There has been a bunch of negativity surrounding Download Festival’s cashless scheme and caution can always be good for new things. The inner Luddite will always crawl out when we least like something, and the UK in general is often very scared about any form of change. The cashless scheme though, can be a game changer for UK festivals, and really become something you’ll look back on and wonder why you always took a wad of cash with you to a festival in the first festival. So let’s move on and look at the reasons why this really is the best thing for your festival experience.
This will lower theft, and ultimately keep your money safer. I for one have been on the wrong end of a theft at a festival, which coincidently was the first one I ever visited, and it is a horrible experience, to find your wallet empty with all your hard earned cash gone. Well that is the thing of the past. The main problem people seem to be voicing is that we could just lose, or have our wrist band stolen just as much as the cash. Loss and theft will be drastically reduced through this scheme. The only times I’ve ever really seen someone lose a wrist band is if it’s ridiculously loose or has been ripped off (which must have been painful in itself, have you ever tried ripping off one of those things?) Keep your wrist band nice and snug, not uncomfortable but snug, and you’ll be fine.
There are those pointing out that money can easily be stored in lockers anyway, for those I pose the question – what else do you regularly need to go to your locker for? Phone, that’s it, that’s all you really go there for. That is half the queues gone instantly. Also, in the off chance that you do lose your tag, not to worry, go to an RFID point, and they’ll deactivate your old one and issue you with a new tag. The only downside to this is that the cash can’t go back into your account until the festival is over. Damn banks and not running on a weekend.
This is essentially going to allow you to track your cash easier and more efficiently. Download told you that there was free wi-fi all over the festival this year didn’t they? Well with that you can easily check your balance on your phone, or even more simply at a check up point, just like with an Oyster Card in London, you can tap your wrist on this point and check your balance like that. Remember as well that we said about locker queues being cut, more importantly, this means queues for food and drink will be cut as well, quicker food, and more importantly quicker beer! There has also been great response from vendors who are loving the idea that they won’t have to hold a mountain of change throughout the weekend.
Want to know what else is awesome? Run out of money? No problem, give your parents a quick call and they can top up your dog tag themselves! I know right, you can bug your parents for money now even more easily. As well as this, you can top it up whenever at any of the top up points, this includes by debit and credit cards, and for those of you really unsure about the lack of cash, can top them up using notes.
The uses of these dog tags can be for so much more than just food and drink as well, they can be your identification throughout the festival. These have been rolled out throughout European festivals already to unanimous praise, and their systems won’t even be as modern as the ones we’re getting over here at Download! Think about that one! You can use these as your entrance into certain restricted areas, and your access into the festival itself, added security. Even cup refunds will be added to your dog tags! And once it is all over, any cash that you haven’t spent at the festival will soon be re-added into your account, so it’s not going to be like the last time you went to Benidorm and came back with a bunch of Euros you didn’t know what to do with.
Granted I am a bit of a technophile, but overall I can’t see much in the way of a downside in all this. As I have pointed out before, people may need time to get used to it, but at this points its either adapt or starve, and I know exactly which party I’m joining in that case. We always say that metal fans are more progressive than the likes of pop fans, so let’s prove it and be pioneers in changing the face of festivals for the future!
