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.
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:
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.