I know I promised a proper explanation of why I am up to this tomfoolery in my last post and, rest assured, it is coming. Unfortunately, I have been side tracked by more and more interesting thoughts and comments made by all sorts of people, from modern philosophers to people I have ended up talking to in bars… often quite a convoluted relationship to what I am trying to express but a worthy distraction none-the-less.
However, one thing I have come across that I thought worth sharing with you now comes from another blog, the Digital Money Forum. I was actually looking for examples of people that have tried to live a cash-only existence but google gave me this instead.
Comically and coincidentally, the inspiration for said post was the piece in The Telegraph newspaper about my ‘pointless activities’ a few weeks ago. Much to my amusement and in tune with most Digg comments made on that article, I have been portrayed as a Mummy’s Boy for accepting the help of my parents for the mandatory cash deposit on my new flat.
I consider that a small price to pay for a mega flat with three of my best friends! Thanks, Mum…
Anyway, to the point of this post and his…
In concise and eloquent prose, the author makes reference to the substantially higher corporate cost per card transaction against its cash equivalent, how cash purchases are still soaring about the number of card purchases and the overall additional cost to the consumer when a vendor shifts the transaction fee to their purchase and even refuses to engage in card transactions at all.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, an airline has replaced all on-board cash purchases with immediate debit and credit card billing. They have, in effect, reduced the cost of card transaction processing by completely eliminating the softer expenses of cash handling.
If a store was to completely ban cash based purchases from their premises they wouldn’t need tills, secure cash collection, they wouldn’t need to pay a member of staff to cash up every evening or to recount the float in the morning.
It really is a case of all or nothing.
1 Comment
October 10, 2008 at 2:57 pm
“In concise and eloquent prose”
You are much too kind. I don’t know if you followed any of the links, but I have a podcast series on iTunes and I thought it might be fun to interview you for it. It wouldn’t take more than half an hour or so — can you e-mail me if you think it might be fun?