I have made a new year's resolution to use as much cash possible.
In New Zealand cash is pretty uncommon, with upwards of 90% of transactions being card-based. In my day-to-day experience though this number is closer to 95%.
PayWave and contactless payment options are available everywhere and there are many shops that are cashless. This sometimes backfires though as the legacy EFTPOS payment network is prone to outages.
But for the most part it is so easy to use EFTPOS & credit / debit cards in New Zealand that I have literally not used cash in over a year, and in the last couple of years I have only used it a handful of times. Cash is a bit like watching plain old TV: you grew up with and it was so familiar, yet it slowly but surely disappears and you think "when was the last time I even saw it?"
With recent motioning towards a potential NZ CBDC I have realised that cash is a privilege that if not used will be taken away.
Starting this week I withdrew a bunch of cash from an ATM and have made every in-person purchase with cash.
It was actually quite exciting! NZ money looks like monopoly money and I had to retrain my automatic reflex to pay with my phone or card. I even had to remember the quaint little tricks like giving extra coins to get a round number in change back!
Having now consciously made the effort to try using cash I appreciate its simplicity and beauty.
Sure, it is still fiat, but by withdrawing cash I am "pegging out" of mass surveillance. I can go and use that cash for whatever I want without being tracked. I also get to save $0.1 - $0.15 in many transactions that would otherwise attract a card surcharge!
I don't expect to save with my physical cash and I accept that it needs to be used or else it will lose its purchasing power.
I wonder if we may see a hybrid world where Bitcoin is generally accepted as the best long-term savings vehicle for most people, with cash being withdraw and used alongside Lightning in day-to-day transactions?
ENDS
– CE