Of course, that was a localized incident. The scenarios necessary for months long disconnect would include a whole lot of additional, uh, challenges? But it does show how fragile our electronic dependency is. Think no EBT card...

 

Good object lesson. Now you know why you prep.

 

Same happened in my nearest town a few weeks ago, the one "backhoe through the phone line" trick but nobody knew that at the time. Businesses could do nothing.

Certainly brings it home how fragile the system is.

 

imagine a Carrington / EMP event knocking out phones/puters for months. scary.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=331735&highlight=carrington

 

the folly of a "cashless" society. What I've witnessed, power out and electric cash registers don't work but an enterprising merchant can and will do business with cash.

 

One of our mini-mart had the same problem with computers but were able to still take cash, people coming in wondering why they couldn't charge for gas were FURIOUS. Not many people at all were getting gas but the few who were made such a commotion. When it goes down you better be ready in a second because people are going to explode, be prepared and I mean mentally because the atmosphere is going to turn to conflict very quickly.

 

that's like the show revolution. We live in an electric world. Nothing can be done without electricity.

 

A pad of paper, a short pencil, and a functioning brain can make life SO much easier.

 

Yep, during the winter the power gets knocked out fairly often for a few days at a time, the little gas and grocery down the way will operate by lantern, pad and pen.... The pumps won't work but you can still grab some smokes and coffee without having to drive the 10 miles to town where some of the shops run of generators... population of 2,500 in my area.. town is 9,200

I always keep a shelf full of gas cans topped up, food In the pantry and a couple of unread books on the shelf. ..

Nothing worse than getting caught with your pants down

 

Just don't expect the minimum wage goof at the register to be able to give back change. Thats for the high math kids at skool!

 

If the lines were going to be down and/or out for more than a few hours or even a day, I would guarantee those retailers would figure out an alternative means of ringing up sales real quick.
In the "dark ages", we had a "book" that we would look up credit card numbers to make sure they were not stolen or otherwise no good. Now, I would wager that these books aren't even published anymore.

 

Syn' not only do they not publish the books anymore, most of the folks behind the counter would be unable to use them. The problem of the numbers all being in some kind of strange order would be confusing.

If the computers were down (aka just missing internet) just about every company with even half assed management has a procedure to make a phone call and have an authorization number given and then typed into the system. Then again you have to be able to trust your employee not to put 10k on a $21.19 approval. Most of the normal clerks know nothing of these procedures.

Wub

 

I don't see how cell phones were affected?
What about roaming ones?

$ general had their computers down, so they could only take cash or checks.
Had to wait for register to figure out computer was down to use checks but it took them.

 

OP said:

... The next day I learned a car had crashed into the major hub of the Phone line which knocked out everything.

The same happens at our near city also.

 

This in a nutshell is why the vehicle always gets topped off when it gets to around a half a tank. Why there is food and water in the pantry. And why there is enough stuff in all my vehicles to get us home safe.

Plus stuff stowed at work, my wife keeps a few cans of soup and a few bottles of water in her desk at work.

It doesn't always have to be a big catastrophe to cause you real trouble.

I read a story about two years ago about two young girls going to their friend's houseMat night, in the winter, to spend the night.

This was I-81 in Pennsylvania. It was winter, they left with not much gas, but enough to get them there. They left in their pajamas, and slippers, in a snow storm. Got stranded on I-81 and had to spend the night in their car which ran out of gas. No blankets, sleeping bags or extra clothes, not even jackets. Just PJs and slippers. They lived, but they strained the supplies of those who were prepared. And they had a miserable night.

Folks you can't make this stuff up.

Where I live, we were prepping long before it was called prepping. It just makes sense to have what you need in your car to keep yourself and your family alive. It is common sense really.

If you are down to half a tank, that gas station without power is no big deal. If you are on vapors, you're screwed.

 

We (Pa) had a famous one a few years ago when Rendell was the Gov. There was a snowstorm that hit much worse than predicted. PennDOT wouldn't send out the plows without the gov's say so and he was sleeping. The aids didn't want to disturb him. Bunch of cars got into drifts on I78 outside Allentown. By the time the gov work up, had breakfast, and ok'd the plows there were something like 500 cars stuck in the drifts and it took two days to plow em out. Very few people had winter cloths and boots to walk a mile or two for help. Most stayed in their cars and toughed it out with little food or warmth. Couple kids had to be taken to the hospital for exposure.

This all happened within 25 miles of a city of 100,000 people. Someone who was prepared could have hiked to safety in half a day.

 

Mostly they will take Cash.


Had something similar when I was towing across NY on the NY turnpike (Apparently all their systems are connected.)
-For those who don't know, the stops are pretty much Gov Contracted.

If I hadn't had $500 in cash for gas I'd of been sitting for no telling now long.

 

This was before the "computer age" as we know it today, but 26 years ago on my wedding day my buddy, who took me to the church and was in our wedding, stopped at a burger joint to buy me my last meal as a single man. The cash registers were the older computerized type used before the age of debit cards, but they had the name of the item that the cashier needed to ring up on the register keys. So if you ordered a Big Deluxe burger, you hit the key that said Big Deluxe and it displayed the price on the screen . When you were done the total button was hit and it gave you the total tax and all. Well these registers were down. Out of probably ten people working there, there was one lady working there who could use an adding machine to tally up the order and figure the tax. Cashiers were writing down the orders. There was a ten key machine at each register. She would run to this register and tally up the total for that cashier and then run to the other one to do the subtraction after the customer had handed the cashier the money. Then back to the other one. The place was crowded and tempers were flaring. That was back when EVERYBODY paid with cash or check. At least for that type of purchase cause the burger joints and such wouldn't accept a credit card (Jump up and show your age if you remember the old carbon copy credit card slide that made an imprint of your card when you used it for payment) because it was a major hassle. As quickly as people lost it over a burger then imagine what kind of mess it would be for the whole debit/credit network to crash and be down for any length of time. You better be prepared to ride it out at home it won't be safe in public as long as that is going on. We use direct deposit and debit and all that, my employer won't do payroll any other way. But every payday I go and take out cash to do our day to day business and add to our emergency cash stash. It's not a question of if it will ever happen but when. The length and severity are the only things in question to me.

 

During Hurricane Sandy the local Mom and Pop stores could sell for cash. The franchised stores and gas stations couldn't take any credit cards. Cash was king. Most stores here were closed for the two week power outage in my town. Some for longer some shorter depending on location.

We are a fragile society. depending on computers and credit. Stash some cash with your preps.

 

It pays to have gas reserve at home .
I have 2 -55 gallon drums and keep spare gas in all my equipment.
also a 55 of diesel and 2-18s as well.
Some times at the end of the month money runs a bit tight, so I dip into the reserves I know that need refreshing any way. Those are topped off first , it's the principle.
And it's like a savings account.

 

Have used cash every time we had power down here for a decade. Keep small bills so you are only ever out the coin change. Seems pretty simple.

But you would be surprised at how many people cant use a simple pocket calculator.

 

Makes me wonder what would happen if it were to last for months or longer?

People would have to learn how to do math?

 

Is there an app for that?

 

I used to own a business. You can bet your life if somebody was standing there waving cash money at me, they were going to leave with what they wanted.

Many times, I let strangers leave with purchases when they forgot their wallets or purses. It builds a really loyal customer base, and I never once got screwed.

Down under the cash register, covered with dust was the old mechanical card swiper for the really stormy days. Swipe the card, get the number on the back and call it in when the power comes back on.

 

Not to make fun, but a town of 40k is not a small town. lol
My home town has barely over 1k people. The next closest town the same plus a hundred or two.
Heck the closest big town is like 20 min away and only has around 5.5/6k people.
These are small towns...

But to be on topic... I can definetely see people freaking out when they cant use their magic cards to purchase things.
But as others have pointed out, if a mechant wants $$, they will figure out a way to conduct business with either cash or check.

I believe my little town would do just fine for a day or two. Perks of knowing everyone, and could posiibly just put everything on credit until they could come back and pay...

 

Not to make fun, but a town of 40k is not a small town. lol
My home town has barely over 1k people. The next closest town the same plus a hundred or two.
Heck the closest big town is like 20 min away and only has around 5.5/6k people.
These are small towns...

But to be on topic... I can definetely see people freaking out when they cant use their magic cards to purchase things.
But as others have pointed out, if a mechant wants $$, they will figure out a way to conduct business with either cash or check.

I believe my little town would do just fine for a day or two. Perks of knowing everyone, and could posiibly just put everything on credit until they could come back and pay...

Beat me to it.

 

That's silly. I once ran a camera store in Burbank. Power goes down & I'd take cash or check and write up a receipt by hand. Might even do a bit of barter. Score one for owner operated small business.

 

My neighbor in the Strip Mall had a major breakdown the last time we lost power. I fired up my generator to run my freezers, lanterns for light, pencil, paper, and receipt book for sales. Cell Phone and old card swipe machine for Credit/Debit cards! We plodded through.

Neighbor sold Catholic supplies and was crying about sitting in the dark. Wanted to borrow a flashlight. When I asked her why she didn't have a few candles burning, she looked like I just punched her in the gut!

 

Funny,

She wouldn't use her candles, but wanted your flashlight,

People crack me up!

 

Keep that in mind of TEOTWAWKI.

Its gonna get very ugly from that direction.

 

Sometimes Cash Will Not Even Work

I for one find it completely amazing that business transactions shut down if sort sort of non controllable thing happens seemingly non connected to the business at hand.

Years ago we took a two day trip to the Oregon Coast. Very close by. Seems some drunk clipped a tree holding the .... you guessed it, the computer and credit card lines.

No business could do anything. Like everybody panicked. Nobody considered doing business the old fashioned way before credit cards or computer networks. Amazing.

Fortunately, the motel we finally selected COULD and did take old fashioned CASH. Seems some smart clerk figured out a pen and pencil transaction format worked.

Very scary indeed. And all of this was WITH electricity! I can not imagine how things would have turned out without THAT!! Live and learn. HB of CJ (old coot) SW OR.

 

My POS system operates and does credit card transactions over IP but we would still be able to do business if internet and power went down. If just internet went down we can still use the POS to record cash transactions and I have a card terminal on a phone line as a backup. If power/phone went down as well I keep an old fashioned knuckle buster and slips for cards. Just have to key them in when service is restored. I trust our customers enough for that. My staff is smart enough to tally with pen and paper and a calculator. If it went on long enough I can run most shop functions with my generator as well.

 

yup...great observation...

I had a similar experience a year ago while at a local, a suburban grocery store, lowes foods...their systems went down, could only take cash, I always have 200.00 on me, and was able to pay for my items but all of the ebt/snap crowd went ape **** crazy....

I kept my head on a swivel, hauled my stuff out and boogied home...

it will get ugly fast, make no mistake about it....

the folks that will survive the initial breakdown will those who recognize it first, can get inside the "ooda loop," do their business and get away, and be willing and able to go loud if and when necessary with the firstest and mostest...