The generation is fast moving and everything around us is done within a snap of fingers. Technology has taken over our lives; we are surrounded by it. It is hard to think about a life where technology did not exist, maybe in a life of a monk. Everything is getting digitized and people are mostly buying things online as they are cost effective and time saving.
Most of us use debit or credit cards for transactions in our day to day life. But, they are few situations where we need to buy things with cash. It is always better to have some cash with us in case of an emergency. The technology is helping us in every way to go cashless, but still people are not opening up to that idea. They are comfortable in using cash for their daily expenses.
Plastic money transactions
The banks are providing the account holders with a debit or credit card which is plastic money. Business people have upgraded the system of business transactions with the help of these. This makes things easier to work with, as we can just swipe the card and our payment is done. That is seamless and hassle free for the consumer and the vendor as well.
Internet Banking
People are now days shopping online and prefer making the payment through online banking. But, there are a few who are skeptical about internet banking, as there are privacy issues. It is a fact that the banks have designed the complete system with encryption and security. The hackers might get into the system as they are good at it and fetch the information to make some money.
We do not want to have any kind of privacy breach in our account. That is the main reason we stick to using cash or swiping the card. At least we will be aware of the fact that our account is safe. We need to trust that there will be no consequences if at all there is an online transaction. Everything in our account will be known to us and the bank and there is no way a third person would get to know about it.
80% of the world’s population still depends, on cash
The fact is that, only 20 percent of the population is transacting in electronic and online modes. Most of us still prefer to pay in cash rather than paying in a cashless mode. It is not helping the economy to grow, as we need to make a huge amount of investment. With the rising cost of living, every one of us is trying to save some money.
Transit and maintenance of cash had always been a tedious task and upscale as well for the government. Most of the countries are finding it hard to keep pace with this growing economy. To overcome this, they have decided to go the cashless way. Go beyond using plastic money and online transactions. They want every one of us to go cashless wherever we go.
Will the cash stay?
Maybe the world is moving fast and people are adapting to the changes. In a few years to come, it will be cashless economy. Cashless transactions will definitely give us the exact transactions done by an individual. It will be a big step to stop money laundering and thefts, if everyone starts to go cashless. So, the big question is, will the cash stay in the future?
Mobile payments
An easy way to pay our bills is making mobile payments using the apps on our smart phones. The bills can be paid by scanning the bar code available at the stores. But, we need to recharge the app with money; only then the payment will get processed. There is a considerably an increase in mobile payments has made things easier.
The online payment apps have handled around $7.5 billion in 2015 and $20 billion in 2016 so far. The impact on people of using these apps for making payments online has increased tremendously. This is a big lead towards a future where people make cashless payments. This shows that, they have found these services to be safe and secure. Unfortunately this is just 0.17% of the population in the US; let’s hope that this will increase in the days to come.
A cashless community
Cutting out on cash, will make people provide services at a lower cost. The people of finance funding firms are working with the government to make “Go cashless” prominent. They want the community to make electronic payments and it is not accessible to all. Digitization of money has brought a lot of safety and security concerns for the public.
It may seem that all these are for the betterment of the mankind. But, we can say that somewhere between we can find loopholes in the system. Fraudulent cases are getting registered with the law authorities, though with strong security systems. We can anticipate that the future generation will be cashless. But for now, until and unless these online transactions are fool proof, people are willing to stick to the cash payment.
Are we ready for this change?
Already, it is in progress, but the major part of the population is still happy with using cash. The older generation is still in the era of buying commodities with the help of cash. It is a fact that the technology evolution has not made a big impact on them. They are adapting to the changes which they feel to be feasible enough for them.
We need to know how this complete electronic money transaction is happening. The bankers are mediators for us to get our money transacted from us to the seller. A four way connection also happens here, the bank, online payment apps, seller and us. So, will we be able to understand this complex kind of transactions and adapt to it?
America is yet to “Go Cashless” on a full scale
Sweden has already made a mark in being a cashless country; they are existing in the future. The astonishing fact is that only 2% of the transaction is made by cash. In Denmark only essential services use the cash transactions and the rest are in online mode. The Danish government has made a proposal on going cashless and use electronic money.
China has made an amazing progress in converting its citizens on using mobile wallets. There is a list of countries which is adapting to this change and is glad about it. Digital transactions keep the business more transparent, as everything can be tracked. But, there is a downfall to this whole system, if there is a system failure. The transaction, which we make could a successful one, or it may get failed.
Technology plays a major role in this economy; we should be sure about the facts of going cashless. To make transactions with the use of cards, people need to have the equipments. The network should be working properly to have the purchase done seamlessly. People who have a smart phone can easily use their mobile wallet to make payments. The government has to make arrangements in such a way that digital transactions are accessible by all, even to the ones who do not have smart phones or plastic money.
America is still in its initial stages of this big revolution, though other countries are already into it. It may appear that it has a long way to go to match up with it’s the other countries. Virtual transactions will become a norm in a decade from now. At this point we may think that we are day dreaming of a world with no cash and only digital money. The fact is that the dreams are going to be turned into a reality and we will be living in a world by going cashless.
