I truly hope the cashless thing doesn't happen. I live in an area where I can go for a drive and get my fruit, veg, eggs and flowers seasonally from roadside stalls. Firewood, all manner of 'poos' for the garden. That all dies.... already if technology fails we can't shop. I listened to an outstanding podcast years ago about new age warefare : drones (we are already seeing that ) and hacking to disrupt water supplies, ability to buy food, hospitals to operate.
All the old sayings are there for a reason... 'don't put all your eggs in one basket '.
This will all be fine for the rich and powerful . But it's the rich and powerful who start wars, who galvanise misinformation , and gain the most from it.
And don't try to whitewash the banks. In an age of massive banking profits they make it more and more difficult for the young to access home loans. They are focussed on making money and power and control: greed. Banks are about their shareholders, not what's good for society.
I embraced the cashless way of life during pandemic. I might be quite mature but I am very comfortable with all technology (coming from a long career in IT). Problem is, I have actually found it getting more difficult to stay away from cash and while I can see how credit charges may increase, I can see many areas for using cash, will still exist for quite a while.
I think the preference of many people to persist with the use of cash, will prevail for many years. Here a few obvious ones (from comments from others and observations):
-people give cash as presents, especially to children. Vouchers, less so.
-using cash means no fees, especially under current cost of living pressure and many consumers use cash for everything they can (debit card is alternative)
-banks are not always considered trustworthy by some, with all their information, especially if a very private purchase
-some smaller retail areas are finding it hard to finance credit facilities. Whilst much of the fees are put on the consumer, there are many costs involved for them. Quite a few retail places will provide a discount for buying in cash. This has been noted at small shops but also farmers markets.
-credit cards work well in major towns but there are still quite a few more remote parts of Australia where cash is sometimes more reliable (and familiar)
-of course, whilst it is easy to label those of us in the "babyboom" generation as being more comfortable with cash, many of the younger ones (Gen Z) have moved towards cash too.
An interesting side observation is that there are many people at the supermarket who only want to use cash which leave the credit card only self serve areas more available. I was often baffled by this as I hustle through quickly using Apple Watch to pay. That got me thinking about the issues people have for them to prefer cash.
I feel quite liberated leaving the house without a wallet; I can do it all on my phone, not only for purchases but my travel card and license are both available in a digital form. I am very happy with this but of course, I think maybe it is a "townie" thing. I sometimes carry my minimalist wallet with a credit card or 2, license and a small amount of cash in the instances where I think mobile coverage is limited or the infrastructure is limited. A recent trip to remote Australia was a good example.
Jennifer gave some very good examples of why cash is still useful. I can see the economy becoming cashless eventually but there will still need to be cash for many, many people for quite a few years. Cash will not dissappear while it still has it uses.
I truly hope the cashless thing doesn't happen. I live in an area where I can go for a drive and get my fruit, veg, eggs and flowers seasonally from roadside stalls. Firewood, all manner of 'poos' for the garden. That all dies.... already if technology fails we can't shop. I listened to an outstanding podcast years ago about new age warefare : drones (we are already seeing that ) and hacking to disrupt water supplies, ability to buy food, hospitals to operate.
All the old sayings are there for a reason... 'don't put all your eggs in one basket '.
This will all be fine for the rich and powerful . But it's the rich and powerful who start wars, who galvanise misinformation , and gain the most from it.
And don't try to whitewash the banks. In an age of massive banking profits they make it more and more difficult for the young to access home loans. They are focussed on making money and power and control: greed. Banks are about their shareholders, not what's good for society.
I embraced the cashless way of life during pandemic. I might be quite mature but I am very comfortable with all technology (coming from a long career in IT). Problem is, I have actually found it getting more difficult to stay away from cash and while I can see how credit charges may increase, I can see many areas for using cash, will still exist for quite a while.
I think the preference of many people to persist with the use of cash, will prevail for many years. Here a few obvious ones (from comments from others and observations):
-people give cash as presents, especially to children. Vouchers, less so.
-using cash means no fees, especially under current cost of living pressure and many consumers use cash for everything they can (debit card is alternative)
-banks are not always considered trustworthy by some, with all their information, especially if a very private purchase
-some smaller retail areas are finding it hard to finance credit facilities. Whilst much of the fees are put on the consumer, there are many costs involved for them. Quite a few retail places will provide a discount for buying in cash. This has been noted at small shops but also farmers markets.
-credit cards work well in major towns but there are still quite a few more remote parts of Australia where cash is sometimes more reliable (and familiar)
-of course, whilst it is easy to label those of us in the "babyboom" generation as being more comfortable with cash, many of the younger ones (Gen Z) have moved towards cash too.
An interesting side observation is that there are many people at the supermarket who only want to use cash which leave the credit card only self serve areas more available. I was often baffled by this as I hustle through quickly using Apple Watch to pay. That got me thinking about the issues people have for them to prefer cash.
I feel quite liberated leaving the house without a wallet; I can do it all on my phone, not only for purchases but my travel card and license are both available in a digital form. I am very happy with this but of course, I think maybe it is a "townie" thing. I sometimes carry my minimalist wallet with a credit card or 2, license and a small amount of cash in the instances where I think mobile coverage is limited or the infrastructure is limited. A recent trip to remote Australia was a good example.
Jennifer gave some very good examples of why cash is still useful. I can see the economy becoming cashless eventually but there will still need to be cash for many, many people for quite a few years. Cash will not dissappear while it still has it uses.