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Predicting a Future Free of Dollar Bills
An anonymous reader writes with this story about how a cashless society might work and how far-off in the future it is. "...We're not there yet, but a cashless society is not as fanciful as it seems. Recent research suggests that many believe we will stop using notes and coins altogether in the not-too-distant future. New payments technologies are rapidly transforming our lives. Today in the U.S., 66 percent of all point-of-sale transactions are done with plastic, while in the U.K. it's just under half. But while a truly cashless society is some time away yet, there is raft of groundbreaking technologies that will make cash a mere supporting act in the near future."
As someone who has had a recent issue with a certain major bank(they closed the account and sent cashiers checks to me for the balance. Waiting 2-3 days without money wasn't pleasant)...I will never go cashless. Relying on these financial institutions for every transaction is something I will not trust. I won't get into the whole NSA/FBI/etc. potential tracking of all my purchases.
The other point of view is that cash is needed because the government is still all in our business. Get the government out of the morality game and the cash will more or less disappear on its own. In that way, cash usage is a proxy for government oppression.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
A butcher near me already has http://canningsfreerangebutche...
In Canada we no longer have dollar bills. We have dollar coins. We also got rid of the penny.
Free as in "the Truth shall set you..."
There is a non-trivial fee associated with cash too. Cash requires labor to move/protect it, can go "missing" much more easily than credit card transactions etc. Cards are probably still more expensive, but not by as much as you may think.
Monstar L
Exactly true. Market research shows people spend more if they are using a CC. Part of the psychology is of course that cash you are carrying around is generally a more limited asset than your CC balance limit.
While that's true, it's beginning to change, particularly for many younger people. I've personally always found cash easier to spend, because it wouldn't be in my pocket if it weren't available. Credit cards, though? I need to think about my bank account balances and charges for the month before using those. But I agree that most people aren't that careful.
However, the big game changer for younger folks is financial tracking software -- so now you can see instant balances changing whenever you charge or debit. With financial tracking software, the CASH becomes the "funny money," because it isn't tracked automatically.
That means that whatever money is in my wallet has already disappeared from my "accounting software," so it's basically already spent, as far as I'm concerned. I've talked to many people who feel the same way now... cash is now the "free money to spend" while credit transactions see an immediate visceral impact as you look at your moving balance.
The assumption that some sort of special merchant status will be required to accept non-physical payment strikes me as unfounded. Even today it's fairly easy for individuals to send money via ACH -- or a paper check, like individuals have used for years -- and it's not hard to imagine ways to make a similar process even easier and less dependent on banks.
Never say "never". The kid who occasionally mows my lawn has a smartphone. I can see a day, not too far off, when this is the customary mechanism for doing that kind of payment. As soon as the transaction cost goes down to negligible.
So yes, there may come a time when government-supplied currency tokens are obsolete for almost all transactions. That may not be in my lifetime, although the phasing out of postage stamps may happen in the next couple of decades. Illicit transactions may just move to barter.
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The problem isn't banks, its US banks.
Here in Australia I recently opened a bank account including an attached VISA Debit card (lets me pay with VISA using my own money). When I did it, the bank didn't care about my financial circumstances or anything and I was able to open the account with a single dollar coin.
The only account fees I have paid since I opened this account was an overseas transaction fee when I bought something from overseas with the VISA and a fee (charged by the ATM operator) when I used an ATM not part of the RediATM network.
I pay NO monthly fees and NO transaction fees for using RediATM ATMs, EFTPOS, VISA in Australia, bPay or internet banking.
No reason why a bank has to make it hard for people to get a bank account or charge huge fees, they just choose to because they are greedy.
Any transaction that doesn't want to pay taxes moves to barter. This shit is a government wet dream. Talk about control! If you piss off the government in any way they flick a switch and you're done. Actually they probably just click an icon on a screen. Now you can't use your money, it's gone! I can see it coming though, it's inevitable.
And then you get picked up because the card you bought was actually traceable to kiddy porn or a terrorist bomber used it to buy fertilizer.
Ala Tor.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Interesting thing about the dollar coin is that it is in wide circulation in Ecuador (due to the dollarization of 2000 based on the hyperinflation of the sucre). It was odd seeing so many transactions with the US dollar coin there (parking, transport, food, etc), when I have almost never seen it in circulation in the US. It's actually odd just using US currency in a country that currently has a president with a measure of a anti-US sentiment and strong ties with Cuba, Venezuela, etc.
the abolition of printed cash drives a wedge between 2 and 3. at the first whiff, run.
Shouldn't you be complaining about not being on the gold standard?
Seriously dude, your paranoid fantasy came true years ago, when we went off the Gold standard, and decoupled gold form the dollar.
It's all a game, and there was always too much paper floating around to make a gold standard serious. And as soon as we went total fiat, it didn't matter whether the money was printed, or a checkbook, or auto-deduct or credit card.
Maybe Somalia might work for you? I don't know how they handle money - mostly barter, I suspect - but it's probably more in line with your ideals. The rest of the world will just move on, and stand in line for their mark of the beast. The good news is they can pay for that online.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.