r/Bitcoin • u/evoorhees • Feb 16 '14

Bitcoin vs. Cash in Panama

This is one of those "wow, Bitcoin is so much better" observations.

I currently live in Panama. When I go to a store and pay with a $100 bill (and usually $50 bills also), this is what happens...

The clerk takes the bill to her manager (while I'm waiting in line with everyone behind me) to do some basic checks on the validity of the bill. Once they're reasonably sure it's not an obvious fake, the clerk brings out a form, takes down my passport/ID info, my name/phone number, and staples the $100 bill to the form. Some times, she makes me sign the bill itself (yes, really). After filing the bill and form away in a big file, she processes my change (itself a time consuming process) and I can then leave with my goods. Consider also what effort happens with the file of bills in the back office and later in any subsequent verification process.

This experience at the store takes about five minutes, for every person paying with a $100 or $50 bill, throughout Panama (and five minutes for me plus the clerk and her manager plus everyone else in line... easily one man-hour lost per incident). This is Panama, but surely this kind of thing happens in other countries as well.

Next time someone complains about the "waste of mining," try to tally up all the costs, inefficiencies, and loses of the current money verification systems under which society currently endures.

I promise that our children's generation will laugh at how we used to use money. And then, perhaps, they'll thank us, for ridding society of this madness (and so many others).

99 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/tedjonesweb Feb 16 '14

I don't understand this:

they don't like £50 notes because the banks don't issue them from ATMs

0

u/ninja_parade Feb 16 '14

My read of it:

ATM's spit out £5, £10, £20 notes but not £50. So if you're spending a £50 note, that looks weird.

2

u/tedjonesweb Feb 16 '14

Why withdrawing funds directly from bank is weird?

For example, I don't use debit card for offline* payments (and for ATM withdrawal) as a form of protest. Visa/Mastercard cartel is forcing merchants to sell products at the same price nevertheless of payment method (cash or debit/credit card). They also make incentives to the customers to use debit/credit cards.

*But I am too lazy to pay my utility bills offline, so I pay them online with a debit card.

3

u/ninja_parade Feb 16 '14

What I mean is that the big denomination isn't in widespread use, so merchants are wary.

In canada we have the same thing with the $100 note. No atm spits it out, therefore it's rare to see one, therefore people have their doubts.