Credit cards and a cash-free society
Luckily, that very embarrassing dash to the bank is becoming a thing of the past given that most places now accept credit or debit cards as payment. Indeed, many people now consciously don't carry cash at all and rely purely on plastic payment when buying just about anything.
This, perhaps, is a sign that we are moving ever closer towards living in a cashless society. In London, many commuters use pre-paid travel cards such as the Oyster Card to swipe themselves swiftly through the barriers and, with pre-paid credit cards becoming an increasingly popular payment method for many shoppers, some predictions estimate that cash may close to obsolete within five years.
The future of paper and coin payments does look bleak when you consider that plastic is compulsory in many retail circles. Car hire outlets, for example, will only rent cars to drivers who can secure the vehicle with a credit card.
Furthermore, when checking in to a hotel, a credit card will often be requested as a form of security on the room, essentially protecting the hotel against people leaving without paying.
Whilst no payment is actually taken from the card, many guests don't realise that a portion of the card's balance is ‘reserved' by the hotel, which essentially means that the overall balance on the card is reduced until check-out. So if a holidaymaker then decides to go on a shopping spree, or pay for a meal with the card, they can often be left red-faced when the card is rejected.
Nobody likes to go on dish-washing duties when on holiday, which is why many people opt to carry more than one credit card, just to be on the safe side.
However, cards can often be rejected because a person has genuinely spent up to the limit on their credit card. If this is the case, it may be worth considering switching providers and take advantage of 0% interest rates for up to a year, which essentially means a lot of money is saved as the card's balance is gradually reduced.
For now, cash still has a significant role to play in the retail world. But there can be little doubt that we are moving ever-closer towards living in a cashless society. So we may as well embrace it!
Questions and Answers
As technology continues to evolve; peoples’ perceptions of a cashless society are getting closer to reality.
America is quickly becoming a cashless society. Whereas it would have seemed odd, or even in poor taste to do so in the past, people routinely use plastic to pay for even the smallest purchases, such as a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. Almost all gas stations allow you to "pay at the pump," and even fast food restaurants began accepting "debit or credit" a few years ago. And that's not to mention the millions of cashless transactions that occur every day in cyberspace, through web sites like eBay, Amazon.com, and other popular e-tailers.
Many people believe that eventually, and sometime in the not so distant future, no one will carry cash in their pockets, and everything will be purchased using plastic. Others think that will happen around the same time that people start driving around in space cars, or when we have domesticated robot maids
We use credit cards a lot, whether it’s paying for expenses like bills or purchases the general public often relies on a credit card to pay for goods and services when paying with our own money is not a possibility
For the time-being at least, cash still plays a part in UK consumer culture. But with consumer culture gradually moving towards plastic ubiquity, there may be a day where notes and coins will be obsolete.
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