Is cash money becoming a thing of the past?
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Our pubs, charities and banks have all witnessed the shying away from paper since the beginning of the pandemic, however all think that cash is pretty much here to stay.
The recent Cashless Payments and the Pandemic in Australia report found one in three businesses have turned 'cashless'.
This meant they accepted 95 per cent or more of their transactions through debit or credit cards since the start of the pandemic, with April witnessing the biggest slump in cash.
Trying out the Square for the first time, Tamworth's Legacy ran their campaign with card options for donations. Around 15 to 20 per cent of their fundraising was cashless.
Cashless, paperless, and sanitary: president Greg Roese said it was the way of the future.
"Overall funds were down, but we did extremely well, and especially with the Square readers," he explained.
The good thing about that was people that may not have been able to donate because they only had a card and no cash, they were able to do it.
- Greg Roese
"The good thing about that was people that may not have been able to donate because they only had a card and no cash, they were able to do it."
The Tamworth Hotel has signs up encouraging people to pay by card if they can, but are not going to turn anyone away if they can't.
Licencee Alex Nicholls said they had seen roughly a 30 per cent decrease in people paying with cash.
"There has definitely been a slow down in cash over the bar," Mr Nicholls said.
But has noticed somewhat of a generational divide in age groups paying with cash, with the older demographics sticking to the 'old-school' method of transaction.
"But with the tough times we've been through, we're not going to turn cash down."
But with the tough times we've been through, we're not going to turn cash down.
- Alex Nicholls
The Northern Inland Credit Union branches in Tamworth, Gunnedah and Narrabri have seen a 26 per cent increase in contactless transaction payments from June 2020, compared to last year.
"[T]here has certainly been a decline in the amount of cash being deposited by businesses," CEO Derek McIntyre explained.
"Our coin intake has reduced by half."
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For payments under $10, around 40 per cent of these were done by card before COVID-19. It's now over 60 per cent.
Greater Bank's CEO Scott Morgan said cash may "no longer be king", but there would always be a place for it.
There is a tangibility and reliability about cash that will always be there.
- Scott Morgan
"What we have seen is more smaller businesses, and those who wouldn't traditionally offer electronic payments such as tradespeople now taking up mobile merchant facilities to allow them to become digitally enabled," he said.
"There is a tangibility and reliability about cash that will always be there ... [but] this is being superseded by the convenience of digital wallets and electronic transactions."