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Mostly I use my debit card. But I also keep a just in case fund. What if you lose your card? And when I'm getting five dollars worth of meat from the meat market, its just as easy to use cash. Or when you pay the guy who mowed your lawn. What are you going to do, use paypal? What if he isn't online?
And if money is tight, bringing fifty dollars to shop with means ALL you can spend if fifty dollars. You can't dip into that extra hundred saved for the insurence payment. You can't walk past something which sounds yummy and decide to buy it since you brought enough for your list and no more. You can't do that with electronic money. All those little extras CAN add up.
Currently, there are lots of things you need cash for but at some point in the future we could become a cashless society and that lawn guy would just have to be able to accept electronic payment if he wants the work.
As for cash discipline (you can only spend what's in your pocket), nice theory but it seldom works that way. Most people have debit/credit cards and they don't leave them at home so if they really want that special buy or yummy treat they will get out the card. Or bring extra cash just in case and then since they have it they spend it. A person either has financial discipline or they don't, and all the cute tricks to impose it are going to fail for those without disciple and are unnecessary for those with discipline.
Currently, there are lots of things you need cash for but at some point in the future we could become a cashless society and that lawn guy would just have to be able to accept electronic payment if he wants the work.
As for cash discipline (you can only spend what's in your pocket), nice theory but it seldom works that way. Most people have debit/credit cards and they don't leave them at home so if they really want that special buy or yummy treat they will get out the card. Or bring extra cash just in case and then since they have it they spend it. A person either has financial discipline or they don't, and all the cute tricks to impose it are going to fail for those without disciple and are unnecessary for those with discipline.
Or how about a chip under your skin?
You need to a little research on what is behind having a cashless society, and it isn't about making things more convenient for you.
I will give you a hint, Google the name David Rockefeller.
Cash seems to be a mixed blessing. Used to play an important role. But nowadays we tend to make payouts etc with various accounts and cards. So why not just do away with it.
There is a great deal of research that shows there is an incredible cost in keeping cash. Everything from guarding cash, to the cost of producing cash, looking for counterfeits, and recycling old cash with new cash. Their is the social cost of robberies which are made easier by cash. As a matter of fact you couldn't have "cash back" cards like Discover if someone wasn't saving money by removing cash from the transaction.
But no society, least of all USA, is ready to do away with cash. Sweden is the most hostile country to cash in the world. The number of ATMs per capita is equivalent to most third world nations, the entire county's network of ATMs went down for a few hours and nobody complained, and most people didn't notice. Cash cannot be handled at most bank teller windows, and cash is not accepted by nearly every government office or public transit vehicles. Churches all accept debit or credit cards for offerings. Very well known celebrities actively campaign against cash, as they feel that illegal immigration and plain old street muggings would be greatly reduced.
It's also legal to buy dope and prostitutes with credit cards, although I imagine even Swedes like to gamble with cash.
Currently the cash circulated in Sweden is about US$950 per person in banknotes, and US$65 per person in coins. Nearly US$700 of that amount is in one denomination, the 500 kroner note worth about US$58. In comparison the USA is circulating roughly $888 per person in banknotes (not counting c-notes) of which $507 per person is in the $20 bill. But we also have a trillion dollars in Benjamins in circulation.
But despite Sweden's anti cash society, the government is about to issue all new series of banknotes and brand new coins in different sizes than the current coins. So if they do away with cash, it probably won't happen in for at least 20 years. People like cash, for all the reasons mentioned in previous posts.
But remember that Sweden is part of the EU, so even if they do away with the kroner, people will still be able to collect Euro banknotes to satisfy some of the basic desire to have cash.
Better chat with Susan B. Anthony and the Three Sisters of Agriculture as well. Meanwhile, Canadians are fascinated by the weather in Florida and bright, shiny objects. And of course, the government there imperiously got rid of all paper equivalents. Can you imagine? The point remains that dollar and half-dollar coins have an at least 40-year record of rejection and failure in the United States.
I can go days or weeks without using cash, but I think cash should still be an option, especially for small purchases.
+1
The only places where I use cash are the barbershop and Aldi.
Since I visit the barber about once every 5 weeks, and my visits to Aldi are about twice a month, I probably use only ~$60 in cash per month.
However, I do think that cash should always exist as an option for those who prefer it.
After all, if the self check-out at the supermarket didn't accept cash, how else could a few people delay everyone else while they feed dollar bills, nickels, dimes, and pennies into the machine?
???
why do people use credit cards for autopay then use the exact same for "shopping"? Why not just open another card and use that one, then if it gets stolen, it doesn't affect your "monthly bills" card? With credit limits in the $20-50k range these days, it isn't like having 2 or 3 cards is all that hard, just don't spend more than you got >.>
Just because you and I have enough available credit to buy a brand new middle of the road Mercedes on our credit cards doesn't mean that this is average or required of the other 300 million people in the USA. Lots of people have $1,000 or less TOTAL credit available to them, and tens of millions have much less than that. Getting ONE credit card is impossible for millions.
You need to a little research on what is behind having a cashless society, and it isn't about making things more convenient for you.
I will give you a hint, Google the name David Rockefeller.
I'll give you a hint - it's eventually going to happen no matter how much certain people rant and rave about Big Brother or the New World Order or such.
First off I would assert that card is cheaper than cash. And it is cheaper to run a card transaction than a cash one. That does not claim that there are not charges on card transaction that are higher than cash ones. But it does say there is no fact basis for the difference. So it would be easily within the purview of regulators to require that charges reflect cost. Alternately government could establish accounts for each citizen with regulated rates similar to the way in which many programs are run.
Feel free to assert anything you like. Your assertion is dead wrong. Nobody cares about the cost 'to the economy', the real cost is the cost to individual businesses. If my business sells $10,000 in merchandise today for cash, at the end of the day I drop it in the night deposi at my bank and in the morning I am debited $10,000 to my account. If I sell $10,000 for credit, the MOST I will have debited to my account is $10,000 LESS $175 to $250 for transaction fees. Then it takes 2 to 4 days to be deposited in my account. THEN, at any time, the money can be taken OUT of my account by the credit card companies due to fraud or suspected fraud by the purchaser, or can be charged back by an unhappy or scamming customer for months after the transaction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lvoc
The issue of course is that cash allows and in fact encourages certain illegal activity. There is at present significant growth in such industry. And it is very much in the interest of the public that such industry be limited. It is of course a huge problem in various countries where income tax is more often evaded than paid. And in the end the little guy with a regular job pays while all the well off and connected do not. Many tipped employees in Las Vegas pay only 2/3 of the taxes they would otherwise owe. You folks really think LV valet, strippers and servers should be privileged in the payment of income tax?
This is the same argument that people use to try and make handguns illegal. Doesn't work for that, and won't work for this either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lvoc
There are already industries where the off the book workers exceed the legal ones. Residential housing construction comes to mind. kTry and track the flow of the cash through the subs.
Again, don't hurt legitimate business to root out the crooks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lvoc
I am not convinced that any industry is actually so narrow in profit that a card charge would put them out of business. I agree they prefer not to pay it but more for the loss of the right to manipulate cash businesses then for the cost of the transaction. Do we really want businesses that exist on ntheir ability to steal tax and avoid income tax?
Literally nobody cares whether or not YOU are convinced. I'm sure your fascist utopia where every transaction is reported to the government seems like a good idea to you, but if I lend $100 to my brother, give $5 to a guy to feed his kids, or buy a case of beer and a box of condoms at the Piggly Wiggly, I don't feel the need to report it to Big Brother. And I never will.
Really, would you trust Abu down at the Quicky Mart to write down your credit card number, full name, expiration date and security code, along with your drivers license information to buy a jug of water or a pack of smokes?
I think you forgot that credit card companies provide the card holder with protection...
even if he steals the number, you aren't forced to pay for it...
unlike with cash, if someone robs you and spends the cash, you are out that amount... with a credit card, they can steal it, and you are still protected by the company
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