A Digital Revolution Comes for the Cash King - MBrew

A Digital Revolution Comes for the Cash King

 

As the coronavirus changed our perception of cash from "boo-ya I've got money" to "why am I carrying around this germ-infested piece of paper?" many shoppers started leaving their cash at home, and some retailers stopped accepting it altogether.  Is this the death of cash?  The pandemic has fundamentally changed how consumers pay for items, Visa’s European chief told the FT. And it's not just that shoppers are using debit and credit cards more: Contactless payments, which use radio-frequency tech or QR codes to pay with taps or scans, are gaining traction. Dozens of countries raised their cap on the size of contactless payments allowed. Walmart and Publix said they’d implement contactless payment options, joining Costco, Target, 7-Eleven, and Amazon Go. So what's preventing the cashless revolution? Installing contactless systems is expensive, especially for small businesses. Consumers also need smartphones to use the tech.  Plus, 6% of U.S. adults are “unbanked,” meaning they do not have a checking, savings, or money market account. And access to banking falls unevenly across racial lines: 4% of white adults are unbanked, compared to 14% of Blacks and 11% of Hispanics, according to data from the Fed. If stores drop cash entirely, millions could get shut out. Bottom line: The coronavirus has not only transformed what we buy, but how we buy. The transition to digital payments just got a dose of jet fuel.