IT Chaos - all left high and dry.

[Streetwalker]

Was the intention of Oyster cards to speed it up?  Or just so they can monitor every bus journey you make, and have the potential to block you if needed?  If it's taking longer now with apps, the answer is there.

Well speeding up the buses was one of the reasons they used to sell it to us . Not that we had any choice . And yes of course they can monitor where we go and where we are . Its not only the motorists who are being tracked with traffic ,congestion and Ulez cameras . Public transport users as you point out as well . 
Maybe if you walk with a hoodie up you might go un-tracked but as soon as you use your debit card or walk into a train station ,shop or pub 'bingo' your captured 

[Scott777]

The cashless system with the oyster card was working fine by the way , the phone apps have completely reversed the intention of them of speeding up the bus journey .

Was the intention of Oyster cards to speed it up?  Or just so they can monitor every bus journey you make, and have the potential to block you if needed?  If it's taking longer now with apps, the answer is there.

[Scott777]

This IT chaos highlights why it's such a bad idea, look at the outages around the world of major services because Microsoft (who are renowned for messing things up) had a hiccup with their systems

I used to develop database systems for private companies using MS Access, then one day a client's system became corrupted.  I had to fix the corruption, then find the cause.  I couldn't find it, and it happened again and again.  Eventually I found out it was a Microsoft update, which their IT maintenance people had done.  I uninstalled the update, and everything worked since.  I spent over 100 hours dealing with that.

But don't worry, Bill Gates is 100% reliable as a vaccine entrepreneur. 😉 🤣  

[papasmurf]

You are obviously tech savvy Nick . Many people out there haven't got a clue how their hand held super computer works

Judging by people attempting to pay at Supermarket checkouts with smartphones I agree. (I have seen similar on a bus, and it is entertaining watching people trying the get the car chargers to work at a supermarket looking puzzled at their smartphones.

[Streetwalker]

Nonsense, I can waft my phone and get authorised 5 times faster than someone paying with cash. Where do you get this twoddle from?

You are obviously tech savvy Nick . Many people out there haven't got a clue how their hand held super computer works 

[Streetwalker]

I use cash all the time. (People paying with phone apps are a pain in the proverbial, they slow down the queue.)

You want to see the carry on the London buses papa . 30 people in the scrum ,nobody queues anymore , and 15 of them are paying by phone 10 of which can't find the app within 30 seconds . The cashless system with the oyster card was working fine by the way , the phone apps have completely reversed the intention of them of speeding up the bus journey .

But in general I'm the same , I get paid in cash so I pay in cash . Cuts out the middle (tax) man  Which I suppose is why we are being pushed toward a cashless society 

[Borg Refinery]

I would be fine with a cashless society, but you've seen for yourself the debanking stuff - you've seen what the social credit system is like in China - I'm sure you know it's at least partially in our countries already, I don't know of any perfect solution.

The real conspiracist / preppers and full-on nuclear bunker owners with many tins of food and shotguns always insist on carrying things like gold around with you and rolexes and stuff you can trade as well as cash etc. I don't know the solution, we're jolly rogered most prob

[Nick]

Yep, that's the issue with hoarding cash, there's no good solution here: either face the wrath of the social credit systems, or get your cash seized instead

The future isn't bright but it is orange....... (especially if Trump gets in)

So how do you cross borders if your trip costs more than 10K, which seems to be the tipping point for the money laundering police? I couldn't even leave the U.K. without the one fingered glove treatment.  What is the difference if I have a debit card and withdraw cash abroad? The only time I needed a large chunk of cash was Russia, and I won't be going there again, so do we actually need cash?

[Borg Refinery]

The problem with carrying cash is that it can be seized,I was watching one of those motorway cops tv shows and they were doing an operation on untaxed no mot or insurance on a main route.

Amongst one of the cars stopped was a hire car and there was a dispute over whether it was insured or not,they searched the bloke who hired it and he was carrying a substantial amount of cash he was on the way to the races.

Felt sorry for the bloke,the car and his cash was seized and he was told to make his own way home.

Another of good old tones pieces of legislation.

Yep, that's the issue with hoarding cash, there's no good solution here: either face the wrath of the social credit systems, or get your cash seized instead

The future isn't bright but it is orange....... (especially if Trump gets in)

[Borg Refinery]

The cashless society is a bad idea. We saw the debanking scandal did we not? What happens when they roll out a bigger social credit system than currently exists? And mark my words, one does exist both here and in the UK and in the rest of Europe. Goodness knows what that means for the future?

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23665609.uk-moving-towards-chinese-style-social-credit-system-warns-farage/
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/565860-coming-soon-americas-own-social-credit-system/

Yes, we use cash infrequently here in the USA - most seem to like CashApp, Venmo and that other similar nonsense to get paid (banks here don't seem to have "faster payments" like in the UK and Europe, which is silly), they all work instantly - that doesn't mean it's a good thing; over reliance on tech is never good and we as a species have become overly reliant on tech

This IT chaos highlights why it's such a bad idea, look at the outages around the world of major services because Microsoft (who are renowned for messing things up) had a hiccup with their systems

In the UK, it seemed to me that many used 'faster payments' to pay or get paid when it came to sending/recving money.

[Nick]

I use cash all the time. (People paying with phone apps are a pain in the proverbial, they slow down the queue.)

Nonsense, I can waft my phone and get authorised 5 times faster than someone paying with cash. Where do you get this twoddle from?

[papasmurf]

It occurred to me on Sunday, I hadn't used cash apart from £1 coins in supermarket trollies, since 2023...

I use cash all the time. (People paying with phone apps are a pain in the proverbial, they slow down the queue.) 

[patman post]

Two points struck me: 

1. How can one corporation have so much power that when it messes up it affects most of the World, and 

2. Don't customer companies, many extremely large organisations themselves, have backup systems they can bring into pay if the main system goes down?

Years ago, retailers could revert to card machines that made carbon copies of cards and transaction details that customers had to sign. Obviously that took longer, but surely better than refusing trade.

It occurred to me on Sunday, I hadn't used cash apart from £1 coins in supermarket trollies, since 2023...

[papasmurf]

Times Radio anchor asked: "So how did Liz Trusses first at Microsoft go?"...

It could have been Failing Grayling.

[patman post]

In this case it appears it was human error. I suspect the culprit will be awarded the DCM. (Don't Come Monday.)

Times Radio anchor asked: "So how did Liz Trusses first day at Microsoft go?"...