This Year's Mysteryland USA Will Be A Cash-Free Event

You're going to have a tough time if you're expecting to spend cash at Mysteryland USA. They won't be accepting the good old American dollar. Instead,

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You're going to have a tough time if you're expecting to spend cash at Mysteryland USA. They won't be accepting the good old American dollar. Instead, concertgoers will have to pay for food, beverages, and other goods with a Mysteryland-issued wristband that will be the only form of currency accepted by vendors. Concertgoers can stop by "top up" stations to fill their accounts with money on site, or schedule automatic payments to land on their account before the event. Refunds for unused funds will be issued immediately after the event ends. This system is supposedly incredibly secure, and has been put in place to help protect partygoers from fraud, and to streamline the payment process. It's also going to help alleviate festival goers from having to carry cash, and could speed up the lines.

As I'm reading the press release in regards, I'm like "Wait… what?" Changing the means of currency and forcing payment onto an RFID chip is only one step away from being able to track every move your consumers are making, and it's more than a little bit creepy. Forcing everyone that attends an event to sign up for an account for the sole purpose of that one weekend seems crazy. And trusting a computer system to calculate my expenditures and refund feels odd. The irony that it's being adopted on the same site as the most notorious hippy festival in history hasn't been lost on us. All of this is a little too future for me, to be honest.

(Billboard)

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