[Misc] When will cash disappear ?

[Seagull27]

Without cash how would we settle personal debts to each other , say I owe you £10?

Erm... bank transfer perhaps?

Depending on the bank you use and their app, it's far easier to send people money digitally these days than find a cash point, withdraw money and give it to them.

 

[beorhthelm]

I think some kind of Swish-like app is bound to get really big in UK as well. Pretty obvious development: smooth and quick and requires no card reader. Its already growing really big in a lot of countries in Europe & Asia, you are just a bit slow on the ball over there.

how is Swish different to Monza, Revolut, Transferwise, and a list of other banking apps from banks and start ups?

 

[mikeyjh]

Erm... bank transfer perhaps?

Depending on the bank you use and their app, it's far easier to send people money digitally these days than find a cash point, withdraw money and give it to them.

You must remember that some 2 million people don't have a bank account - Of those that do, 27% don't bank online. That's millions of people who are utterly reliant on cash. You'll find many more that are not comfortable using an app or don't have a smartphone, cash is here for a long time yet....

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

More or less every dealer here accepts mobile payment through the Swish app. Can't see why it wouldnt work elsewhere, like the UK.

I have never heard of it before, so are the payments traceable ? Can a decent police force or sophisticated police network be able to crack any hidden payments etc..

 

[jamie (not that one)]

Here you can pay for pretty much anything on card. €1.20 coffee, whatever.

I'd say within 20 years we will be cashless.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

When the machines don't cost £30+ a month or take a large percentage cut of every transaction.

 

[Rogero]

My window cleaner only takes cash.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

I will miss cash, I guess a generation thing, having always up to twenty years ago always being paid in cash daily and weekly. I always had cash on me, admittedly it led to me being frivolous and reckless...

I like still to have cash on me, I like the feeling of getting money out and counting and handing over something to get something.
God I will miss saying at the shop "can i get rid of all my shrapnel"

Also what about all those secret gamblers who, can't have money show up on their accounts, i am sure those greedy bookmakers would know this and block any move, it would then hurt the government who collect tax on bets.
(my wages still get paid into my wife's account nearly 20 years after I lost a fair bit, she still checks my account and I have to account for cash withdrawals)

 

[Goldstone1976]

When the machines don't cost £30+ a month or take a large percentage cut of every transaction.

...and when there isn't a sizable proportion of the population looking to save VAT by paying cash and the service providers refuse to facilitate the tax evasion. Not for a while, then.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I think Rishi & Boris were clear when they offered support to the self employed that changes in payments are afoot!

 

[Braggfan]

Obviously we’re not ready to go cashless at the moment for the variety of reasons people have outlined above. But we are edging towards it and I’m sure it will happen. I’m sure we’ll be cashless within 10 years, definitely within 20.
I think it will be a staggered process but a path we’re already on. It will become increasingly easier and more convenient to go around cashless, becoming a habit for more and more people, until there’s only a minority left using cash and that’s when we’ll switch over completely and only a few people will notice the difference.
Personally I’ve always preferred to use cash and resented it when places like the Amex went cashless. But to be honest since the lockdown started I haven’t used any cash. Everything I’ve paid for has been on my card. Which to me shows that individual stubbornness will eventually give way to convenience and necessity once it becomes the norm.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

According to the Bank of England there is currently twice the amount of cash in circulation, compared with just 10 years ago.

Not sure where it all is, other than loose change for parking, I have all but given up on it.

 

[Gwylan]

When the machines don't cost £30+ a month or take a large percentage cut of every transaction.

Yes. That's going to be the game changer. At the moment, there are far too many places who place a mininum spend on card purchases - £5 to £15 in the shops around me. There are an awful lot of these small transactions during an average week - a newspaper here, a bottle of milk there, a couple of beers for the evening. When shops start accepting cards for a £1.30 purchase, we'll see a lot less cash around

 

[BNthree]

how is Swish different to Monza, Revolut, Transferwise, and a list of other banking apps from banks and start ups?

I'm guessing it is a lot less traceable! Monzo is just a proper bank account with a fancy app. Swish is like paypal and just a money transferring (brokering) service. The https://cash.app/ service seems pretty popular for "informal" payments here and in the US.

 

[Audax]

For a lot of us, we're already 95% of the way there. I can't remember the last time I handled cash, but it was definitely pre-Christmas last year when I got my hair cut. It'll be the same next time I pay cash - it'll be the barber.

Everything else, I pay without cash. It's either an online purchase that gets delivered, contactless (either the card itself or Google Pay), or by bank transfer. I've got £1 in my car, which is for the Aldi trolley.

However, as others have rightly pointed out, there is still a large segment of society that still uses cash for one reason or another. They're either less well off and thus struggle to get what they need from the banks, older (and skeptical of the new technologies), or the sorts of people who don't want to have a digital footprint for "reasons". The generational divide will solve itself given 20 years or so, and I suspect in that same time frame the problem of banks refusing to provide viable products for everyone will also be resolved one way or another. The third group will always be a problem, but if cash does disappear they'll simply find another way around it one way or another.

Let's face it - "cash" only has meaning because we give it meaning. I know it isn't any longer, but back in the day it was nothing more than a "promise" to hand over gold on demand. It had no intrinsic value of its own. I would argue that remains the case today: cash has no intrinsic value of its own. It is an abstract concept, with fluctuating value, and the emergence of cryptocurrencies just highlights that.

For me the question isn't "when will cash disappear?" ... rather, the question should be "How long until the first cash-based currency is moved to a viable mass-usage crypto solution in place of cash?"

 

[BNthree]

Exactly So much crime is cash driven, and so many people in power get kick backs, organised crime needs cash.

Read that in the 80s Pablo Escober's cartel has so much cash they spent about $1000 a month on rubber bands to wrap around the bundles of notes. That's a LOT of rubber bands!

 

[Ding Dong !]

Hopefully not before I get through my stash in my safe.

This.........got a shed loads worth of £20 pound notes in my safe........I think they are being fazed out from next month !!!!

 

[Arthur]

Thinking about my groups normal match day and I assume it'll be the same for a lot of people.

Taxi to the pub - cash
Whip in the pub - cash
Taxi to ground - cash
Drinks in ground - cash
Taxi home - cash

Obviously the ground bit is going to have to change when we go back but I can't see the rest changing and I wouldn't want it to. Far easier when you are in a group to use cash.

Cash will eventually disappear but I don't think/hope it'll be for a while.

 

[dsr-burnley]

You must remember that some 2 million people don't have a bank account - Of those that do, 27% don't bank online. That's millions of people who are utterly reliant on cash. You'll find many more that are not comfortable using an app or don't have a smartphone, cash is here for a long time yet....

It's a lot more than 2m people who don't have bank accounts. How many children are there in the UK? 12m? 15m? Most of them don't have bank accounts, I would have thought. Not with unlimited remote access to funds, anyway.

How do children get spending money nowadays?

 

[Is it PotG?]

Thinking about my groups normal match day and I assume it'll be the same for a lot of people.

Taxi to the pub - cash
Whip in the pub - cash
Taxi to ground - cash
Drinks in ground - cash
Taxi home - cash

Obviously the ground bit is going to have to change when we go back but I can't see the rest changing and I wouldn't want it to. Far easier when you are in a group to use cash.

Cash will eventually disappear but I don't think/hope it'll be for a while.

1 card pays the lot, divvy it up later?