Almost nobody pays for anything with cash in the UK anymore.
I think this is an illusion.
Sure, if you're going into almost any shop it will accept other payment methods and most people will use them, particularly at the moment. Similarly, ordering anything online isn't likely to be cash-on-delivery.
However, there are still reasons people might need or prefer to pay or be paid in cash, only one of which is "I'm a dodgy tradesman evading tax". For example, we've used a few local services for things like cleaning or gardening. They often like to be paid in cash, at least for the first visit or two, so everyone immediately knows it's all above board. This is common IME even if they might be happy to be paid (or even prefer to be paid) electronically once they get to know you.
Is the use of cash declining here? Certainly. Is it negligible? Not even close. Is it still useful or even essential? Sometimes, yes.
Paying people in cash seems like the exact opposite of an indicator of everything being above board.
My favourite cheese shop used to only accept cash, but the owner retired. Beyond that, the only thing I need cash for is to give to homeless people. I think they're the main group losing out due to the switch to electronic payment; the can't afford the equipment for it.
Granted, I haven't been there in six months because of the virus, but I watch current British television every couple of days, and I still see people using cash.
Payment systems should be nationalised and run by a country's central bank. It's a very boring infrastructure equivalent to roads. There shouldn't be a private company taxing every single transaction someone makes. Do that and the small stores can drop the fees.
“Earlier this year, Deputy Governor Tim Lane spoke about the circumstances when it might make sense for the Bank of Canada to issue our own digital currency. This includes a situation in which most Canadians stopped using bank notes. We don’t believe that a digital currency is required at this time. But we are moving forward with contingency planning so that if we ever judged that we should issue a digital currency, we would be ready.” (https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/06/opening-statement-160620...)
This is Finland, YMMV.
This part of the contract is not followed in SEA countries. If you want to pay with something that carries a fee, you are going to pay the fee on top of the price. Logically, most people will choose to pay cash then.
The second reason is taxes. Most small vendors do not bother with taxing their incomes; they are too poor for that anyway, every coin helps. With electronic ledgers documenting all the transactions, that would be much more difficult. The local IRSes do not bother with chasing these people, they know that the price would be higher than revenue; so they check only businesses with significant enough turnover.
I think it's basically the Uber model of spending VC money to subsidize customer purchases to get that market share...
