Aloha Everyone,
A cashless society is not a new concept. Historically, farmers used grains they produced to barter for meat and hides with hunters. Today, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some businesses and merchants are altogether moving away from cash. Using mobile devices to pay for one’s goods and services, from groceries to holiday gift giving, are also becoming a norm.
There are advantages to cashless transactions: 1) No cash means no money for pickpockets to steal. 2) Saving time and costs. 3) Currency exchange will be simpler. 4) For government regulators, tax evasion is discouraged since there will be a digital paper trail on when, where, how much one is spending.
However, the biggest disadvantage of paying everything digital means it is sharing of your personal information. To purchase a couple of books of Forever Stamps from the United States Postal Service, JJ had to open account and provide personal information. This information will be added to our personal data where AI can track all our spending.
According to the World Economy website, based on 142 countries, for the year 2017, the highest percent of people aged 15 and above who have a credit card was in Canada at 82.58% and the lowest was in Turkmenistan at 0 percent. 70 percent of Americans have at least one credit card.
Aloha -- Cathi