Think back to when you last went to the supermarket. How did you pay?
Was it cash? Was it a physical card? Was it by a virtual card like Apple Pay?
In these modern times, we have many choices on how to pay. Even with credit/debit cards, you could pay by chip and pin or by contactless. The world is progressing fast and payment forms are progressing with it.
I'm 17-years-old and have recently done work experience with FTAdviser, so I’m a so-called ‘Gen Z-er’, and I have probably used a physical debit card about twice in my life. I just use Apple Pay to purchase anything.
I’m not an anomaly. The majority of my generation do not carry around a physical card. The death of the physical card is not complained about much. The death of cash however, that’s viewed as the problem.
'Cash is king' – I’m sure you have heard that many a time. It’s a form of payment that cannot be tracked or taxed. It allows for the freedom of movement of money like no other form of payment. However, it is becoming more common for shops and bars and the like to refuse cash and only take card payments.
This might be easier for their accountant, but it limits the freedom that we have when paying each other.
Without cash, how could someone on universal credit get paid for babysitting without the taxman seeing an income? Without cash, every transaction will have a fee. Without cash, how would you support a busker or give someone in need a helping hand?
With the decline of physical cards and cash, comes the death of the wallet. Wallets have been around since the late 1600s but maybe soon they will find their demise.
I do not carry a wallet around. I do not use a card and I do not carry much cash. Some modern wallets do not even have space for coins, only some have space for notes.
Paying with anything physical is becoming a hassle, one that the younger generations, in my experience, will not deal with. These days you can pay instead with a smart watch.
Chip and pin almost feels foreign now and I do not even know my pin thanks to virtual cards. Don’t get me started on how obsolete cheques have become for younger generations. In my life cheques have only ever been used to receive birthday money from grandparents.
It seems that this trend is going to continue and cash, cheques and virtual cards will continue to fall down the pecking order, while more regulated forms of payment will continue to dominate.
