Editor: Is cash on the way out? It must be, as my recent bill-paying trip went sour.
It was hard to tell who I was dealing with. The ransom note says “Quickpass” slash “Golden Ears” slash “TransLink,” and their hit man is ICBC.
The amount of the heist was $46.80 for some recent trips across the Golden Ears Bridge on personal business.
Payment options on the back of the ransom note stated that it could be paid in person at their Langley office in Walnut Grove.
Now sometimes seniors like to use cash, it gives them a good feeling. Well, what a surprise that this semi-government conglomerate will not accept Canadian cash at their Langley business office.
Yes, I insisted to the clerk, my cash is legal tender, not counterfeit, not defiled. You must accept it for payment.
No, says the conglomerate clerk, it’s much too risky to keep cash here in Langley.
Just look, that drugstore down the street has a security guard, the crime rate is much too high to keep cash in this office.
I insist and say Canadian cash is legal tender and should be as good as Visa. Not here they say, we take Visa and Mastercard and your Canadian cash is useless in our Langley office.
I persist and they offer me a compromise. Drive across our wonderful vacant bridge, and they will accept your cash at our Pitt Meadows office.
Well, I say, you will charge me for that trip back and forth and then I will get another bill, and that means a second trip back and forth to pay the next bill, and the one after that. This could go on for the rest of my life.
“Not our problem,” they say, but you better pay up or our hit man, ICBC, will not renew your vehicle or driver’s licence.
“Not a problem,” I say. “Do you charge for a horse and buggy crossing?”
One other question. Is the crime rate that much higher in Langley than Pitt Meadows ?
G. McNutt,
Langley
