Not an important discussion, but i need to vent
Sooo... Prepare for a long story that has nothing to do with bitcoin, EXCEPT the conclusion.
My wife has a chronic disease that results in (amongst other things) a lot of pain. At the advice of our MD, she started taking CBD oil drops (which are legal in my country).
These drops work, but they cost like 25€/10 ml 3% CBD drops. You can get cheaper brands, but they taste like crap.
So, instead of paying a ludicrous amount to a shop, i decided to look around online, and i found a reseller that asked a reasonable price for cannabis seeds from a landrace that was tested and has >9% CBD and <0.1% THC. I say reasonable price, but if i would have been a reseller, i could have bought a full kilo of seeds for about 3 times more than he's asking for 20 measly seeds... But hey, that's economics right?
I bought some seeds from him. While checking out, there was an option to use bitcoin OR use a credit card. Because i'm convinced the btc price will go up (so hodling is a good strategy) AND because i didn't trust the seller 100%, i decided to go for a creditcard payment (so i didn't have to start a discussion with the vendor wether or not he got payed... CC's are older, these guys have better knowledge on how to verify payments in FIAT, so i decided to make his life easyer).
Payed him right away. Waited 4 days, status still "pending". Contacted the bloke via email... Got a snubby mail back where the guy basically started making fun of me: did i really think an international (within the EU, within SEPA) wiretransfer would be completed in 4 freaking days?
Stupid me...
It took
8 freaking days to transfer my hard-earned money from my bank account to a bank account of a guy that still lives within driving distance... That's right, i can get in my car early in the morning and actually drive to this guy and arrive before nightfall.
The bank charges me allmost 3€/month plus a lot of additional costs, and they take more than a full week to do an electronic transfer. Bloody hell, what are they doing... Do they still write all transactions for foreign banks on a floppydisk and drive them around by horse and carriage?
After 8 days, the seller finally admitted he got my money, but at that time it was thursday, and he only sends items on monday and wednesday.
My seeds got shipped on the 20th, but the post is slooooow as hell.
In a little while, i'll have missed the planting window.
If i would have used bitcoin as a payment system, i would have won 8 freaking days. I would have payed the bloke, and 1 hour later he would have had a funding transaction that was confirmed several times, and he could have sent me the stuff i bought.
I don't like banks.