Hamartia Antidote
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Life in the USA: The decline of using hard currency in transactions and crime.
When I worked in a supermarket in the late 1980's one of my tasks was to work the "money room" (the place where all the money was counted). About 80% of the transactions were in cash and the other 20% were personal checks. We didn't have the machines to accept credit cards (and debit transactions didn't exists yet). The supermarket was not an "A" store (ones that generate crazy sales) but a typical "B" store. Even for a "B" store the large amount of cash taken in a week was a real headache. An armored truck would pick up the cash and checks at least once a week.
To reduce the large amount of cash even more we'd offer to take people's payroll checks (yes back then people got physical checks every week or two) in exchange for cash (for only a $0.50 fee). So when you got your check on Friday you could walk into the supermarket and get cash for it and pay for your groceries instead of waiting for it to clear the bank. Many people took advantage of it.
With all this in place I'd still have $750,000 in cash in front of me in the money room. Retailers were a tempting target (vs banks). One time (I was at a different store) armed robbers held up the place. The news reports only mentioned an "undisclosed sum" was taken. I knew it it was probably substantial.
With so many people carrying large amounts of cash to pay for things like groceries and so many establishments having so much cash on the premises you can see how it wouldn't take much for crime to escalate. If you worked a 24 hour 7-11 store or a gas station you were a prime target.
But those days seem to have disappeared. Rarely do I hear about holdups. I think that a combination of direct deposit, people carrying debit/cards in their wallets instead of mountains of cash, and the aging of the population has caused a dramatic decrease in that type of crime. I don't see armored cars around anywhere near as much as I used to,
When I worked in a supermarket in the late 1980's one of my tasks was to work the "money room" (the place where all the money was counted). About 80% of the transactions were in cash and the other 20% were personal checks. We didn't have the machines to accept credit cards (and debit transactions didn't exists yet). The supermarket was not an "A" store (ones that generate crazy sales) but a typical "B" store. Even for a "B" store the large amount of cash taken in a week was a real headache. An armored truck would pick up the cash and checks at least once a week.
To reduce the large amount of cash even more we'd offer to take people's payroll checks (yes back then people got physical checks every week or two) in exchange for cash (for only a $0.50 fee). So when you got your check on Friday you could walk into the supermarket and get cash for it and pay for your groceries instead of waiting for it to clear the bank. Many people took advantage of it.
With all this in place I'd still have $750,000 in cash in front of me in the money room. Retailers were a tempting target (vs banks). One time (I was at a different store) armed robbers held up the place. The news reports only mentioned an "undisclosed sum" was taken. I knew it it was probably substantial.
With so many people carrying large amounts of cash to pay for things like groceries and so many establishments having so much cash on the premises you can see how it wouldn't take much for crime to escalate. If you worked a 24 hour 7-11 store or a gas station you were a prime target.
But those days seem to have disappeared. Rarely do I hear about holdups. I think that a combination of direct deposit, people carrying debit/cards in their wallets instead of mountains of cash, and the aging of the population has caused a dramatic decrease in that type of crime. I don't see armored cars around anywhere near as much as I used to,
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