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/32 "2018-11-13T16:03:13Z")
What I’d like to see is a high-value coin. Perhaps a twenty-, fifty- or even a one-hundred-dollar coin. It would be nice to give a coin (preferably a nice shiny golden one) to the kids that can actually buy something worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/33 "2018-11-13T16:10:23Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > You are going to go to Dubai with $6500 in cash? Do you have any idea how expensive that place is? I’m paying ahead on my credit card hence the money order, converting some to UAD money and taking the rest. I prefer to exchange with cash than a bank card. It’s just how I am. I’m sure one of you will go on and on about how they disapprove how I do things. That joker at the Walmart was completely inept. He couldn’t figure out how to even type on that form and looked like he never heard of a shower. I didn’t have time for him to figure out his job and didn’t like a guy who looks like Hobo Joe recording my info. Screw it. I’ll pay the truck payment at the bank when I withdraw my vacation money. They already know all about me and my info so it’ll save some of you a call to the FBI. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/34 "2018-11-13T17:06:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Do you have any idea how expensive that place is? I’m paying ahead on my credit card hence the money order, converting some to UAD money and taking the rest. I prefer to exchange with cash than a bank card. It’s just how I am. I’m sure one of you will go on and on about how they disapprove how I do things. Hey man, you do what you want. And it’s cool that you budgeted $6500 for your vacation. But what if you get robbed at the airport? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/35 "2018-11-13T17:23:13Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Hey man, you do what you want. And it’s cool that you budgeted $6500 for your vacation. But what if you get robbed at the airport? The ghost of Karl Malden appears to lecture you? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/36 "2018-11-13T17:31:09Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > The ghost of Karl Malden appears to lecture you? 😛 And then you meow at his big, beautiful nose. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/37 "2018-11-13T19:30:14Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Splitting your purchase dates to avoid reporting requirements? > > That’s evasion dude. They can take all the money for that, even it’s harmless, even if you’re morally innocent. You should take the fifth. Depends on whether the $1000 limit is a Walmart or government limit. Avoiding a Walmart policy won’t get anyone in trouble. Speaking of Walmart, a friend was recently remarking about their “Savings Catcher” price match program now has to be done in store rather than in the app, and you now have to use Walmart Pay rather than cash: [https://clark.com/shopping-retail/walmart-savings-catcher-receipt-changes/](https://clark.com/shopping-retail/walmart-savings-catcher-receipt-changes/) I’m sure a lot of bigger businesses would like to get rid of cash, harder to handle and more easily stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/38 "2018-11-13T20:12:29Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I’m sure a lot of bigger businesses would like to get rid of cash, harder to handle and more easily stolen. But they don’t like the fees banks charge to handle electronic transactions. Walmart and other retailers have been [waging legal wars](http://www.digitaltransactions.net/wal-mart-and-visa-settle-lawsuits-over-debit-routing-and-credit-card-interchange/) against the banks for quite some time now claiming anti-trust and price-fixing violations. I know that a lot of people who are not big merchants post financial analyses on the web claiming that the big merchants should be grateful for the fees because they are still cheaper than handling cash, but the merchants haven’t gotten the message. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/39 "2018-11-13T20:44:00Z")
Around here, there is a trend of smaller businesses no longer accepting cash. I guess that as most people pay with plastic anyway, the hassle of sorting, counting and depositing bills and coins isn’t worth it. Of course not everyone has a bank account, particularly among low income people of color, so this has engendered some controversy. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324/40 "2018-11-13T23:34:59Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > The ghost of Karl Malden appears to lecture you? 😛 Try buying travelers checks anywhere. Triple A and a lot of banks have discontinued providing them, and a lot of merchants have started refusing accepting them. Not real concerned about getting robbed at the airport. Been to almost 3 dozen countries and it hasn’t happened yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-war-on-cash/824324.md?page=3)