Why you鈥檒l always need cash
In snow-swept Sweden, the rise of mobile payments is making cash so sparse that some bank robbers have been left with聽.
But in the U.S., that day probably won鈥檛 come anytime soon.
People have been predicting the demise of cash for nearly 50 years, says David Stearns, professor of money and technology at the University of Washington. As banks began adopting computers and credit cards made their appearance half a century ago, many predicted the elimination of paper currency. 鈥淲e read in the mid-鈥�60s about how cash [was] going to go away in a decade,鈥� he said.
鈥淲ell, that didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�
Not sold yet on mobile payments
It鈥檚 true that more people are trying mobile payments. According to a study by research firms PYMNTS and InfoScout, 24% of respondents had聽聽in June 2016, up from 13% a year earlier. But during that same period, the number of people who 鈥渞arely consider using Apple Pay鈥� jumped from 23% to 34%. In other words, Apple Pay attracts first-timers but has a hard time convincing them to stay.
What鈥檚 more, cash remains widely popular. A 2014 study by the Federal Reserve showed that聽, most of them less than $20. And a solid 30% of consumers also listed cash as their preferred way of paying.
If anything, it seems mobile payments will become just one more way to pay.
Plenty of places take only cash
Odds are that in your town there are a few cash-only restaurants or shops. Indeed, 55% of small businesses in the U.S.聽, according to a survey by financial software company Intuit.
础肠肠别辫迟颈苍驳听聽can cost a business up to 4% per transaction, says Mallory Duncan, general counsel at the National Retail Federation, and mobile payments like聽聽can be just as expensive for merchants.
鈥淚f [mobile payments are] done in a way that simply replicates what credit cards do, they鈥檙e going to suffer from the same sort of disfavoring from merchants as credit cards,鈥� Duncan says.
Currency鈥檚 other value
It鈥檚 not just necessity that binds us to cash. From the tooth fairy鈥檚 quarters to bills received on birthdays, cash can also be sentimental. It can even convey a nation鈥檚 values.
Just look at the attention paid to the recent聽. Barbara Howard, founder of Women on 20s, a group that advocated the change, says that placing perhaps the most famous of American abolitionists on our currency reveals 鈥渁 transition in our consciousness.鈥�
Cash is more than a way to pay for stuff, she says. 鈥淸It鈥檚] how we project ourselves to the rest of the world.鈥�
Amber Murakami-Fester is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:聽amufe@nerdwallet.com.
This article was written by and was originally published by聽.
