Published Jul 9, 2021 by Rick Cundiff
So what’s new? What’s happening in your corner of the universe that’s different, that’s changing, that’s unexpected?
I had the chance to take a serious road trip a couple of weeks ago, a total of about 3,200 miles. The trusty VW never skipped a beat as I traveled from sunny Florida to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and back again.
I enjoy long road trips as a way to see new places, meet new people, see new sights. Getting out of Florida’s flatlands to the Appalachian mountains and beyond is always fun, and so is heading north to cooler weather this time of year.
One new sight that was striking this time around was in an unexpected place – a convenience store in the Midwest (don’t quite recall which state, sorry.) This was your typical quickie mart – gas, coffee, clean restrooms, etc. With one difference.
Sitting near the door was an automated teller machine. Adjacent to it was a second machine – for Bitcoin.
Think about that for a second. A cryptocurrency ATM. Something that would have been unimaginable even as recently as a couple of years ago.
It’s a sign of changing times. The pandemic has brought many changes, including in how we pay for things. Between fear of contagion from surfaces and the convenience of ordering online, we’re all paying for things with credit or debit cards far more often ever before.
And cryptocurrencies have become a part of that. I don’t pretend to understand cryptocurrency well enough to use it myself, but I can see how others would. As a harbinger of change (even as a coin shortage almost eliminates change), it’s clear.
I tend to be a late adopter of technology, and not one for the cutting edge. Up until the pandemic began, I tended to buy things, especially lower priced items such as fast food meals and convenience items with cash. Since last year though, I’ve seldom paid for anything with cash.
That’s not something I would have foreseen happening as rapidly as it did. So who knows, maybe this time next year, I’ll be paying for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese with Bitcoin. Not likely, but you never know.
And that’s a good thing to remember about your patches too. New ideas, new beliefs, changing times can mean new patches. Whether you’re a devoted Bitcoin miner or a dedicated cash-only sort, change is coming your way. Why not express how you feel about it?
