Netherlands: “only people with bank cards may cross this canal”
Netherlands: “only people with bank cards may cross this canal”
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.