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People here are certainly not retreating to mostly online shopping which of course requires electronic payments. There has been a swing back to in person shopping since covid.
Yesterday, before Mothers Day, our two nearest large Westfield malls were so crowded and the car parks so congested that some people were leaving their cars and catching the train or bus home. And retrieving the car later. In these malls I think cash is taken everywhere and there are a number of banks as well as ATMs.
However it seems the general opinion is that cash is likely to be phased out within seven years. Personally I doubt it.
Do you still use checks in the US? Almost phased out here.
People struggle with what to do with private sales these days. So if you are buying a car privately, say for $20,000, how do you pay? Mostly not in cash, though perhaps you would if it is only $5,000.
Bank transfers are only immediate if both parties use the same bank, otherwise it can take 48 hours.
It is safe if both parties go to the bank of the purchaser and the bank either transfer the money electronically or produce a bank cheque, which are still in use. But with many banks closing that can be inconvenient.
Property settlements here in my state are almost all done through a third party platform called PEXA. When we last used it, come the settlement time, a few hundred thousand dollars could not be located, which was a little stressful. It had been moved to a different holding account and was found of course.
But almost made you want to return to the simplicity of cash.
In the US there are two broad types of accounts at banks, savings accounts and checking accounts. savings account tend to offer higher interest rates, but often have a cap on how many withdraws you can make. Checking accounts generally come with a checkbook and your ATM card is attached to both cards, but most of the charges on your ATM are going to be the checking account, but you could still use some of the checks that come with your checking account.
Most regular recurring bills are paid through automatic withdrawal. But for for intermittent bills, you might pay that by check. The last time I actually used a check was to pay for my driver's license renewal that happens once every 4 years. I could pay by at the Department of Motor Vehicles in person with an ATM card or I could just mail in a check with the bill.
There is also something called a cashier's check. say you want to buy a used car from a private party for $6000. Here is a situation where you might want to use a cashier's check. A cashier's check is a check guaranteed by the bank issuing it to have the amount of money printed on the check. This allows you to pay $6000 for the used car from the private party, without carrying around $6000 in cash. Because the check is made out to a specific person, it's less valuable to a thief who might want to rob you.
So yes checks are available here, but not used frequently.
In the US there are two broad types of accounts at banks, savings accounts and checking accounts. savings account tend to offer higher interest rates, but often have a cap on how many withdraws you can make. Checking accounts generally come with a checkbook and your ATM card is attached to both cards, but most of the charges on your ATM are going to be the checking account, but you could still use some of the checks that come with your checking account.
Most regular recurring bills are paid through automatic withdrawal. But for for intermittent bills, you might pay that by check. The last time I actually used a check was to pay for my driver's license renewal that happens once every 4 years. I could pay by at the Department of Motor Vehicles in person with an ATM card or I could just mail in a check with the bill.
There is also something called a cashier's check. say you want to buy a used car from a private party for $6000. Here is a situation where you might want to use a cashier's check. A cashier's check is a check guaranteed by the bank issuing it to have the amount of money printed on the check. This allows you to pay $6000 for the used car from the private party, without carrying around $6000 in cash. Because the check is made out to a specific person, it's less valuable to a thief who might want to rob you.
So yes checks are available here, but not used frequently.
While many US consumers have reduced the number of checks they use, businesses still use checks regularly for business purchases. And like Saibot mentioned above, we'd rather take checks and cash from customers to save on credit card fees. We also accept ACH payments from customers which is a bit lower fee than credit cards.
You might be interested in what goes on in China which is often one of the first to use new technology. Even the smallest shops or market stalls have QR codes which link to Alipay or ApplePay for payment through their app on phones. Cash is still very much used for some transactions because people often have cash at home. At the bank you fairly often see people putting in or taking out large amounts of cash but the largest note is 100 RMB (9-10 UK pounds/14 US dollars ?) which means it is sometimes awkward to carry around large amounts for large items but people still do I believe.
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However, generally the control aspect of a cashless society is scary and needs to be rejected because you get to the situation where anyone working for the authorities at any level can stop your bank account. Suspect you have done something illegal? stop the bank account until it is sorted out. Speeding on the highway? Stop the bank account until you have paid the fine. Is that you in the video of a theft? Stop the bank account until you come into the police station and sort it out. Didn't pay for the bus/train ride? stop the bank account. Suspected of shoplifting? stop the bank account. Parked illegally, car in the pound? stop the bank account.
On the face of it, it seems like a good idea but access to your bank account will not be returned to you in an hour or two, but will probably take at least a day due to administration constraints and working hours.
A cashless society will provide information on where you are at any moment you buy something, what you buy and a profile of your life from the items you buy. Do you really want companies and governments to have a detailed profile of you and your spending habits and kinky preferences?
In the UK, you can already buy goods with your debit card up to a certain amount without having to put in a PIN number at the till. Banks are closing and cash machines are going from the high street.
We need to resist this because it will become a serious 2-tier society - those who cannot run a bank account, due to debt, bad credit, no address, illegal immigrants (The folk who do what we dont want to do) and those who can have a bank account. The haves and have nots, the poor and the others.
We have seen it in films, the poor live outside the city and underground in squallor.
The issue, as I know because we have a small business, is that the percentage charged the merchant for a credit card transaction is all over the place. If you are doing really well, you might get it down as low as 2% for some transactions. Or it might be 4%, or even 6%. What's more, there are a zillion different credit cards with different rewards systems, and the more rewards the customer is getting, the higher the percentage charged the merchant for a transaction with their card.
The only practical way for the merchant to deal with it is to charge a flat percentage rate for everyone. And of course, it's going to be on the higher side to cover those higher-charge transactions.
We love it when customers pay with cash, or even a check (very few do that any more) and do offer a cash discount.
Yes I like the cash discount but not if it's $200.00 without a receipt. Had one try that with me. I will pay cash if is under $100.00 or $100 with tax. Skip the tax and let me pay the even 99 or 100 something like that but I want that receipt in case something doesn't work right later and to show the HOA the work was done.
I was told they do charge a hella lot more when they are a small business and they have to hire a company to either make or have the credit card payment be accepted and payable.
Use credit card for payment get ready for a azz whoopin in fees. So it is either cash with discount or check with tax included.
Sorry about that I didn't expand on it. I concur there is no reason to force someone to buy everything in a mode of purchase / medium of exchange that forces the purchaser to divulge personal information to that degree. Certain types of transactions obviously have different levels of verification / system checks in place based on the type and $value of items being purchased.
I was mainly trying to point out the very 'group' that espouses this as a way to fight fraud and bad behavior are the very ones engaging in it systemically. And by doing so, undermine the supposed reasons for doing so i.e. they are corrupt and above the law in the financial system they 'rule' so how can we trust them to use a currency less system properly.
Hope that clarifies my view.
This is what the power structure always does. Look up JPM silver price manipulation. More fundamental questions; why do we need a "federal" reserve & legal tender laws? Why is there a monopoly on currency/money?
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