Even if you use a barcode there's no reason why the price can't be entered in directly or modified at the behest of the cashier. In the West we just don't trust our cashiers enough to do that sort of thing so we lock out that power ("Manager assistance needed at isle four!").
What the world needs right now is cashless payments that don't have absurd (>0.1%) transaction fees. I used to work at First Data (largest credit card processor) and you know how much it costs them to execute a credit card transaction? NOTHING. It's literally nothing.
It's not even a factor of, "we have this many servers in this many data centers and here's how much the electricity costs, divided by the total number of transactions in a given day." Why? Because every customer that uses First Data still pays a monthly fee that more than makes up for the cost of all the employees, data centers, software, etc etc.
If all First Data ever collected was that monthly fee they'd still be profitable (assuming all they did was handle credit card transactions).
The payments are bank-to-bank account and non-recourse so they cannot be pulled back once initiated. There is no credit and fraud component.
India is not an exception and most other countries have similar structure. I think WeChat payments have a similar cost structure though I might be wrong. Most payment systems are very low cost (approaching cost of bandwidth). For comparison, FedWire can transmit payments upto 100 million and above for ~$1.20. Below $100 Million it is $0.90 ;)
UPI Statistics: https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-statistics
FedWire Cost Table: https://www.frbservices.org/resources/fees/wires-2021.html
We have a bizarre system where retailers mark everything up an extra 2%, to give their more well-off customers (that pay with decent credit cards) an effective 2% discount and the ability to dispute charges.
I think retailers would love a new system with less transaction fees, but banks definitely would not, and some customers may not either if it means sacrificing their credit card rewards and perks.
People need to have cards, the cards need to have money on them - both of these are already assumptions that aren't guaranteed to hold for a lot of people.
Sure, it's possible to overcome all of these things in theory - but at what benefit to the population? Cashless payments are not a goal in and of themselves.
Also, there are taxes. Easier to dodge taxes with cash transactions than it is with a piece of plastic.
We both know that's exactly what they want.
Haggling works better at small shops with few customers and no lines. It allows the seller to have a huge markup on buyers who have little experience or time, or aren't as price-sensitive. It also allows for a human connection between the seller and a discerning buyer, and has an entertainment value for them both, like a short game.
Honestly, that sounds like ripping people off to me. An important part of social mobility is being able to venture into different businesses. Experience in a subject is an advantage in many dimentions, but having to learn new things while having your suppliers exploit your inexperience sounds like an unjust burden.
There's a theory that the recent minimum wage increase for the government sector was actually because some government workers now have to live there, but they financially can't.
> Control centres will monitor infrastructure and security electronically, roofs will be covered in solar panels, payments will be cashless
Good luck with that - a huge number of places don't even put prices up because everything is negotiable and cash is king. If they only want the kind of Western-style stores with explicit prices in this area, then this could be restated as "we don't want the poor part of our population here".
Cairo (and to larger degree, Giza) have a very intense, unique feel inside the city and I don't think this move will change anything about that.