Okay, but you're talking as if this is the default behavior while it may very well not be. I'd like to see some numbers to back-up these claims as general behavior rather than "a friend of mine, saw a guy who's uncle was once in a grocery where a guy..."
Actually, I'm not talking as if it is the default behavior, and your comment to me is an excellent example of why these things are so difficult to solve in society. Not all people are rational actors whose behaviors are in their or societies best interest. This is a fact, and it is important to the solving of this problem in a practical manner.
But your interpretation of a reported instance of this behavior is that the person pointing it out is asserting that this is common/normal/default (which is incorrect), so (implicitly) this opinion (and any related) can therefore be ignored and removed from the discussion. However, that it is the default behavior isn't in fact being asserted, and it is you who is most incorrect in this small subset of the overall conversation.
In my opinion, that seemingly most participants on both sides of the issue are inclined to pick and choose their facts and have little interest in the genuine objective reality of the situation is one of the main reasons that we will never solve problem of this kind in a reasonably efficient manner.
I could show you POS records, but I'm not sure what that would prove. This us not what everyone does, but it was meant as an example of the kind of problems that arise from trying to control consumer behavior that go away if you just give cash. A more extreme example would be the economy of the former U.S.S.R., but I thought exchanging a two dollar milk bottle deposit for beer money was more relevant.
