Some time over the last couple of days, my wife and I were talking about how annoying it is to go through the ritual of forking over physical money when you purchase food or go down the shops. Of course, once all your money is gone, you need to go visit the hole in the wall to get more money out.
How annoying.
Perhaps we were both spoilt by the fact that our workplace allowed us to salary sacrifice some of our salary for the purposes of purchasing food and drinks on site by simply swiping our employee security cards. Unfortunately, that is long gone thanks to the incumbent Labor Government in Australia (who also removed the laptop salary sacrificing at the same time – thanks for nothing).
Having said that though, Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) is widely accepted but not universally accepted. Furthermore, establishments that do accept it often choose to place a minimum transaction amount (understandably to cover the cost of the EFTPOS transaction with their upstream financial provider).
To draw a similarity, the Sydney Cricket Ground has an affiliation with Macquarie Bank and specific credit card that can be used at the various food outlets via contactless sensor pads. Putting aside the fact that nine times out of ten the staff don’t know how to work the blasted devices, there doesn’t appear to be any minimum spend and for purchases under $100 you don’t even have to sign.
So why isn’t this more widespread?
Maybe the guys at the Royal Australian Mint have their backs covered in terms of job security for a while yet but I can see most financial institutions wanting to keep their transaction fees which would stall any sort of rush to drop cold hard cash for magnetic or smart cards. If we can put eTags in cars for electronic tolling and do our banking on the Internet I can’t see why we can do away with physical money altogether.
What do you think of cash? Do you see a need for it in ten or twenty years time?
2 comments
1 ping
I think cash is mostly a waste of time unless you are using it to bargain with a private seller e.g. motorbike, car, Trading Post etc
A lot of businesses rely on minimising their tax by accepting cash payment….I am sure they would have something to say on the topic.
Author
Quite true. I know certain stores like The Good Guys publicise the fact that you can get a better deal when paying with cash.
Certainly older generations who hang on to their old passbook accounts and skip the use of telephone and Internet banking might be more comfortable with tangible cash.
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