Do you want a cashless society?

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Do you want a cashless society? More businesses are not allowing cash? Even Edinburgh leisure now for their gyms.
More and more bank branches, post offices and ATMs are closing

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Definitely, some pros and cons.

There seems to be efforts towards a blockchain system that may add some security to the financial system... however, like anything, there always seems to be the potential for intelligent software to somehow circumvent and create fraud and abuse. Sure, I think we've all gotten used to the convenience of using "the card" and perhaps lulled into some sense of safety with it... that is, until you've had your ID and/or money stolen. That is such a pain in the butt and the amount of "firewalls" you have to put onto your ID and money can be inconvenient... all the PIN #s and passwords and phone texts with codes.

We can go on and on and on with this conversation.

 

[Aspychata]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/truetamplin/2025/06/27/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-going-cashless/

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I've been cashless since graduating college debit card.

 

[the_tortoise]

The simplest enduring "pro" for me
with respect to cash is that it is a physical thing, a thing I can see and that has physical existence, a thing I can visual-spatially divide up and organize ...so easier to keep track of. You know when physical money on your person/in your physical possession is gone because it is physically, visibly gone - whether you spent it or lost it or were robbed.

I often wonder what happens to homeless people ....or those who are simply in a temporary bad/emergency situation and need to make a call when there are no bills or coins and the last payphone disappears...

Some people will give money to the homeless even when they are not asking for any, and you can see their rather sad mix of fear/uncertainty and compassion playing out in their body language and facial expressions -- it is easier to hand someone some pocket change or a bill than it is to be a person who randomly carries food and other necessities (or credit gift cards --which I suppose would have to replace cash given to the homeless in a cash-free society) around in a backpack or pockets as they go about their day-to-day life like an unofficial outreach worker....

And for those who feel awkward around or are afraid of the unhoused it is easier to know you've actually given someone something they can use without being required to actually talk to them (I wish people would, but realistically...) if you give them cash...as opposed to food or any other specific item (homeless people are like anyone else struggling materially -- they might have food allergies and be truly unable to just eat whatever someone gives them; or it might be they have plenty of food in their bag or belly that day but no money for a needed prescription or a toothbrush -- and I'm not stupid, I know plenty of people unhoused and housed have addictions and will use monetary gifts from others to buy drugs or alcohol, but honestly if someone lives on the street (or anywhere actually - life can be very hard for any number of reasons) and a numbing substance of choice gets them through another day I'm not judging -- it's not my life, I don't know their story or their options, imo it's better someone's suffering be reduced albeit temporarily and superficially so they can survive another day and carry on until one hopes that one day they might find the inner and/or outer resources needed to break free of or manage the addiction (which may be why they are homeless but may not be -- and believe it or not, not all homeless people are drug users).

the world is interesting, you encounter both shocking generosity and trust and equally shocking selfishness and paranoia...a cashless society seems unlikely to help foster generosity -- but my perception is limited by my experience; Perhaps truly genius innovative ways of giving to the marginalized and digitally-disconnected in society would be found, or people would simply be given more ways to digitally connect or society would be forced to take a closer at all the people we literally leave out in the cold, and more and better charitable services would be created.

 

[JayLapointe]

I see you just mean going to a digital based form of currency and not actually a currency free society. I was excited there for a minute. I mean we live in a time where we have the means and ability as a species to house, clothe, feed, medicate, educate, and find meaningful work for all that want to, but as a species we choose not to.

Why? Because we are too bent up on this agreed upon illusion called money that we fool ourselves into thinking scarcity is real, when the reality is a few rich greedy folks have ruined it for the rest of us. All the while making the majority of society think if they work "just a little harder" they too can be a billionaire.

Meanwhile the currency system we do have is based on there being more debt owing than actually money in existence, which means every billionaire is ensuring that many folks out there will never be able to pay their debts because the money just isn't available anymore. Thus ensuring some folks have no choice but to exist in abject poverty. Because that is the way the system is designed. It's not broken folks, you're just on the wrong side of it.

I hate money, I hate currency, I hate economics, and I hate the fact that instead of trains, economics was the bent of interest that hooked me. If there was a pill to erase it all, and let me be ignorant again, I'd take it in a heartbeat.


That all being said cash is dumb. Don't keep cash for anything but very small transactions. Cash will not gain interest and will only depreciate at a rate of loosing approximately half it's purchasing power every 23 years due to inflation. That's if you calculate and an average of 3% inflation per year. If your life savings are only in cash, you are quite literally having the value of it all go down every second.

Oh and that inflation we all hate, we need it or else the entire system collapses.

 

[the_tortoise]

I see you just mean going to a digital based form of currency and not actually a currency free society. I was excited there for a minute. I mean we live in a time where we have the means and ability as a species to house, clothe, feed, medicate, educate, and find meaningful work for all that want to, but as a species we choose not to.

Agreed.

I wish I was less jaded so that meaning might have occured to me -- it absolutely didn't.

That would be a very exciting topic - an egalitarian society (but carefully replace the word and concept of "equal" with that of "equitable" everywhere you find it in "egalitarianism") without any currency of any kind, where everyone worked together in cooperation...

 

[JayLapointe]

I wanted to add above, that if you don't like the thought of digital currency and or banks, then instead of cash you should look into gold and other precious metals that you can keep wherever you want, and that will also typically with time increase in value, unlike cash. And typically anytime there are major market troubles, gold usually goes up.

 

[Crossbreed]

I prefer to go cashless, but there are some situations where cash makes the most sense.

 

[Outdated]

Having lived in remote areas where communications can be a bit dodgy at the best of times I know that ideas of a cashless society (including digital currencies) can not work. If a storm passes through and communications go down for a few weeks (disappointingly common) then you've got no access to electronic funds transfer.

If you don't have cash you're knackered. In some remote regions businesses don't even bother to have EFTPOS facilities, it costs them money to have that and it's completely useless for many months of the year. Instead they just have a sign on the front door that says Cash Only.

 

[Misery]

One thing that occurs to me is that going cashless means you might be less likely to drop it all over the place. Card stays wedged somewhere, half the time you dont even need to pull it out. But a blob of awkwardly held cash? Yeah great way to lose it.

Something I'll always remember is walking down a tunnel at a convention, there wasnt anyone else in it somehow at the time, and I just found $70 on the floor. Just a wad of cash laying there. Not in a wallet or anything, JUST the cash. No way to know who dropped it or anything.

I bought something or other with it, because what the heck else was I going to do? I felt bad for whoever dropped it though. Could have been their entire spending money for that event.


I'm kinda surprised to hear that some businesses arent even accepting it anymore though, that's new to me.

 

[Judge]

Having lived in remote areas where communications can be a bit dodgy at the best of times I know that ideas of a cashless society (including digital currencies) can not work. If a storm passes through and communications go down for a few weeks (disappointingly common) then you've got no access to electronic funds transfer.

If you don't have cash you're knackered. In some remote regions businesses don't even bother to have EFTPOS facilities, it costs them money to have that and it's completely useless for many months of the year. Instead they just have a sign on the front door that says Cash Only.

Point taken. That it comes down to local financial infrastructure which is anything but universal over a single nation's borders.

Some are more than capable and willing to go cashless, and others vehemently opposed based on any number of infrastructure considerations. Especially those locales so far removed from major population centers. Very small and well-developed nations with very large populations with substantial incomes might fare better going cashless. But how many of them actually exist ?

Leaving the issue on the whole as what we call a "Mexican Standoff". That one person's convenience could be another person's disaster.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Having lived in remote areas where communications can be a bit dodgy at the best of times I know that ideas of a cashless society (including digital currencies) can not work. If a storm passes through and communications go down for a few weeks (disappointingly common) then you've got no access to electronic funds transfer.

If you don't have cash you're knackered. In some remote regions businesses don't even bother to have EFTPOS facilities, it costs them money to have that and it's completely useless for many months of the year. Instead they just have a sign on the front door that says Cash Only.

I remember the couple of days we had here when the power system broke no electricity for a few days blackout no traffic lights no news no going to work, fridge not working no cooking.

 

[Judge]

I remember the couple of days we had here when the power system broke no electricity for a few days blackout no traffic lights no news no going to work, fridge not working no cooking.

Me too. Coming home just as the 10/17/89 Loma Prieta Earthqauke occurred. Scary time as everything was "out" for a spell. Worse than all the lights being out were so many crazed drivers who didn't care about anyone or anything but themselves. No way to get cash or process credit. But at least I still had cash in my pocket.

 

[UFO]

One of my favorite subjects

Oh... I would prefer a society without the money system, and people without greed, selfishness and innate need for property and luxury, but that is impossible, so some kind of trade exchange is needed.

While I don't use any more physical cash myself, I find cashless society problematic because of above mentioned issues, and that I don't like how information about my consumer habits are stored to god-knows-where... So I vote for maintaining cash system.

Meanwhile the currency system we do have is based on there being more debt owing than actually money in existence

It is even worse than that. There is no "actual money" at all. It is all debt in one form or another. Even the central bank money is still a debt, IOU-bill that promises that with that bill you can get goods and services, or other sort of money. However, government issued money is a very reliable source of goods and services, because the government can force by gunpoint goods and service producers to give you goods and services for your money. This is about the only thing that makes the central bank money more real than a money, aka debt notes, issued by a Smallville's Local Bank, which can't support the trust to its money, aka debt notes, same way. Actually, this trust issue was one of many reasons why physical money of other than government mints was eventually forbidden - to protect people from scams and very untrustworthy local currencies.

Oh and that inflation we all hate, we need it or else the entire system collapses.

While it wasn't intentionally designed to be like that (in ancient times), it has evolved to be like that for a very practical reason: To keep the economy running and to motivate you to spend your cash rather than to sit on it. You buy something now, because it will be more expensive tomorrow, and this way create the demand, which creates the motivation to offer the supply, which creates the employment. All this to happen now, creating wealth (not only money, but also items, standard of living etc.) to the society (all levels of it) today instead tomorrow. Also, it motivates to invest to the enterprises that create goods, services and more money thru the interest.

The problem: To keep the standard of living increasing, the system requires increasing consumption of goods and services, resulting without equal technological advancements increasing consumption of finite natural resources. Not to mention, that without the society's intervention the only way (that I know) to ensure that the wealth would distribute equally, would be that all people would be equally skilled and informed in handling money, and that all people would be in the equal position in the society and in the life situation.

 

[Judge]

One of my favorite subjects


It is even worse than that. There is no "actual money" at all. It is all debt in one form or another. Even the central bank money is still a debt, IOU-bill that promises that with that bill you can get goods and services, or other sort of money. However, government issued money is a very reliable source of goods and services, because the government can force by gunpoint goods and service producers to give you goods and services for your money. This is about the only thing that makes the central bank money more real than a money, aka debt notes, issued by a Smallville's Local Bank, which can't support the trust to its money, aka debt notes, same way. Actually, this trust issue was one of many reasons why physical money of other than government mints was eventually forbidden - to protect people from scams and very untrustworthy local currencies.


While it wasn't intentionally designed to be like that (in ancient times), it has evolved to be like that for a very practical reason: To keep the economy running and to motivate you to spend your cash rather than to sit on it. You buy something now, because it will be more expensive tomorrow, and this way create the demand, which creates the motivation to offer the supply, and which creates the employment. All this to happen now, creating wealth (not only money, items, standard of living etc.) to the society (all levels of it) today instead tomorrow. Also, it motivates to invest to the enterprises that create goods, services and more money thru the interest.

The problem: To keep the standard of living increasing, the system requires increasing consumption of goods and services, resulting without equal technological advancements increasing consumption of finite natural resources. Not to mention, that without the society's intervention the only way (that I know) to ensure that the wealth would distribute equally, would be that all people would be equally skilled and informed in handling money, and that all people would be in the equal position in the society and in the life situation.

True dat. Deficit spending from the very top to the very bottom of the economic strata. Where an entire nation's net worth is based only on the perception of an anticipated Gross Domestic Product.

With whatever gold reserves they have chosen not discussed in polite conversation....

Reminds me of the fools controlling our branch budget, which primarily compensated employees only on the basis of their anticipated job performance and profitability. Not their real output. A process that allowed for an uncomfortable degree of bias and shenanigans.

 

[dadko20]

i think the world will be better if we eat bugs own nothing and be happy

 

[NB79]

No is horrible, something happens to electronics and it wouldn't work
If the goverment or a bank decides you are 'ugly' they can ban you from buying anything.
More control for rich people who think they can decide for you, but they are going to 'islands' if you know what i mean in the meantime and don't care.
By the way i'm not into conspiracy theories.

 

[vergil96]

No, I don't want to be spied on all the time and government officials or other "authorised" (or unauthorised) people expressing opinions on how I live. You bought too much cheese, must be bad for you or maybe you're too rich, you will be questioned about eating 2kg of cheese alone if you wish so. Had a party? How many friends did you invite? Why so? Can't be that they ate 2kg of cheese! Also if something is online, you could as well hang in on the wall of a shopping mall.

 

[Mary Terry]

I wanted to add above, that if you don't like the thought of digital currency and or banks, then instead of cash you should look into gold and other precious metals that you can keep wherever you want, and that will also typically with time increase in value, unlike cash. And typically anytime there are major market troubles, gold usually goes up.

Cash, properly invested, can grow in amount such as by accruing interest when the cash is invested in a bank certificate of deposit rather than hidden under your mattress.