Quote:
Originally Posted by blue
It's hard to not get political because it comes down to socio-economics when you look at broad snapshots of who uses cash (and therefore needs there to be pennies, nickels etc.) and who can go cashless.
|
Hard to argue the socio-economic part of this but here are some statistics from a survey of close to 3,000 people from 2019:
- Consumers used cash in 26 percent of transactions, down from 30 percent in 2017
- Debit cards were the most used instrument, accounting for 28 percent of payments
- Credit cards accounted for 23 percent of payments, a 2 percentage point increase from 2017
- Cash was used heavily for small-value payments, representing 49 percent of payments under $10
- The share of cash use among individuals under 25 years old is the highest of any age group
- In-person payments accounted for 73 percent of all transactions. Participants used cash for 35 percent of in-person payments
Clearly there is a shift away from cash transactions.
I am a cash guy because I travel for business. I always want to have a couple hundred bucks on me just in case and I pay for much of what I purchase at retail (restaurants, B&M shopping, etc.) with cash. In fact, it drives me crazy to see someone buy a pack of gum with a debit card.
Since COVID lockdown I’ve used nothing but my debit card for purchases. I just checked and I haven’t taken a cash withdrawal from Checking in almost 4 months. Right now I have $1 in my wallet.
I guess my point is while there would need to be clarification around credit cards, debit cards and cash purchases, it makes even more sense to eliminate pennies and $1 bills.