The Systemic Risk of a Networked Cashless Society
When its up and running, it works great. But when it breaks, or goes offline, all transactions stop. Period.
What am I talking about? Today I was reminded yet again. To buy and sell… it’s impossible without electronic networks humming along. Even if you have cash. Nope. No can do. No sale.
We stopped at Walgreens today. Mrs. J hopped out of the truck to go in and pick up a few things. I waited in the truck with the dog. I wasn’t watching but I was surprised she returned so quickly… She said that a sign on the door read something like “We are temporarily closed due to Network issues”.
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No network, No sale. Period.
“But wait, I have cash!” (You might say). “Sorry, we cannot ring up cash sales without the network.” (They might say back to you).
You see, everything is tied together on electronic networks, one way or another. The networks must be up and running. The Registers. Credit/Debit card systems. Sales. Inventory management. The company’s home office ‘mother ship’…
Of course, there are exceptions. There are cash businesses. But I’m talking about the vast majority of buying and selling today.
As we were driving back home, I said to her, “Remember the days when almost all transactions were cash (or check)?” Yes, that was decades ago. But that was normal.
I also recall “way back when”, those credit card ‘machines’ (whatever you called them) … The card would be set into the little machine and the cashier would slide a mechanism across it. A paper carbon copy imprint of the card/receipt would be created and slipped in the register drawer. All by hand. I used to do that while working at a hardware store when I was (16?). How far we’ve come since those days!
My point being that it’s interesting (alarming?) how you cannot buy a product in a store if their electronic network is down.
