Great seats still available! Hurry before they're all gone!
Posted on 06/14/2014 11:05:54 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Dropped wallets, mile-long lines to buy a hotdog, and stolen cash are a thing of the past - at least at music festivals in Sweden.
Cash is no longer king. Many Swedish music festivals will soon be entirely cashless, organizers announced on Friday.
"All festival armbands will have chips," said Niklas Westergren, marketing director at FKP Scorpio, one of the largest organizers of music festivals in Sweden. "Before the festival begins, people can create a profile where they can add their bank details."
Instead of keeping track of cash, festival-goers can transfer money from their accounts and then just swipe their armbands to make purchases. If the money loaded on the armband runs out, there will be filling-stations on the festival grounds to make additional transfers. Any funds left over on the armband would be automatically transferred back to the user's bank account after the festival.
"It takes much less time to make purchases this way," Westergren said.
The concept is "well-established" at festivals abroad, and was tested in Sweden for the first time at the rock festival Sthlm Fields which took place in May. Bråvalla, an international music festival in Norrköping at the end of June, will also use the system. Wireless festival payment systems were rolled out at several events in the UK in 2012, and the first multi-day cashless festival in the US took place in May at Mysterland.
Festivals may be the next stepping stone on Sweden's way to becoming a cashless society. Only 27 percent of retail sales are made in cash, and those numbers would be even lower if online sales were included.
As for me, I’ll just opt out of Swedish Music Festivals. They just haven’t been the same since ABBA, anyway...
“Festivals may be the next stepping stone on Sweden’s way to becoming a cashless society. Only 27 percent of retail sales are made in cash, and those numbers would be even lower if online sales were included.”
People often talk of the same happening here in the US, but an unintended consequence of bringing the Thrid World here is that cash is still king. Here in NJ many people work for cash, and pay for everything (including the rent on their illegal apartments) with it. Helps the gibsmedats double-dip, keeping Uncle Sam out of everyone’s business...
Great seats still available! Hurry before they're all gone!
“They just haven’t been the same since ABBA, anyway”
You’re a fan of ABBA ? Who knew ?
Is that Benny Hill in front?
Or Blue Swede...”Oooga ooooga ooooga shaka.....Oooga ooooga ooooga shaka.....”
Are any of those 4 people women?
“All festival armbands will have chips,” said Niklas Westergren, marketing director at FKP Scorpio, one of the largest organizers of music festivals in Sweden. “Before the festival begins, people can create a profile where they can add their bank details.”
Absolutely nothing could go wrong with this scenario now could it. Load all their bank details on to a chip for their arm bands. Nah, no problem there. Skol!
I blame my Swiss cousins for my liberal indoctrination into ABBA as a little kid in 1977-78.
A Hackers Paradise!
(Are any of those 4 people women?) Now? or ever in their lives?
Gee, who knew???
….oh, wait…..
that was brutal...
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