Is it the end of cash?

[MikeFromLFE]

Our local car parks haven’t taken cash for at least 2 years, it’s contactless or (spit) Ringo.

Why are car parking payment apps so universally shite?
I've had to use Ringo and two others that I can't remember the names of, and they're totally carp. And some councils charge you for having to use the stupid app as well.

[Polar Bear]

This morning I bought fruit and veg at the market and then some freshly baked croissants.  This cash thing is catching on.  😉

[Syd]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://time.com/4918626/money-germs-microbes-dirty/

[Polar Bear]

You are Howard Hughes and ICMFP.  👍

[Cudzoziemiec]

Tax on digital transactions in Ghana.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/apr/05/high-tech-higher-tax-ghanaians-face-punishing-new-levy-on-electronic-payments

[Adam]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://time.com/4918626/money-germs-microbes-dirty/

How well do microbes & germs live on plastic notes?

[Syd]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://time.com/4918626/money-germs-microbes-dirty/

How well do microbes & germs live on plastic notes?

Three times cleaner apparently.

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/61417/dirty-money-cleaner-polymer-notes-new-fiver

[Cudzoziemiec]

Then there’s inclusion. True, cash is insecure; cash holders miss out on interest and are unable to build up financial histories, which are essential for getting access to a wider array of financial services. That’s why “financial inclusion” usually means bringing people out of a cash-based existence and into the formal sector. But cash alone offers a universally attainable means of paying and being paid. For those who can’t or won’t get banked or go digital, what happens in a cashless future? There are an estimated 1.3 million “unbanked” adults in the UK and many more who lack either digital confidence or access. Not everyone is happy or able to wave a card, much less to buy now and pay later. Cash may be dirty, expensive and unsafe. It may aid and abet the criminal and the corrupt, but it’s also freely accessible to everyone.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-big-idea-should-we-embrace-a-cashless-society

The irony here is that cashless payments, in the form of mobile money – that's mobile as in mobile phone – were developed to make paying and being paid easier for the huge numbers of people in eg Africa and India who don't have bank accounts – and won't have in the foreseeable future due to poverty, lack of access to physical bank buildings and poor internet infrastructure in rural areas, illiteracy and absence of other forms of ID. Mobile payments allow the unbanked poor to make and receive payments without the security risk of carrying cash and without needing shiny things, education and bureaucracy. it's not cashless payments per se which exclude the unbanked but their implementation in the West – which is largely down to the dominance and power of banks.

[ian]

The last time I was in Malawi, the incidence of people wetting themselves in bank queues was front-page news. I'm not even joking.

We finally had to pay cash at the weekend, typical grumpy pub landlord uttered 'it's not worth it' for two lime and sodas (£2) but generally, he seemed of the mind that customers were an unnecessary burden on his business (still £2 for about 10p worth of ingredients and thirty seconds of his time, I expect he makes less selling two pints of beer).

[De Sisti]

When I was in a hotel in Mallorca a couple of weeks ago, the bar wouldn't accept cash, but there was a jar
near the till for tips to be placed (only cash though). Same thing happens in the UK in some pubs and cafes.