Cash or Plastic

[Bravo Sierra]

A friend of mine called me up last weekend asking whether I wanted to go with him to Harbor Freight and Cabela's afterward. He just gotten paid, and had his pocket full of money. I had finished stacking my firewood for the winter, and was so ready to be not stacking wood that his offer to buy lunch was unnecessary.

So we head down and pick up a few things at the tool store before heading to Cabela's at the candy, I mean the gun section. Eventually, the two of us were checking out when we were questioned by managment, who was concerned with the amount of ammo being purchased. Between the two of us, we spent over $1,000 on ammo. We did not get anything else in the store.

When questioned, my friend just stared at the manager and said "Sir, the last I heard, there was nothing wrong with buying or possessing ammo and if he didn't like it, we would be more than happy to make several trips to the truck." The manager backed off, and all the ammo was paid for in cash in a single purchase.

When I'm at the local hardware/sporting goods, I frequently toss in a box or two of ammo with everything else, and put it on plastic just like I do gas, groceries and near everything else that I purchase. It all gets paid when the bill comes, so I'm not paying interest on it. My wife wants it this way, because she does all the books and she wants to track the expenses.

This day however my friend insisted I carry cash for the purchase. Not a big deal, as there was an ATM on the way. My friend also said I should not do the Cabela's survey or use the receipt to register for one of the big, shiny trucks that Cabela's is giving away.

My friend explained that I do not want my name connected with guns and ammo in the credit card company database where consumers are profiled based on their purchases. My friend always pays cash for ammo and guns.

If you buy a lot of power tools and motorcycle parts for example, your consumer purchases are apparently stored and analyzed by the corporate overlords, who then can identify your consumer habits to include tools and motorcycles which are then sold to marketers who try to pinpoint your buying habits so they can sell you more stuff. It is called data mining. You would likewise be identified as a gun owner if you paid for guns and ammo with plastic.

My friend says he is being "cautious". I'm not sure he is wrong about this, and I'm guessing that there are many people out there that agree with my friend. Any thoughts?

 

[oldfool]

Your friend is no doubt a peach of a fellow, but he probably needs to get together with the folks here who are frightened by the prospect of someone seeing or touching their DL, and he needs to keep his cash buried in mason jars in the back yard, not in an ohmygosh bank account.

Use lots of duct tape on those mason jars, and beware of those quickie-stop pay-by-card gas pumps, too; once they get their hands on your zip code, just no telling what disaster will follow that. It's a conspiracy, you know, they are all in cahoots with Cabelas and Wallyworld.

PS
I use a debit card for pretty much anything/everything off-line. I sometimes have no cash on me at all.
There is not a snowball's chance I would walk around with $1000 in cash in my pocket, and simply no need.
A lump that size would simply conflict with the smooth profile of my CCW anyway.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I vote cash, but only because I'm starting to really think that the road to hell is paved not with good intentions but with credit cards instead.

 

[FROGO207]

I vote whatever. Well there might be a little concern with the new homeland security thing if one goes in and makes a $1K purchase every other week for a year or two-----BUT??:banghead: You know that they already flag you if you buy a large number of firearms at once don't you? I do however have a couple debit cards that are used for internet/phone purchases that have small amounts on balance in case there is ID theft. One to use and one as a reserve, both with less than $30 in each. If I want something I transfer funds in on line and buy within 24 hours. This also limits my impulse purchases and ultimately saves me a lot of cash.
Guess I gota buy into a tinfoil company soon.

 

[tarosean]

I vote cash, but only because I'm starting to really think that the road to hell is paved not with good intentions but with credit cards instead.

This.... Gave up credit cards 15yrs ago. (except my debit/cc).. Guns, Ammo and everything else is expensive enough without interest added on top of it.

 

[M-Cameron]

i rarely carry much cash one me......most everything goes on a debit card.......if my wallet gets lost/stolen, one call to the bank and my cards are canceled...

i dont think i ever carry more than $20-30 on me at any given time.....

im not really too concerned that people know i have guns......shooting isnt something im ashamed of, and its not yet illegal.....so i dont exactly go to any great length to hide it.....

 

[mdauben]

I vote cash, but only because I'm starting to really think that the road to hell is paved not with good intentions but with credit cards instead.

Agree!

I dug myself out of a self-inflicted pit of debt a few years back. These days, everything except cars and houses gets paid for with cash or debit cards.

I sleep much better at night, now.

 

[BCCL]

If you've ever belonged to a range, a gun rights group or bought a gun in a store, even with cash, you already have a paper trail of gun ownership.

 

[oldfool]

On-line is just too convenient to not have a credit card, but pre-paid limit debit/cc cards can be had most anywhere these days, if you are really worried about it
(no different than pre-paid calling cards for cell phones)

Yes, using a credit card "revolving" balance is about as dumb as it gets in this world
But using a debit card representing your bank checking account on-line is a real poor notion also
If you pay your credit card balance in full every week no-fail, no interest charges, no fees, and monitor your transactions weekly, the risk factors are mighty small.

Unless, of course, the conspirators really are out to get you.

 

[Sav .250]

Sign of the times..........

 

[303tom]

I did not vote, no place that said Debit, I use a plastic card but it is basically CASH !

 

[sansone]

I voted cash but I think your friend is paranoid, sounds like my buddy

 

[northark147]

I rarely carry cash.. If I happen to loose my wallet, I am out a total of about 40 bucks to replace everything in it. As far as the Govt knowing I am a gun nut, I assume a form 4 or 2 already took care of that for me. As far as businesses knowing I wanna buy guns and sending me some good deal.. BRING IT ON!!!

 

[Michael R.]

i would use a cash or debit card, because with credit your bill can get out of control at the end of the month.

 

[thanatopsis]

to the Original poster your buddy is right credit card companies do compile a list of your purchases and use it to sell to data miners the issue is the data doesn't go as Jone Doe likes XYZ its comes as XX% of males of Y age are into LMNOP.

the reality though is the big box stores you buy stuff from do the same thing so you gain no benefit from from cash the only difference is the store doesn't know your age or gender unless you have filled out a membership card.

there are some minor issues to be causes about with all this like the fact that credit card and debit card companies could forget to truly make the data they sell to marketers anonymous but for the most part it give marketers a better idea of what people are interested in. which means we find out about new products that we want instead of finding out about the next revolution in potato peeling.

 

[ForumSurfer]

I rarely carry more than $20. I voted either. It is too late to change my ways now. I've been profiled for years.

Your friend is a little correct actual. It isn't a conspiracy, though. It is simply great ideas and capitalism at work.

I once worked for a supper-duper large retail chain on network support. They do perform data mining. It is a super big business. It made one of the retail giants what they are today. PM me and I'll give you some google search terms and you can research and form your own opinion to see that I'm not making this up.

They compare what you buy and where you live. This isn't an address with your name or your personal info, simply something like a zipcode and a generated buyer number. They use this to see what people from a certain region are purchasing. They then use this data to better stock the store. It is why certain chain stores carry a different quantity of certain things than other stores. This only works if you pay with plastic of some sort.

So your friend's paranoia IS partially justified. I wouldn't tell him, though...he'll just get better tinfoil for his hat.

 

[BSA1]

I trust your buddy doesn't get any gun related in the mail, such as magazines or flyers/ads. All big brother has to do is check the contents of your mailbox. Low tech? yes. Effective? yes.

 

[CTPhil]

Plastic, because I buy my ammo online. Otherwise I never use a credit card.

 

[mbopp]

Plastic for almost everything unless the seller has a surcharge for it. It gets paid off every month.

 

[montanaoffroader]

For brick and mortar stores, I generally use cash. I have an separate account with a debit card linked to it that I use only for online/phone orders, just to keep down the chances of someone draining the household account.

I'm not overly concerned with ideal of 'someone' tracking my purchases, but I can't see using credit cards and running a balance. Been there, done that, no need to do it again.

 

[ny32182]

99% of my gun related purchases are online, and it is pretty hard to buy from Midway/etc with cash.

But I don't carry cash anyway; if I have more than $20 on me there is usually a specific reason for it. I track my expenses carefully; I like to know where my money is going, and plastic makes that much easier since all your transactions are listed in one nice column on the website.

If he's worried about "plastic" because he thinks he lacks the self control to not spend more money than he has, personally I have never understood this, but if cash helps him to not do that, great. If he's worried about the blue helmets finding out about him buying ammo... too late. They already know. Tightening the tinfoil is about all he can do.

 

[MMCSRET]

I use my debit card at my bank ATM to keep my pocket stocked with cash. I keep several hundred cash on me at all times. I buy my fuel on base using my Military Star credit card and pay it off every time the statement comes by writing a check. I buy 90% of my groceries and house hold requirements at the Commissary or the Exchange and I will use cash or the Military Star card. The only CC I have is the Military Star and it is the basic version that is only good on base. I can use a debit in town or traveling, if needed but I keep it to a minimum. I like cash and in my part of the world cash and personal checks are still the most common ways to pay.

 

[csa77]

I use cash for almost everything. guns groceries gas ect.
I could count on one hand how many times I used my credit card this year,they were for online orders.

 

[Krzyshng]

I use credit all day every day. Main reason being cash back and rewards points. If you have a decent card and pay balance in full it's like a 1-3% discount on all your expenses. Its also more convenient than cash and more secure than debit which if compromised allows someone to drain your whole account.


As far as data mining and conspiracy theories we already submit to background checks so its no secret to Big Brother. Unless your friend avoids the internet google has already amassed more info about him than Cabela's could dream of. I'd only be concerned about the criminal element knowing about my guns/ammo not some corporations looking to market stuff to me.

 

[Bravo Sierra]

Thanks for the info everyone. I ordinarily use cash for haircuts only, because my barber doesn't take credit cards. I also get cash back on my credit card purchases, (I got 1.3k back recently), so I'll be using credit cards for nearly everything.

On one hand, I'd like to think that worrying about the data miners is tin-foil hattery. But then again, there are examples of businesses providing information to the government under the guise of preventing terrorism. I'm sure there are more examples, but the one that comes to mind is Verizon and other companies which gave the NSA vast amounts of consumer information. We are being surveiled, to a degree at least, and it would be a mistake in my view to not have any skepticism.

I realize my gun purchases have been recorded and I can live with that. While I'm not doing anything illegal and have nothing to hide, I still resist the idea that anyone, whether a neighbor or a corporation, needs to know how much ammo I keep. It all comes down to how that information is used, and I'm not ready to trust that corporations will never provide my information to the government. My neighbor maybe gets to see what I've got stored, but really that should be my call.

As far as my friend goes, he might be a crank and a bit paranoid, but I trust him with my tools and I have trusted him with my guns (my other tools) as well.