Thread

1. unified101 · 1791017006 · focus · HN ↗

   The actual answer is there's operational cost to handling cash, or payment methods beyond the ones that cover 99.9% people well. You pay more for the extra hassle the whole system has to serve that .1%

   You may not like or disagree with it. But it's the true answer.

   1. 63stack · 1791021993 · focus · HN ↗

      How does that compare to the operational cost of developing an app, maintaining an app, paying for the infrastructure behind it, and having the payment processors take their cut, operate customer support etc?

      1. spwa4 · 1791064886 · focus · HN ↗

         Banks charge business customers 0.3% to 0.6% to deposit cash into bank accounts. So if 1% of people would pay cash that would be 20 billion * 1% = 200 to 400 million GBP per year, purely in deposit fees.

         On top of that they'd need to pay their employees more and of course handling cash comes with security and, inevitably, enforcement. Additionally, you need people at every place where cash can be used as opposed to having almost all public transport stations unmanned like in Italy.

         So let's say ~double that and round to 600 million to a billion GBP per year.

         You can do some serious app development with that I would think. And because they don't pay the app store tax it's going to really be close to that amount.

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