Getting on zero is a pretty hardcore way to live. Maybe it’s easier in areas with a high concentration of bitcoiners.

Sad to hear about the gift card limitations. As for the merchants having trouble paying for infrastructure, where’s the cost in simply using the wallet of Satoshi PoS? Not ideal, but comes with a negligible cost.

They might be right to let go of getting on zero, but IMO at some point merchants are going to need bitcoin. In the meantime I agree that the whole buying goods experience needs to be improved.