[geeks] Hrm. Suspicious

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Tue, Dec 11, 2001 at 05:48:58PM -0500, Big Endian wrote:
> >  In this country there exists a general feeling that dealing in cash
> >is wrong or "shady" in some way.  While I generally don't consider
> >myself to be a conspiracy theorist, I believe this idea has been
> >propagated by our government because cash is much more difficult for
> >them to track than more "respectable" methods of money transfer.
> 
> Cash is not more "shady" but MUCH more dangerous.  I don't deal in 
> *LARGE* cash transactions because I don't have any recourse if the 
> deal goes south.  Cash is also much more prone to theft, and is 
> generally harder to come by in large sums.  That said there *ARE* 
> advantages to cash (instant, less likely to screw the seller over [ie 
> seller delivers, buyer still disputes the charges],lower overhead [no 
> credit merchant accounts])

Not only is cash safer for the seller, it is also safer for the buyer.  Think 
about it.  If I write a check to joschmoe ebay dealer, what is to keep that
guy from using the information on my check to open a paypal account for me, 
then take more money than I wrote the check for from me?  At one time I was 
willing to pay for a lot of things buy check.  Now I mainly only pay for car
repairs and tuition by check.  Everything else is cash or money order (or if
there are unusual circumstances I might get a parent to order it for me on
their credit cards).  Probably time to just get a real credit card of my own.

Interestingly, I have no credit history, but my credit union just approved a 
$4k loan to me with no collateral and co-signer.  In the end, I expect that I
am just going to get my old car repaired, and look into a car loan again in the
summer.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd