Is social distancing moving us to a cashless society?

Possibly. But, you’ll always have people like me where you can pry my cash from my cold, dead fingers.

We have been moving toward a cashless society for the last 25 years or so. It has gone much slower than the government anticipated. So, I don’t see the thought that this will bump us over the edge to be so far off!!!

I think it is becoming more that if and this is hastening it. Sweden is apparently cashless and England increasingly so.

Like you, though I don’t have Apple Pay (but probably should set it up) I am using credit and debit cards much more and have almost the same cash I took out a month ago.

Is the use of credit cards less prone to spreading disease? People still use the same machine. At the supermarket, they placed a sheet of thin plastic over the keypad and forced people to use the pen. Is that safer?

Let us hope and pray that this country never comes to a cashless society where banks get a cut of every transaction.

@LostInParadise I have a card with the ability to just wave it over the machine to pay. Very very helpful in these times. As for what you are talking about, I haven’t seen it, but I don’t see how it’s safer.

@LostInParadise I use a card with a chip, and just slide into the slot. for most purchases I don;t even have to sign

Debit cards are moving us to a cashless society.

Poor Judge Judy. It took her forever to grasp that you can have a checking account but no checks! Byrd asked her, “Oh, are you that lady I’m always stuck behind who is still writing checks?!”

I just ordered what will probably be my last box of checks. It’ll take 20 years to go through them all.

It’s a possibility.

I went to a lecture a year ago about going cashless. She said the average amount of cash not accounted for per person in America is $4,000. We all know some people it’s close to zero and others it’s much higher than $4,000.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. One scary thought is during many natural disasters cash is necessary. If the electricity is out the credit card machines don’t work, and most places don’t have a way to do credit cards manually anymore. Before a Hurricane we take cash out of the bank to be prepared.

Plus, it will be impossible to do any transaction without it being traceable. I don’t really have anything to hide, I actually use my credit cards for pretty much everything, but still, I don’t love the idea. I’ve never used a debit card, which I guess is more like a substitute fit cash than a credit card, but it’s all basically the same. Do debit transactions have lower fees? Electronic transactions have fees. Someone, some entity, is making money.

I use cash at the self checkout. I would not want a cashless society.

I do have a card with a chip but I always have to enter my pin and press a button to ok the transaction. I don’t see how this is any safer.

@Jonsblond I assume that’s a debit card if it has a pin. Can you put a debit card on a smart phone? Like on Samsung pay or Apple Pay? I haven’t used Apple Pay, but I just wondered. I was thinking I’d probably rather get my credit card germs than my phone so I wasn’t so sure Apple Pay would be better for my sanity. It’s kind of similar to your point, we have to touch something.

Paper supposedly holds the virus for less time, making cash money safer! Just let it sit for a couple of days. Although, the coins it might live longer.

@JLeslie Yes, one can use a debit card via Apple Pay. Since the verification is all done through the phone, one does not have to use a PIN at each transaction.

Bloomberg News writes it is more than cashless, there is a move towards contactless.

@zenvelo I just did a pick-up order for the first time. I’m not sure what I think about it. I was really glad the person who loaded the groceries into my vehicle wore a mask, but I kept thinking she is breathing into my SUV, I wish I had a regular car with a trunk.

@JLeslie What? You didn’t tell her not to breathe? :-)

Just another step, governments have wanted a cashless society for years,just another way to over see everything I find it rather scary.

@janbb I thought about asking her to let me load up the groceries.