A ferry taking people across a canal costs 50¢. Cash refused. Over 50 cents! It’s so despicable. People without bank cards cannot cross the canal. Over 50 cents! What about kids? Is a 10 y/o kid expected to have a bank card?
Even if you have a bank card, it’s foolish to add to your digital footprint (and tracking of your whereabouts) for a 50 cent transaction.
I believe they are breaking a law by not posting “no cash” signage. But even if they did, it’s an injustice to make transportation discriminatory and exclusive.
A human rights problem manifests here because banks discriminate against demographics of people on the basis of nationality. So someone who is elderly, handicapped, or injured with a nationality banks discriminate against would be denied ferry service and thus forced to walk a very long distance. Anyone who is unbanked or if their card simply does not work for any reason - they’re fucked, over a 50 cent transaction.
The Netherlands is where we expect human rights to be held in high regard because of The Hague, where the human rights court sits.
Decades past, the Dutch were quite respectable for their tolerance for personal drug use, live-and-let-live principles and gay rights. They had set a good example for the world. But the recent nannying assault on unbanked people & cash payers, forced banking, and privacy disregard is an assault dignity, autonomy, and self-determination. Forcing people to lick banks’ boots and to be dependent on banks is antithetical to the freedom respect the Dutch have a reputation for.
The war on cash (war on privacy) is such a shitshow in Netherlands. It’s rapidly getting worse. Non-Geldmaat ATMs are being removed at a high rate. Some cities only have Geldmaat ATMs, so if Geldmaat rejects your card you’re fucked.
AFAIK there is some EU law that forces banks to offer an account with debit card to everyone, even homeless. I’m not 100% sure. It’s meant to break the cycle of needing an address to get a bank account, but not being able to get (work and) a home/address without a bank account.
Yeah, it’s what the EU calls a “basic” bank account. That is supposed to mitigate the discrimination. But then some member states limit how those basic accounts can be used which effectively restores the discrimination. E.g. some member states say you cannot deposit cash on a basic account. So if you are starting with cash, you’re still stuffed.
Sounds cool as heck, but if I’m not mistaken they can still discriminate against immigrants, especially with dubious legal status
It’s really a double-edged sword. Superficially, it seems like a great idea to guarantee everyone access to banks. But then that guarantee is used against people who reject banks in favor of independence. It’s really a terrible trade because lawmakers can then impose forced banking on people using availability of a basic account as an excuse. Europeans have quietly lost their boycott privileges, without discussion. Banks have no incentive to offer good service because consumers are forced to need them. This enables banks to become increasingly enshitified and do shit like shutdown their website and force you to lick Google’s boots to obtain their shitty closed source app that only runs on new phones. You would be hard-pressed to find a European bank that does not invest through US banks, who invest in:
- fossil fuels
- private prisons
- the air travel industry
The oil companies who the banks support pour money into right-wing campaigns in the US, ultimately empowering people like Trump. It’s really a shit show and they are forcing people to contribute to it.
Make public transport free! The western society has so much excess wealth that it’s a fucking crime not to provide every person regardless of their circumstances with shelter, food, and mobility. I guarantee the ferry is tax-subsidized already, the only reason for a charge is pettiness.
Yes kids have bank cards. And cash can fuck right off. - retail worker
That retail worker is an ass.
Indeed, but it could be sarcasm. We don’t know if Visstix is actually signing off as a retail worker, or satirically impersonating the sentiment of a selfish asshole of a retail worker.
Retail workers are of course happy to marginalise cash payers for their own selfish convenience of not having to count out change. OTOH, a retail worker who is well equipped with a machine that handles the cash would obviously have less cause for pushing a selfish stance.
I’m just wondering about how much stock to put into the claim that kids have cards. It’s likely more accurately stated as “some kids have cards”. Which kids do and which kids do not? Can someone make a convincing argument that every kid who does not have a bank card also has no use for crossing a canal?
I suppose it’s theoretically feasible that not a single Dutch kid is being taught to value privacy. It’s quite sad because if a mass majority of Dutch kids are being conditioned to flippantly disregard privacy, independence, autonomy, self determination, and dignity, the country is sure to continue in the direction of a police surveillance state with reduced human rights. Marginalised people will increase in frequency with decreasing protection.
