For how much longer will you have cash in your wallet? If Visa has its way the answer is not very long. Cashless transactions are more convenient, says the payments network. They're also more secure. What's not to like? Particularly if you are a small business and Visa gives you $10,000 to refuse to take cash (see page 30); or if you are an ordinary person who never quite gets around to going to the cash point (me).
I'm in Cornwall at the moment. Usually when I am here I find myself endlessly tripping back and forth from the cash point at Asda to get cash. No more. Everywhere that only used to take cash now takes cards as well and in most of these places I can pay contactless. So I do for coffee, for ice cream, for pasties and for postcards. In 2017, pretty much the only things in the entire county anyone still pays for in cash are the shells on the quay in Charlestown Harbour (pound coins in an honesty box) and beach car parks (cash in a pay and display).
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