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posted by janrinok on Thursday September 05 2019, @03:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the bills-have-serial-numbers-so-only-use-change dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Many Austrians value their privacy and won't accept someone to keep track how many beers they drink. It may sound like a strange thing to enshrine in a country’s constitution: the right to pay cash. But a debate on whether to do just that has entered Austria’s election campaign, shining a light on the country’s love of cold, hard currency.

The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP, EPP-affiliated) recently made the suggestion as part of its campaign for a parliamentary election in late September, for which it has a commanding poll lead. This led to other parties — though sceptical of the ÖVP’s proposal — vaunting their commitment to protecting cash, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) demanding an end to fees levied at cashpoints.

And it is not hard to see why all major parties see protecting cash as a vote-winner.

“In Austria, attitudes change slowly,” an employee of Weinschenke, a burger restaurant in downtown Vienna, told AFP. The woman in her 30s, who only gave her name as Victoria, says she prefers to use cash because “you don’t leave a trace”.

Financial law expert Werner Doralt says Austrians put a high value on privacy and are wary of anything that could be used to keep tabs on them, such as card transactions. “If for example I go shopping, and it’s recorded exactly how much schnapps I’ve bought, that’s an invasion of my privacy,” he says.

A recent survey conducted by the ING bank in 13 European countries, Australia and the US, showed Austrians were the most resistant to the idea of giving up cash payments.

Just 10 percent of those surveyed in Austria said they could imagine doing without cash, compared to a European average of 22%. According to European Central Bank data compiled in 2017, cash accounted for 67% of money spent at points of sale in Austria, compared to just 27% in the Netherlands. Even in neighbouring Germany, another country known for its attachment to cash, the rate is only 55%.


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  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday September 05 2019, @05:17PM (9 children)

    by Hartree (195) on Thursday September 05 2019, @05:17PM (#890129)
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Thursday September 05 2019, @06:03PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 05 2019, @06:03PM (#890157) Journal

    To bring out the quote from that link . . .

    [ . . . ] no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @06:21PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @06:21PM (#890167)

      Well, that linked article also states...

      This statute means that all United States money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.

      So it seems it really is just about what counts as a debt and who counts as a creditor. So an ordinary shop purchase presumably doesn't count, but what about offering cash for payment of a bar tab?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @01:59AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @01:59AM (#890346)

        Presumably they could refuse, unless your tab is so huge they send it off to collections, and then the collector would have to accept cash. We should ask EF about this.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 06 2019, @02:38PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 06 2019, @02:38PM (#890531) Journal

        This bar only accepts Gold Pressed Latinum.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday September 06 2019, @03:24AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Friday September 06 2019, @03:24AM (#890372) Journal

      That is the difference between a debt - cash must be valid and a purchase - vendor can refuse to sell for any reason, including not accepting cash.
      It seems a bit murky where the goods/services are provided before asking for payment but in those cases either the vendor should make it clearly part of the contract that cash is not accepted, or they have to accept it.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday September 06 2019, @04:54AM (3 children)

    by captain normal (2205) on Friday September 06 2019, @04:54AM (#890398)

    Ah...no, there is political quibble there about there being a difference between "statue" (passed by congress) and "constitutional" (implied in the foundation of our democracy). Congress can pass laws (statues), but there there is no guarantee the law will hold up under scrutiny of a competent Supreme Court. Personally, I think the Constitution is the superior entity here.

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @07:14AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @07:14AM (#890425)

      I think I may have passed a statue the other day. God it hurt!

      • (Score: 2) by driverless on Friday September 06 2019, @11:23AM

        by driverless (4770) on Friday September 06 2019, @11:23AM (#890468)

        Yeah, those kidney stones are a bitch, 2mm long and it feels like the Statue of Limitations is trying to break out of your insides.

    • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday September 06 2019, @04:01PM

      by Hartree (195) on Friday September 06 2019, @04:01PM (#890575)

      They have to accept dollars. They do not have to accept it in the particular form of physical paper or coins under federal statutes. Some states have additional laws, so YMMV.

      This gets brought up from time to time when someone tries to pay a large denomination debt in pennies to be a pain in the butt to whoever is receiving it. It's pretty well settled law. There's an out for safety, convenience, etc, etc.

      Maybe your interpretation of the constitutional requirement is correct, but courts haven't seen it that way in the past.

      You are free, however to bring another test case, fight it to the Supreme Court (with all the cost of that) in order to try it yet again. My guess is it will get decided the same way it has multiple times before.