Real life bitcoin scenario for non-bitcoiners

[elendir]

Let's face it - we're all geeky idealists here. We love the mathematical beauty of bitcoin and its concept of true financial freedom and we try to promote it that way. But masses don't really care about any currency's fundamentals, they just want to go to a store and buy things. Wheter it's for greenback, btc or some loyalty program points, they don't care. Majority of people will never understand bitcoin, or fiat; most of them don't even know what inflation is.

Why do I write all this? I found promoting bitcoin quite hard and I think it's because my explanation of it always starts from what I personaly like about it (no central banking, cryptography). Fail. The story must be told from listener's perspective. So what would impress these people? That they can go to a store and actually buy things with btc in a simple way, like with cash.

So I would like to create a real-life scenario, step by step, to make sure this is possible. It starts with customer entering a store and ends with him leaving with the stuff he bought. I want to only include technologies that already exist or are in a final stage of development, so this scenario would be feasible lets say bu teh end of mid 2013. We can then use this story when introducing bitcoin to non-geeky people.

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

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[sippsnapp]

pulls out his mobile and sends the required amount of bitcoin to the merchant, the address would be handed on the counter. But wait, how to handle the confirmations?
The guy would eventually have to wait 30 minutes to leave the store, this sucks indeed.

[SgtSpike]

Let's face it - we're all geeky idealists here. We love the mathematical beauty of bitcoin and its concept of true financial freedom and we try to promote it that way. But masses don't really care about any currency's fundamentals, they just want to go to a store and buy things. Wheter it's for greenback, btc or some loyalty program points, they don't care. Majority of people will never understand bitcoin, or fiat; most of them don't even know what inflation is.

Why do I write all this? I found promoting bitcoin quite hard and I think it's because my explanation of it always starts from what I personaly like about it (no central banking, cryptography). Fail. The story must be told from listener's perspective. So what would impress these people? That they can go to a store and actually buy things with btc in a simple way, like with cash.

So I would like to create a real-life scenario, step by step, to make sure this is possible. It starts with customer entering a store and ends with him leaving with the stuff he bought. I want to only include technologies that already exist or are in a final stage of development, so this scenario would be feasible lets say bu teh end of mid 2013. We can then use this story when introducing bitcoin to non-geeky people.

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

Definitely leave cryptography out of it.  For me, the three main selling points are:
- I can send any amount of money anywhere in the world absolutely free and it is confirmed in an hour.
- No government can print more Bitcoin.
- No company or bank controls Bitcoin.

Things like lack of government control sound great to libertarians, but not to every else.  Likewise, the cryptographic methodology and other geeky details are amazing to, well, geeks, but no one else understands or cares about it.  But I think the above 3 points, pretty much everyone can relate to as being a good thing.

[hamdi]

to spread bitcoins i am doing this:

i borrow small amounts of money at bars from people i know,
i then send them the same day that money in form of bitcoins + a little tip + instructions

[Roger_Murdock]

to spread bitcoins i am doing this:

i borrow small amounts of money at bars from people i know,
i then send them the same day that money in form of bitcoins + a little tip + instructions

When you borrow this money, do they know you intend to repay them with BTC? Or is that a fun little surprise?

[hamdi]

i offer them to take it this way, or return me the coins and i give em cash next time we meet.

so they are kinda forced to do at least one bitcoin transaction

[nedbert9]

Let's face it - we're all geeky idealists here. We love the mathematical beauty of bitcoin and its concept of true financial freedom and we try to promote it that way. But masses don't really care about any currency's fundamentals, they just want to go to a store and buy things.
...

If this is true and that the vast majority don't care to ponder things so fundamentally important like money/value then we've got bigger problems than innovations such as Bitcoin can address.

If people in general are so incapable of independent critical thinking any unscrupulous, entitled entity can dangle a carrot or wage a misinformation campaign to maintain the status quo.

Any meaningful change has to be fostered from the bottom-up by a mass of critical thinkers.

[Ryland R. Taylor-Almanza]

pulls out his mobile and sends the required amount of bitcoin to the merchant, the address would be handed on the counter. But wait, how to handle the confirmations?
The guy would eventually have to wait 30 minutes to leave the store, this sucks indeed.

Just leave it at zero confirmations unless it's a really big purchase. How often does someone try to perform a double-spend?

[Roger_Murdock]

i offer them to take it this way, or return me the coins and i give em cash next time we meet.

so they are kinda forced to do at least one bitcoin transaction

I love it!

I've told people how amazing Bitcoin is / why it has such enormous potential, and the reaction is sometimes a genuine but less-than-completely-sold "well, that sounds kind of neat." And then I tell them I'll send them some free coins if they set up a wallet and send me their address. When the transaction goes through and the money shows up almost instantaneously, you can sort of see it click. The abstract system that I'd been describing suddenly becomes much more "real." And the amount doesn't really matter. I usually send about 50 cents worth.  But even if it's a tiny amount, you can say truthfully that it might be worth thousands someday if Bitcoin ever really takes off.

[BorderBits]

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

He tries to transfer coins from his online wallet only to realize that once again the entirety of his savings has been taken by a hacker -- another Chinese relics dealer, he assumes.  He sighs and smiles, apologizes to the store clerk for the inconvenience and walks to his car. 

"What will I tell my wife now?"  Adam ponders.  "I already sunk her 401k with the promise that we won't need fiat investments because bitcoin." 

He looks across the parking lot past the freeway to a field with a single oak tree standing tall in the middle.  It's a warm fall day and the sun and air slow his pace allowing him to appreciate the natural beauty of the world as he makes his way toward that tall oak.  His phone is vibrating in his pocket, no doubt his wife realizing that Mt.Gox froze their account again after the latest troubles.  He ignores her.  As he approaches the tall oak, he checks his .22 caliber pistol that he always keeps on him in case he has to defend himself, his property, or the terms of a contract.  He sits beneath the tall oak, looks up to see the sun glinting through the falling leaves.  It's beautiful. He raises the .22 to his temple and begins to weep. 

[sippsnapp]

What about a bounty challenge??
The user(s) who gets the most stores to adapt bitcoin as payment on the counter gets the jackpot. Any btctalk user would be free to donate.
Maybe we can gather such an interesting amount that people really start engaging.
I would donate 1btc right now to such a project.

[jojo69]

Those that don't do currency will have it done to them.

Fuck the retard masses, they can get with the program or starve.

[greyhawk]

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

He grabs a pack of chewing gum, checks his shotgun is fully loaded, then leaves the store through the busted glass front, stumbling back into the postapocalyptic wasteland, shaking his head and muttering "No water here either" to his parched wife.

[Elwar]

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

He pulls out his BitInstant card and swipes it in the credit card machine.

He leaves and eats the snacks.

While driving (and eating snacks) he sees that Best Buy is having a sale on TVs. He pulls out his phone (while driving) and transfers some Bitcoin to his BitInstant card.

He walks into Best Buy and buys a new TV.

When he gets home, after setting up the new TV he checks his ING account and see that his paycheck has been deposited. He does a p2p transfer to BitFloor of his paycheck and sets up an auto-exchange from USD to BTC at a desired price.

He sets up an auto transfer to send some spending money to his phone and BitInstant card account.

[Deafboy]

1) No need for confirmation for such a small transaction. (Sure, trying to double spend while purchasing a snack would be fun for most geeks, but regular people are not considering this as much fun)
2) Let's assume he's using a full client with private keys stored on his device only. (Please don't advertise web wallets to newbs and tell your friends not to use an exchange like a wallet for all their money)

[niko]

to spread bitcoins i am doing this:

i borrow small amounts of money at bars from people i know,
i then send them the same day that money in form of bitcoins + a little tip + instructions

Would you please share those instructions with us here? To me this turned out to be the sticking point.

[Wekkel]

Fuck the retard masses, they can get with the program or starve.

Dog eat dog world.

[BorderBits]

I'm kicking off: It's June 2013, Adam enters a store, picks up some snacks and takes it to the counter. What happens next?

He reaches for his Woolong Device, fumbles and drops it.  "Fuck, this will be the second time I've had to replace my Woolong this week."  The store clerk looks apathetically up from his newpaper and points to the sign that reads, "No Woolong, no service," then continues reading the breaking news about the Illuminati plot to assassinate President Johnson. 

[farlack]

the end

[Trader Steve]

Those that don't do currency will have it done to them.

Fuck the retard masses, they can get with the program or starve.

You make an excellent point. There's no reason to convince anyone about the merits at bitcoin. IMO it will continue to rise in use and value due to it's nature. Those who disregard it do so at their own loss. When I buy things I offer to pay in bitcoin whenever possible and those who have ears will want to know more.

I bought several products this past week this way. I spend bitcoin only because I earn a good portion of my income in bitcoin and I have to liquidate some to cover day-to-day expenses. With that said, I save as much as possible and only spend what I have to.