Has Paying for Things With Actual Money Become Passe?

[c.d.]

I frequent a Starbucks coffee shop near where I live. It is also right near a University so there are always a lot of students and younger people there. I have noticed that I am one of the very few people who pays for their coffee with cash. Everyone else uses a credit card and lately they just hold up their cell phone which the cashier seems to scan and all is good.

I find this all very bizarre and it makes me feel quite old.

c.d.

[Damaso Marte]

I'm 26 and my preference is to pay via a credit card. It's easier: I only have to get a new credit card every few years, as opposed to having to go to an ATM everytime I run out of cash. And I can pay my bill with one click online.

However, at least in America, many small businesses either don't take credit cards or have a $5-10 minimum for use of credit card. This latter habit is technically a violation of their agreement with the credit card companies, but I've reported businesses to the credit card company many times for this and nothing has ever happened as a result.

Also, most vending machines in America don't take credit cards yet. It is critical to have $1 bills and coins for me if I want to use a vending machine.

[Robert]

I believe in money, not bits of plastic. Furthermore, I refuse to insert a card in a machine to get my money. Instead I go into the bank and talk to a human being.

I don't use those bloody supermarket automatic checkouts either. Why should I put someone out of a job?

[Wickerman]

Paper money, especially, is a good medium for passing on germs.

And then there's the checkout girl who has a cold and wipes her nose with a tissue after every customer she served, then she starts handling your bread, your vegetables, your tins, etc.
No thanks.

I don't mind the machines, or using debit cards, in fact I'm beginning to forget to take money out with me when we go anywhere.

[Cogidubnus]

Cash is still a good way to pay your bus fare...though with on-board cashless payment/card readers just beginning to catch on with the larger companies, probably not for a whole lot longer...and monthly passes are now available online too...

The problem as I see it with a cashless society is when your card goes tits up...like mine did two days before my daughter's wedding! At the moment you can visit your bank and make an emegency withdrawal...but if we all lived off just the one card...

All the best

Dave

[Sally]

[QUOTE=Robert;265945]I believe in money, not bits of plastic. Furthermore, I refuse to insert a card in a machine to get my money. Instead I go into the bank and talk to a human being.

I don't use those bloody supermarket automatic checkouts either. Why should I put someone out of a job?[/QUOTE]

Completely agree. I hate the bloody things - and inherently object to their existence. These days several major retailers have installed them - manned by an encouraging retail assistant who's job it seems to be to stand by the self-checkout machines all day assisting hapless shoppers. Doesn't that kind of defeat the object of the exercise???

I refuse to use them. If (as has happened on several occasions) there are no manned tills, I complain until I get one. I know that's just one voice; but how will the retailers know how their customers feel if we don't tell them?

Ok. Rant over

I'd be sad if money disappeared. I use it all the time - helps me keep track of what I'm spending on a day-to-day basis.

[Ally]

I believe in money, not bits of plastic.

Practically speaking, what's the difference between bits of paper (money) and bits of plastic??

[Robert]

Hi Ally

Well, for one thing I don't trust the banks' security.

[Robert]

Hi Sally

I've a feeling that those checkout helpers will gradually be withdrawn. And of course, once they've got customers serving themselves, the next thing is the shoplifters will have to arrest themselves. What a cheek!

[Ally]

Hi Ally

Well, for one thing I don't trust the banks' security.

You keep your money under your mattress? Hmmm... let's all go visit Robert!

[Robert]

Oh blimey!...um....I'll get some black pudding in, then.

No, obviously I use banks/building societies, but I like the passbook ones. I do have one account with a debit card which I use for bits and pieces, but I'm jolly careful not to keep much money in it.

[c.d.]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/now-at-starbucks-buy-a-latte-by-waving-your-phone/

Here is an article about people paying for their coffee by simply having their cell phone swiped. This would appear to be the wave of the future.

c.d.

[Ally]

Oh blimey!...um....I'll get some black pudding in, then.

[Cogidubnus]

I think Ally might (genuinely) prefer Hog's Pudding...sliced and fried it's a glorious breakfast treat...and I'm not allowed fried breakfasts any more

All the best

Dave

[RivkahChaya]

Practically speaking, what's the difference between bits of paper (money) and bits of plastic??

Exactly. I imagine when people first started exchanging bank notes instead of actual gold an silver, there were people wailing about the downfall of society, and according to my parents, in 1965, when the US switched from silver certificates (that could be exchanged for silver on demand) to federal reserve notes (what we use now), and stopped using coinage that was worth its face value in silver, nickel, or whatever, to bronze-nickel representative coins, the downfall of civilization was once more predicted.

I love using plastic, because you can't lose it, the way you can lose money-- I mean, you can, but you don't lose the value-- and it's a lot faster. I love banking by computer, rather than writing checks and stuffing and stamping envelopes. You also have proof you paid, if for some reason the wire transaction goes awry, which rarely happens, but mail does sometimes get lost or delayed. I hated when a bill was due on the 20, and I got paid on the 10th. I would deposit the check, then either wait for it to clear, and not mail the check until after, and hope it arrived on time, or mail the check the same day I made the deposit, and hope the deposit didn't get screwed up, or for some reason the check actually arrived early. Now, I can have money deposited directly, and pay a bill online, all on the same day.

I love self checkout. I hate chatty cashiers, who slow me down with the small talk, and I like bagging my own stuff, because I hate coming home with more bags than items. I also don't like everyone knowing what I'm buying. If I need D-cell batteries for my son's toy trains, and Vaseline for a squeaky kitchen drawer, I don't want to buy four or five other things, because the cashier gives me the hairy eyeball when I buy nothing but D-cell batteries and Vaseline.