Well nobody said cash payments should be banned, but it sucks when cash is the only way to pay in some places, meaning I always have to carry a bulky wallet filled with banknotes and coins just in case the bar, restaurant, shop, cafe, deli, parking meter or whatever, does not accept digital payments.
I also used cash for buying greens since that's not yet legalized, but for everything else that's been legal for over 100 years already, please accept digital payments.
Because just because people want CC/contactless payments to be accepted everywhere, doesn't mean they want cash to be banned, if you wish to stay anonymous.
So why should you deprive everyone of contactless payments if you wish to stay anonymous, when you can acomodate both.
My beef is a lot of places only take cash.
You're highlighting one small convenience of cash and ignoring its many real disadvantages.
People forget the only thing that is important is the exchange not the material used to do so. It’s all promises at the end of the day.
In a purely cashless society, the central bank could force a -10 per cent interest on all savings, thus forcing people to spend even if they don't want to.
(This was, for example, discussed on the IMF blog pages: https://blogs.imf.org/2019/02/05/cashing-in-how-to-make-nega...)
This is harder to do in economies where people can take their money out of the bank as cash. There, the lower limit for interest seems to be around -1 per cent.
Promises that the money will be worth it the next day, sure. But at least I have my cash in my hand (and some stored where I live), so access to it can't just be denied.
Whoever thinks getting paid in cash is "free" is going to be outcompeted really quickly.
But even (some) old people seem to prefer paying with card today, so change is slow.
I only use cash for public transports.
