Photo: AJY
All roads leads to cash as the best option.
EFTPOS UPDATE
For those who rely on using digital cards to pay for things, for which I hope there isn’t many on this website, it could be rough New Year’s ahead.
Aussies have been warned they could be left without access to payments through their mobile or wearable devices this New Year’s Eve, as an update to the country’s EFTPOS network will occur after the clock strikes midnight.
Customers of Australia’s major banks are being urged to manually update their mobile wallets to avoid a technical update that could render them unable to spend their own money on New Year’s Eve.
The automatic update in question is being rolled out to the 19.1 million EFTPOS cards on mobile wallets.
Depending on when a card was added to the wallet, Australian Payments Plus (AP+) said it could mean up to 60,000 people being unable to use their cards.
AP+ said the update being rolled out to debit cards on mobile wallets was to ensure consumers could continue to make payments via EFTPOS from January 1 2025.
Unfortunately, for New Year’s plans, it has been confirmed that the outage will start at 12.01am, meaning it could impact social plans for many Aussies relying on these EFTPOS services.
These updates will be across all mobile devices, with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay all likely impacted.
AP+ said customers likely to be impacted were those who added a debit card to their mobile wallet before July 2023 and had turned on options to send transactions via EFTPOS or used an EFTPOS-only debit card.
“Even though this could impact only a minority of consumers with EFTPOS debit cards in their mobile wallet, we are acting now out of an abundance of caution, as it is an extremely busy time of year for payments, and for those who won’t be able to complete a payment, it will matter,” AP+ Chief Executive Lynn Kraus said.
“On behalf of AP+, I apologise to anyone who might be impacted by this.”
Australian Banking Association Chief Executive, Anna Bligh (yes, Queensland’s former Premier), said customers shouldn’t be concerned with it ‘being a pretty quick fix’, stressing regular debit cards are fine for use.
However, despite them saying debit cards will be fine, as we have repeatedly seen, the warp-speed digitalisation of our economies has created huge vulnerabilities for the future — as previous worldwide IT outages demonstrate.
In July, let’s not forget that a digital paralysis rapidly spread around the world causing disruption at banks, airports, hospitals, television stations and many other organisations. Australian and U.S. airline operators, British doctors and French Olympic Games organisers were among those affected.
EFTPOS machines themselves have regularly failed because of software updates, like in September of last year with Woolworths and ANZ, impacting far beyond digital wallets themselves.. to also hit pay terminals.
And, just a few nights ago, we saw another outage that caused customers to lose access to their phone and online banking accounts just one day before Christmas.
These are just a couple of examples out of many we have seen in recent years.
So, in my humble opinion, your best bet when heading our for New Year’s is to carry cash with you, then you don’t have to worry about a digital update or any potential outages that could occur. No fees attached.
And, as an added bonus, your purchases aren’t tracked by the government and studied by AI. Win-win!
It only makes sense, and it recent years, more Australians are starting to realise these benefits.
KEEPING CASH ALIVE
The number of withdrawals from ATMs in Australia jumped 2.7 per cent between July 2024 (28,671,000 transactions) and August 2024 (29,438,600 transactions).
This spike amounted to a further 767,600 transactions across Australia in just a month, as growing pro-cash sentiment begins to develop again across the country.
There has been a very public backlash on surcharging recently highlighted in the news, as the cost of living crisis highlights the need to save every cent and exposes a major hole in the digital scheme.
You pay for a $4 coffee, and suddenly it’s $4.17 instead.
The Commonwealth Bank recently tried to introduce a $3 withdrawal fee from their own ATMs in a bid to further drive the cashless agenda, and it backfired significantly in their face with millions threatening to switch banks.
So, you can see just why cash withdrawals are on the rise, and why they will continue to grow.
All of this follows news in March where pro-cash activists flocked to ATMs to withdraw money in protest of Australia’s move to a cashless society, which made news headlines across the country.
Digital payment options cannot match the privacy, reliability, ease of budgeting, and instant settlement of cash.
We have been big proponents of slowing the sprint towards a cashless society, which we believe largely relies on an elderly population keeping it alive, as well as other case studies of societal reaction.
But the cost of living and soon-to-come Great Depression 2.0 may also be a reason a ‘blood market’ stays alive.
Because, once everything becomes digital, it is literally game over from there. Not just for tracking and control, but for the very foundations of our exchange system.
I often think back to 2015 when Google’s Vice-President, Vint Cerf, who is coined as a “father of the internet”, said he was worried that all documents we have been saving on computers will be lost.
He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a “digital Dark Age”.
Even more the reason to fight for the survival of cash.
Yes, it still is usury, but at least it isn’t tracked at every corner and subject to fail at any minute.
For those that do subscribe to the digital wallet ‘revolution’ towards implanted microchip payments, perhaps this may be a wake up call on New Year’s to not rely on such systems to run your life.
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I have made a huge effort to go back to cash and loving it, slows people down at the check-out and makes people think. I recently got paid for a dog sitting “job” by cash and did not put it in the bank rather just spent it slowly. I urge others to keep using cash.
Gt Depression Round 2, IS already with us! The Pre CONvid Lead-Up, was in line with Gt Depression Rd 1, where Central Banking systems, exchanged – BY FRAUD-, their ‘Paper assets’ for ‘Real’ Bricks & Mortar at Cents in the Dollar – AND DAMN the Outcomes to the Population@Large- OR their small business enterprise!
Inflation; On the back of the CONVID ‘Military – Quasi Martial Law/ConPliance Exercise’- for total CON-Troll GlobAlist entities, The ‘Created’ Inflation SWINDLE goes on unabated- at the Cost to the Usual John & Jan Public! THE ‘Excuse’ of Inflation, has been well covered. John & Jan Citizen, are spending ‘TOO’ much of their Coin on Products, AppaRentLie (Apparently.- But an unsubstantiated Lie Via FIAT ‘money’ Nonsense.), this OVER spending on ‘tangible’ product for coin by peasants, has Magically created Unacceptable less profitability to the FIAT creators (Globalist central Banksters & Ursurers) & their support underlings(RBAs), & lessened Control parameters on said Peasants existence. UM, Apologies- Inflation. ‘Solution’; The PET RBAs, increase Exponentially & rapidly, an Increase In ‘Thin Air’ FIAT ‘Lending Rates’- For ZERO Tangible reason, exacerbating Household Budgets pressures(This Strategically for EndTrapMeant CAN be/WAS the ONLY reason for Interest rate ‘Drops’ PRE CONVID! Corporations ONLY aim, IS Profit & Control – NOTHING else has ‘Priority’ – FULL STOP!! Government & All their Agencies, & their-THE Utilities IS/ARE Corporation/S! -Remember the term- ‘Indirect’ Taxation?). Now, the Household budgets are ‘Stripped’ to survival rates, & Jockeying expenditure, With an Increase in Blood/coin to A Bank – The 4 Major SAME bank, with ZERO Tangible return on Coin given per ‘Product’ return ratio! Add into this Swindle, ALL of the Circling Jackals & Hyenas involved in all Metrics of the ‘Rising’ UN-Real Estate jungle – The other WEALTH THEFT, diversion’d by CONVID/Festive Seasons & crumbs such as lower Fuel prices – MORE THAN Neutralised by Upper price pressures on Food & Energy/Utility price gouging! It’s O.K. Folks! THE Government, has promised ‘Relief’ via ‘Renewables’ – At Public Purse Expense = NOT Theirs! AND, Increased Medical benefits via NEO ‘Safe & Effective’ SDG mRNA Manufacturing facilities near you – At Public Purse Expense (Your Health TermiNation & Your Coin) = NOT theirs! – I’ll ADD it to the LONG Historical List by In-house UNIPARTY Circus providers – Which seem to have ALWAYS, ‘Worked’ for their Collective ‘Employers Benefit’= Apparently, that’s John & Jan Citizen & extended family – Pronouns Excluded!
CASH doesn’t ‘Fail’, when the Power’s Down, The NBN (No Bloody Network) is offline, You’ve just fueled up your car/done the Biweekly shop & your card ‘Fails’, The ‘E’ readers are down, – Embarrassment per ALL/ANY previous, Cash doesn’t ‘Uplink’ your expenditure – Location(phone or S.M.A.R.T anything)- Vital health stats(Fitzbitz)-Conversations!
Last; Apologies to Jackals & Hyenas, for relevant downgrade, in regard to Human operations reference.
Wellness
Yes John, you are right on the money (pun intended). Our so called Government is a Corporation, and their employees get paid well for life! We never had a referendum to change from the monarchy to Queen of Australia, which only exists on paper. We are totally ripped off in every way. The lies are never ending to keep us in a false sense of reality. The Government Corporation owns everything already. They can take your land, home and your assests at whim. We might as well live under a rock like some people.
I won’t be living under a rock, Lin, but the Corporation (which means “a dead entity”) can be jammed “where the sun don’t shine”…so that may be under a rock or…
Me either, I was being sarcastic.
Won’t worry me, I’m mostly a “cash man”. And I am not so popular as to be deluged with NYE invitations, so after a Mt Lofty run I’ll have a quiet evening at home with Pixie the cat.
Sounds good to me Graham. All those fireworks are toxic anyway. Just to add to the poison list of things we have to ingest.