My wife and I were at a sandwich shop. I had cash in my wallet (which I often don’t), so pulled out a twenty. I’m aware of all the costs a small business absorbs with digital transaction, so was thinking it would be nice. And it was, but they were a bit puzzled. They didn’t have the change on hand to break the bill. And, very politely, asked if it was ok to pay via card. Which, of course, was fine by me.
It did strike me, though, as a sign of the changes the economy has gone through. When I managed cashiers, I had to make sure we had able cash and coins to make change. HAD TO! Running of of change was a huge failure, and pretty much ruined our ability to do business. Credit cards were a small fraction of transaction, most being cash or check. And now, I get the impression that the incident above almost went down like “oh, yeah, I should’ve hit the bank and got cash. Oops!” Followed by a “meh”. Maybe I’m wrong, but I got the impression cash was something of an inconvenience.
I expect many of these small business folks are simply embedding the costs of e-transaction into their model. So many people I know, myself included, rarely have cash any more. It’s probably far easier to let paper currency go the way of the dodo.
I guess it’s time to, finally, set up my Google or Samsung pay apps. Maybe even buy some Bitcoin!
Maybe….