Cash Is So Yesterday
Amid growing interest in removing the lowly penny from circulation, there’s a much bigger trend taking shape in the world of money—the move toward a completely cashless society. While plastic (credit cards and debit cards) is now a more frequent form of retail payment than cash, the latest type of credit cards are aiming to eliminate the use of cash for the smallest purchases. According to an article posted on U.S. News & World Report’s web site on 7/9, “contactless” credit cards, where users simply wave a card or other device (think Mobile Speedpass) in front of a reader, are growing rapidly. They’re being used at fast-food restaurants, vending machines, convenience stores, drug stores, and train stations. Specially equipped cell phones can now be used to make retail purchases as well.
Matt’s View
It’s a fact that the easier it is to spend money the more money we spend. Sociologist Georg Simmel noticed this more than a century ago as the use of checks grew, and today credit card companies have extensive research proving that people spend more when using credit. Using plastic is more abstract than peeling real dollars out of our wallet—hence, our tendency to spend more. Whether we ever become a completely cashless society, as we move further in that direction it’s all the more important to plan our spending before we get to the store.
This article filed in: Credit/Debit Cards , Spending
Managing Money by The Book
- "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
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