Good bye cash

SnowTiger

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47456698:

The system allowing people to use cash in the UK is at risk of "falling apart" and needs a new guarantee to ensure notes and coins can still be used.

[...]

Cash use has been falling dramatically in recent years. In 2017, debit card use - driven by contactless payments - overtook the number of payments made in cash in the UK for the first time.



[A hard-hitting review by finance experts] said that the current rate of decline would mean cash use would end in 2026.

However, it concluded that notes and coins would still be used in 15 years' time, but accounting for between 10% and 15% of transactions.

Zanderman

That graph suggests the fall-off in cash use has levelled out a lot recently. Just about 40% at present but, arguably stabilising to a slower decline.

Indeed, down our coop, and our tesco, a surprising number of people seem to use it still. Mainly older people, but also some younger. Me too quite often despite lots of access to contactless means.

The BBC report is curiously contradictory. It says

The report said that the current rate of decline would mean cash use would end in 2026.

But follows that with

However, it concluded that notes and coins would still be used in 15 years' time, but accounting for between 10% and 15% of transactions.

So, it predicts no cash use by 2026 if the graph is right but then concludes cash will still be used for 10-15% of transactions by 2034.

Seems fairly inclusive!

But I get the underlying point being made - that reduction in cash use could cause problems in cash handling systems and so could become a significant problem if not addressed. Cash is still essential for many people and many situations and probably will be for many years to come.

eskbanker

Zanderman wrote: »

The BBC report is curiously contradictory. It says

The report said that the current rate of decline would mean cash use would end in 2026.

But follows that with

However, it concluded that notes and coins would still be used in 15 years' time, but accounting for between 10% and 15% of transactions.

So, it predicts no cash use by 2026 if the graph is right but then concludes cash will still be used for 10-15% of transactions by 2034.

Seems fairly inclusive!

Those statements aren't actually contradictory - the first is saying that the current rate of decline would reach zero by 2026 but the second is effectively saying that the current rate of decline won't be sustained, i.e. clarifying that the first statement is hypothetical.

The report itself (https://www.accesstocash.org.uk/media/1087/final-report-final-web.pdf) explains it better than the BBC's clumsy summarising:

A straight-line projection would see cash use end entirely by 2026 – though this seems unlikely. UK Finance, the industry association for banks and payment providers, predict that cash will fall to 16% of payments by 2027 from 34% today

Zanderman wrote: »

That graph suggests the fall-off in cash use has levelled out a lot recently. Just about 40% at present but, arguably stabilising to a slower decline.

The BBC have, for whatever reason, chosen to use a chart from the British Retail Consortium, but the more inclusive figures from UK Finance (used in the report itself) show a smoother trend, albeit relating to total volumes (in millions) rather than percentage share: