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I mainly use my debit card and occasional credit card. I also use my phone sometimes to pay. My boyfriend uses his phone most of the time and always makes sure he keeps cash. I think a person should always have some cash. I would never completely rely on my cards. I have had my cards not work at a gas station when I was empty. Luckily I had some cash. You never know..
For small purchases i like using cash. As someone who has been in retail for years, I noticed that people tend to have both cash and card. Depending on the total, they decide what to use. A lot of people younger then me would hand me cash. Many also used debit cards. Usually 20s. It really depends. As a business, I would accept both. Looking at the replies, it seems to depend on where people live.
A lot of people don't know this but there was a nearly cashless society that started about 35 years ago and ended 12 years ago.
Iceland had run away inflation in the 1970s, so they issued a new currency starting on 1 January 1981 where they removed two zeros from the old currency. Initially, the biggest bill was worth $80 but the hyper inflation continued so that it was only worth $27.56 in two years. They kept issuing new notes until 1985 when they basically gave up.
Basically, the Icelandic people just stopped trying to pump out new bills with higher and higher denominations and switched to electronic transactions. That lasted until all the banks went bankrupt at once in 2008 and then people wanted banknotes again.
Cool thing on Iceland. Too bad they got screwed on the massive bubble pop...otherwise what I know of the country is pretty amazing.
My main point is that the movement toward cashlessness might not be a one way street. Changing economic conditions can revive cash, even after decades.
Iceland today has a reasonable amount of cash circulating. Whose to say a banking crisis in Sweden may not revive interest in cash?
Banknotes and Coins per inhabitant at end of 2017 (expressed in USD using xchange rate 31 Dec 2017)
$10,280 Switzerland
$7,948 Hong Kong
$7,818 Japan
$6,106 Singapore
$4,949 United States
$4,224 Euro area
$2,606 Australia
$2,021 Canada
$1,966 Korea
$1,663 Saudi Arabia
$1,600 Iceland
$1,429 Britain U.K.
$1,123 Russia
$944 Argentina
$852 China
$698 Sweden
$631 Mexico
$437 Turkey
$365 Brazil
$227 South Africa
$218 India
$196 Indonesia
There is no international law limiting the amount of cash a country can issue. There is nothing to stop Iceland from issuing more and more 1000CHF banknotes if the citizens of the world buy them.
Last edited by PacoMartin; 01-19-2019 at 06:30 AM..
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