That other plastic problem

[Weedo]

A whinge or vent, take your pick

It is that time of year again; the time when your various plastic card replacements arrive and you need to "activate" them etc.
I have had three arrive this week and it started me thing about just what we are doing (I will reaffirm that selfsufficientish in practice is still on my dream list but not there yet - the bank insists I keep paying the mortgage)

I took at look at my plastic card collection - I currently have 2 Eftpos cards (1 joint account and 1 personal) 2 Mastercards (as per the eftpos cards) 2 Visa cards (1 corporate (work) and 1 farm) 2 Fishing licences (1 NSW and 1 Vic) 1 Firearms Licence, 1 Drivers Licence, 1 I.D & Authority card (corporate / enforcement) 1 Security Passcard (Dept offices), 1 NRMA Card (viz RAC or AA), 1 Medicare card (public health) 3 membership cards (Co-ops etc) 1 Opal card (public transport NSW) and 1 Myki card (public transport Vic) 19 Plastic Cards!

This prompted me to look at others things I regularly cart around such as technology - 1 laptop plus ancillaries, 1 iPad plus ancillaries (because some programs (Apps) I need to use only run on iPad or iPhone and I can only remotely access my corporate network etc. via laptop) 2 smart (sic) phones plus ancillaries(1 corporate and 1 private because I can't use the corporate for personal tasks and refuse to use the private for corporate) 1 external 1tb hard drive (for secure backup) plus various other pieces. This makes a neat little package of 5 Kg; just withing the cabin luggage allowanges for regional airlines and a little heavier than my overnight bag.

Before I became enlightened and grew wise I innapropriately carried cash and perhaps a cheque book; the people behind the counter at the co-ops knew who I was and asked how the family was; I did have a drivers, firearms and fishing licence (paper); I did have official Identification (paper); I carried 2 pens (waterprooof ink) 1 pocket notebook and 1 A4 hardback diary; if I needed bulky paperwork at my destination I mailed it forward; I bought transport tickets from delightfully helpful people behind little wire screens; I actually could talk to a bank manager who actually made decisions and my offices were not locked in behind automatic security doors and video surveillance.

[Green Aura]

Aye, that'll be progress.
We have a small stack of cheque books - does anyone take cheques any more? I'm not entirely sure wht to do with them. Maybe in a few years I'll be able to sell them as antiques on Ebay.

[Brewtrog]

We regularly still take cheques at work (post office), and I'm even paid by cheque, which I still find weird after all the talk of getting rid of them a few years back.

[Odsox]

Do all those cards you mentioned Weedo only have a lifetime of 1 year then?

I've just been through my wallet and all by bank cards, credit and debit, all have a 3 year life time
My driving licence has a 3 year life, but only because I'm over 70, otherwise It's 10 years
My pan-European medical card lasts for 5 years
My Irish public service card lasts for my lifetime
My wife has many store/loyalty cards which last forever.
Which just leaves my Irish medical card which is annual.

Oh and there's a few bank notes in my wallet as well, but they tend to be very short lived.

[Green Aura]

Even our new banknotes feel like plastic and have clear windows in!

[Flo]

"They" reckon that the only way to cut down on plastic is to buy less stuff.

[Weedo]

Not all annual Odsox; as with yours they range from annual to five year periods. It was just that this year a few came due at once and the bank changed all their cards to tap types so these were all renewed at once. It was just the EVENT when I got a renewal in the mail each day last week that triggered the whinge.

I would question the need for so many cards though (but I do question the need for them at all) - most have an embedded microchips capable of holding significant data; why can't we have one or two cards programmed for multiple uses?

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to the Govt service centre to'ave me mug shot tooked again (once for each card!); perhaps I will shave the beard off in between pics just to annoy them.