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Re: Fwd: Starbucks signs up with Square.

Posted by Victoria Hughes on Aug 08, 2012; 4:56pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Fwd-Starbucks-signs-up-with-Square-tp7580337p7580342.html

Why not both?

What is your take on things like the Santa Fe Time Bank ?

Go on, Steve, we love it when you rant.....


Tory

On Aug 8, 2012, at 10:47 AM, Steve Smith wrote:

I'll be more interested in this when it is applied to some kind of local barter currency.

We are all (mostly) upper middle class professionals with fat bank accounts (well maybe not if you got caught in the market or housing collapse)... but the point is... most of us have significant resources.  

We are not deciding if today's wages from the $10/hour job we are lucky to have is going to buy groceries, repair the car, or pay down our last visit to the ER because we don't have medical insurance or a regular physician.  

If/when barter networks grow to a proper scale, they can help normalize the distribution of (cash) wealth in a community.  Many of us may think that our time is worth 10 times that of the person who hauls off our trash, but in fact, in a true community, everyone's time and energy and engagement is valuable and is NOT a commodity.  I *want* my friends and neighbors to live a vibrant life even if they haven't engaged deeply in the cash economy.  This is part of what limited the success of SFX with the City contract!  Their metrics were almost entirely measured in $$, which makes sense for them, but the other exchanges that happen(ed) via SFX (and this list is a precursor/extension) is a good example.   Owen's pentalobe and magnifiers "saved" me probably hundreds of dollars and weeks of anguish (if I'd just handed my soggy phone to an Apple person), and if I "pay it forward" and help another friend replace a screen, that is multiplied.  

We should all be willing to trade an hour of our time helping our neighbor set up a network of sensors in their gardens and henhouse for a dozen eggs or a colander full of fresh greens rather than ordering them on amazon to be delivered by a stranger wearing a jet pack and paid for by shaking our mobile phone in a magic pattern in the direction of theirs.

In the meantime, I see things like square as very useful for folks like Tory and entertaining to many of the rest of us as early adopters of a cashless system.   I first saw this (not square but something like it) 5 years ago at a concert where the road manager for a band took orders for a copy of the *live* performance we were watching to be made on-the-fly and distributed 15 minutes after the end of the concert.  The guy whipped out his iPhone with a tiny dongle (like the square) stuck in the top of the phone and he swiped your card, asked for 2-3 pieces of information and viola!   He had a CD duplicating machine onsite next to his laptop recording the feed from the mixer and viola!  I was happy to pay $15 on the spot!   I think the graphics for the cover were prepared ahead of time (in the hotel the night before?)...

I think personal POS systems are very good ways to help individuals move up the "food chain" and get paid the retail price for things instead of some producers price that a wholesaler marks up double to a retailer who marks it up double and they all conspire to ship it all over the country and throw some percentage away as waste or discount it below your original cost to remainder it in large lots.

I believe that much of the third world has adopted cell phone "credit" as a (micro) currency to be zipped around between cell phones *without* a credit card *or* a square...   I'm not clear on the details, but I don't think most of them can get credit (or debit) cards and the big companies would never settle for 2-3% of transactions under $1 ...   but somehow the cell phone prepaid credit system manages (they are working on the "float" of our cash for one thing.).

I also hope that if someone offers (I know this to be likely actually) a few cowrie shells or more likely, a piece of their own work that catches Tory's eye, she would make that trade before whipping out her square and her iPhone to collect cash into her account.   This is important in building and maintaining the networks we call "community".  Exchange of value over commodification of people's time and effort.

errrh... Don't let me get off on a rant here...

- Steve
The 2.75 is less than the 2.99 + 30 cents a transaction that Paypal charges. As for most people with small businesses, Paypal has been my primary tool for cc transactions for years now: I have two shopping cart websites and a number of pp buttons standing alone on one of my regular websites. 
Square means I don't need to rely on the customer to click through, or send an invoice and wait for payment to confirm sales. And neither of us has to be online for transactions to happen. 
Have heard great stories of people at yard sales and flea markets using Square. 

Acrually, it's becoming cash in that sense, yes? 
Right here, right now, I give you money and you give me stuff. 

We still rely on the illusion of a layer of tech to do it. 
We carry around our virtual cowrie shells, and agree to leave them here and there.

Ever hear about Yap Money?

We became a mobile economy a while ago. 
Does this mean the implants are next?

Tory

On Aug 8, 2012, at 10:04 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:

On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Victoria Hughes <[hidden email]> wrote:
I have one also, and love it. Artists were very early adapters to this technology, for obvious reasons. 
Many of us who are small businesses / artists find this solves perennial POS issues, particularly when we have studio sales, or sell at  shows around the US.

Tory 

Interesting!  Any tales to tell about their account, deposits etc?  Do you find the 2.75% cost OK?

My next use will be to take a friend to quail run for dinner, charge it to our bill, and take the friend's part from his credit card (he never carries money, only cards).  The interchange is necessary due to QR's quarterly meal charge .. if you don't use it, you loose it and it has to be on your account.

I initially thought this was as nuts as my earlier buying tools, magnifier, etc to fix my iPhone, but thus far both have been used in interesting situations.

   -- Owen 
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Tory Hughes
unusual objects and unique adornments 








============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org


============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
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