I’m suffering withdrawal over our cashless society
The other day I went into my bank to withdraw some cash. I waited in line only to be told to go outside and use the ATM. The branch is now cashless, they said.
A bank without cash is like a pub without beer. What’s the point?
The issue’s been in the headlines this week, thanks to outspoken Queensland MP Bob Katter, who was told he couldn’t use a $50 note to pay for his lunch at a cafe in Parliament House.
It’s legal tender, so how can anyone refuse to accept a cold hard “fiddy”, especially in the place where laws governing money are made?
Apparently, they can as long as they advise customers ahead of time, and more businesses and services are doing so. It’s an outrage.
Unlike digital wallets or tap-and-go phone payments, cash doesn’t let you down. It doesn’t leave a digital trail, it doesn’t run out of charge and you don’t have to remember a passcode. You also don’t have to pay a service charge or worry about biometric face recognition not working after you’ve overdone the Botox.
There’s no doubt the world is changing. Even banks are canning cash, with more than 1000 ATMs closing last year and branches around the country starting to restrict their handling of notes and coins.
Cash is seen as so unusual these days that people who have large amounts are starting to be questioned by banks about what they’re using the money for and where it came from.
(Tell the nosy nasties it’s been a bumper year for your weed crop.)
Use of cash has dropped from 32 per cent in 2019 to just 13 per cent last year, according to the Reserve Bank. Just 7 per cent of people are high-cash users these days.
Even buskers and Big Issue sellers have QR codes and card readers so you can tap and pay.
What’s next? A digital wallet application for the tooth fairy?
Well, yes. Apparently one quarter of payments from this magic being are now made online.
I don’t approve, although my son would have much preferred $10 in the bank to the grimy $2 dust-encrusted coin I found in the pocket of my winter coat, which the tooth fairy left him a few years ago.
While my mother-in-law may be the only person in Australia mourning the loss of cheques – which will be gone by 2030 – there’s still a need for cash.
As Professor Steve Worthington, from Swinburne University of Technology, was quoted as saying recently, some people just like cash.
“They know they can touch it, they can feel it, they can kiss it if they like,” he said.
I’ve never quite gone that far, but I get it. Cash is great in times of hardship and emergency, such as during the recent NSW floods when power outages meant people could not access online funds.
Five credit unions came to the rescue, flying in a helicopter of cash.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which hastened the decline in cash payments, also underscored its importance.
People rushed to empty their bank accounts and stash the cash at home in case of a stock market crash. Not in our house, sadly. The only thing under our mattress is dust mites.
Predictions are that Australia will be “functionally cashless” by the end of next year and totally cashless by 2030.
Thank goodness for oldies who aren’t about to start using PayPal, digital wallets or crypto any time soon.
But you should know that carrying around cash can come at a cost.
If you’ve got notes and coins in your wallet, young people are embarrassed for you right now.
Not just for still relying on physical currency but for still having a wallet or purse.
This, apparently, is up there with other cringy – or as Gen Z would say, cheugy – things old people do.
You know, like leaving voice messages, taking photos on cameras, sending Christmas cards, keeping a landline “just in case” and doing newspaper crosswords.
Liz, a US-based 30-year-old influencer, announced on Tiktok this week that having a wallet “is a new way we can age ourselves”.
I must admit my wallet has been sitting unused in my kitchen junk drawer for a while, but I wouldn’t get rid of it.
I might need it one day, along with the broken corkscrew, spare keys for the car I sold five years ago, pens that don’t work and essential items I keep in the top drawer.
I’ll keep my wallet and, like Mr Katter, I plan to keep using cash.