Cashless economy or not?

I use both. I pay bills online and pay at the stores with my debit card. But sometimes I get cash back at the store when I purchase something so I have cash on me. My son is mentally disabled and able to live on his own, but I give him cash (from his own check) almost daily to go buy food or whatever. He cannot handle a debit card.......I hate to think what a nightmare that would be. I use cash locally in these little shops around me. There are a number of small businesses that do not take credit or debit cards due to the high fees they have to pay. Right now my nail salon is only taking cash. What about tips? I always tip in cash at a restaurant. I would not like to see it changed over that way. It is not for our good. Not at all.
 

StarSong said:
Like @katlupe, I always tip servers, hair stylists, etc., in cash.
I'm not in favor of a cashless society. Big Corporate Brother and government entities already know far more details of my life than necessary.
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Via GPS they may already know when a person has taken their morning crap. LOL
 

applecruncher said:
Taxicabs have been taking credit cards for several yrs, and city bus passengers often use monthly, weekly, or even daily pass cards.

However, I'm not in favor of cashless society.
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Maybe where you live. I don't know that our taxi's offer cashless pay. I would have to see. They've never offered that service & usually if they have it available they offer it.
 
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applecruncher said:
Taxicabs have been taking credit cards for several yrs, and city bus passengers often use monthly, weekly, or even daily pass cards.

However, I'm not in favor of cashless society.
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Not trying to induce an argument or debate, but just interested in what’s the argument against a cashless society? I was taught in college that when two sides debate an issue, it’s always important to list the pros versus the cons. I scratched down a list of pros and cons and the pros won. (Too bad, you lose.) No, just kidding. I am really curious as to your views.

I can remember back in the day buying and using tokens to ride the bus, or even for certain items at the fairs/carnivals. It made me feel important for only God knows for what reason.
 
MarciKS said:
Those don't always work either. That can be a real PITA.
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That’s because you don’t have the right touch. It’s 2 thumps on the top and then a good swift kick in the bottom.

Seriously though, I was told by a vending company that if we were in a cashless era, the machines would be emptied and serviced each day just like if it were a cash register.
 
911 said:
That’s because you don’t have the right touch. It’s 2 thumps on the top and then a good swift kick in the bottom.
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LOL! I'll let the customers at the hospital know that. No seriously...it's usually a mechanical malfunction that requires servicing.
 
Recently a friend ours brother, a person who has more challanges to everyday living than most adults, has been convinced to buy an Iphone in order to be able to do his laundry in his apt building. Due to the change shortage the machines in his building have been converted to Apple Pay.
Now, while most fully functioning adults on a very limited income would look for some other solution--find a laundermat that takes cash for tokens, a laundry service, make friends with a neighbor and pay them to pay for the service--anything that would be much less expensive , he can't do it that way. In his case it will likely be a very steep learning curve to use it as well as having to get a credit card. This doesn't bode well.

I assume this must be a cheaper way of going cashless as he pays his rent monthly at on site office at the apt. I've known other people who lived in apartments that had their laundry machines converted to card readers to prevent vandalism , that were reloaded when one paid their rent.
Seems like that would be a better solution for the residents, as he isn't the only one there with this problem.
 
I would not want to go cashless. For many of the reasons above. I like being able to throw loose change into my coin jar. One thing I did not see here was how would we pay the neighbor kid who mows our lawn, or shovels our driveway?
I would flip the two words and say we could be a less cash society.
I know when I was in college, I did an internship down town. I would take the bus to and from campus. I bought the monthly bus pass, which gave unlimited rides. I had a car, but was working only part time at a paying job (intern was unpaid) and the bus pass was easier and less expensive than parking
 
It won't be long before the kid that does the chores is carrying a reloadable debit card or an iPhone and you will be able to transfer the payment or grandparents will be able to slip the kid a few extra bucks electronically.

I don't really care what happens as long as I have enough actual cash or electronic funds to stay in the game.
 
applecruncher said:
@911
I don't want to use a credit/debit card to pay for an ice cream cone & pack of gum or to tip pizza delivery. I use credit/debit quite a bit but I still want to have some cash.

Also, the possibility of massive long term power outages concerns me. That would impact or cripple credit/debit card use.
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All of this absolutely makes sense, but we will someday be in a cashless society. Wrinkles, like the ones that you mentioned, will need to be worked out, but it’s coming. I forget how much money I once heard that we would save if we didn’t use cash as our form of currency, but it may have been like $1.5 billion per year.

Does anyone else remember using tokens?
 
fancicoffee13 said:
Cashless society has discriminatory and is exclusionary effects. There are seniors that can't do cashless, poor people and people who do not qualify for debit cards or credit cards. No, going cashless is not good economics and there will always be those that cannot do cashless. New York has a bill forbidding cashless as the only payment method. It also prohibits enterprises from penalizing customers who pay with cash by charging them higher prices. The fine is $1500.
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I say a big "No" because there are people that don't qualify for plastic cards to purchase items. People that are seniors, those that don't qualify for another credit card-they have bad credit. And there are those that are used to using cash and checks to pay for things and regulate their budget. Plus, there are times you want to put a 20 dollar bill in a birthday card or a 100 dollar bill in a Christmas card. Cash doesn't charge a fee to use it like a debit card and you can always qualify for the use of cash!
 
MarciKS said:
If they go cashless what are we supposed to do with the cash we have? Can we turn it into the bank as a deposit I wonder?

How would we pay for a cab ride with no cash? Or a trip on the city bus??
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Right. It will take many, many, years to get rid of cash altogether.
 

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