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UPD: But cash is still accepted in most cases. Have no idea why some people still use it.
Even smaller payments, like paying 10 THB (US 25 cents) for a bottle of water, are done digitally. It’s so prevalent that I hardly even use a debit/credit card anymore unless I have a specific reason.
The payments are done by scanning a QR code at the shop, or in the P2P (person-to-person) scenario by scanner the other person's QR or entering their mobile number. All banks support these payments and for the P2P scenario, you basically link your mobile number with the national switch and point it to one of your bank accounts.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not accepting cash should be illegal everywhere across the world. What if your battery dies?
Or what if you don’t have a bank account?
I'm surprised so many here seem to be fine with paying by credit card. Isn't it causing you an uncomfortable feeling, that one company gets all the data about every single thing you buy? And via this also everywhere you go and when you go there? So you are a 100% "see through" person to Apple, Google and/or Visa?
I feel much more comfortable spending money, knowing that;
1. It's the banks money, I can contest any changes on my statement before any money leaves my account. (consider paying for a bathroom renovation and the builder runs off with money or goes bust. The bank takes the hit, not me.)
2. That mass-data helps protect me, such as, abnormal usage can be queried for protentional fraud automatically.
In Bogota, well, much of the country is unbanked or underbanked. You can pay ANYTHING in cash through the ubiquitous "cash payment" officies (like Pagatodo). You give them a reference number the service gave you, and cash, and they mark your bill paid. This works for a five-dollar power bill, internet bill, evenfor as a thousand-dollar flight you booked online.
There's a paypal-like phone app, Nequi, that almost every colombian has as well, far more common than credir cards. While big stores and restaurants will accept cards, a small (and not licensed) street vendor will often have a QR code to pay by Nequi. This needs no special equipment and no special permits, apparently.
There are many signs "cash only", and many signs "cash and nequi, no cards", especially in small stores.
Nequi, however, is not available to foreigners, even to those who live in Colombia with permits. Cash is everywhere.
Most places still accept cash, but approximately no-one uses it. Store staff almost always assume tap-to-pay, and have to cancel the transaction if you pull out cash.
Bill payment is done with a pre-authorised debit transaction, credit cards, or using an Australia-only (I think?) system called BPay. Most utilities, etc, have a BPay number, and most (all?) bank apps and websites support BPay payments.
Person-to-person payments used to require entering bank (called BSB: bank, state, branch) and account codes, and took 2 days to transfer. In the last few years there's a new system (called PayID) that uses email or phone number identifiers, and offers instant settlement.
So ... basically anything legal is now done electronically.
During COVID, many stores stopped accepting cash, and some of those never started again. At this point, it's only a small proportion, but I imagine it will grow over the next few years.
I worked on a BBQ stall at my child's school fete recently. To take electronic payments, you had to go to a different designated stall and pay for tokens, and bring them back to the BBQ stall to exchange for food. I noticed that many people carried an "emergency" $20 or $50 tucked in their phone case, and broke it out rather than do the extra steps to get tokens.
I personally withdraw a few hundred dollars every few months: one of my favourite restaurants is cash-only (very rare!) and the farmers market vendors seem to prefer cash too. But that's about the only times I use it now.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not accepting cash should be illegal everywhere across the world. What if your battery dies?
Your credit/debit cards use batteries?
I'm in Taiwan. I have a bit of a hobby of checking out digital payment systems everywhere I go. I checked out Japan, Macau, Hong Kong, China, Germany, France, the UK, and obviously the US. The thing that is the most glaring difference between the western countries and the east Asian ones is that in the US and Europe, there is an ultimate goal of try to force people to use e-payment systems to get some kind of regulat…
Maybe I misunderstood something but it's not my experience at all. People use e-payement because it's convenient. Contactless + small amount payements was the last nail on the coffin. I haven't used cash for years but I think people can still do it if they wish.
> Therefore people also constantly push back for fear of excess control, and the government tries to mandate it to force only digital payment.
Haven't noticed much push back form general public (besides in some circles like HN)
I'm not trying to complain; I just want to say that I hate cash and love digital payments because I do not like to pay commissions and fees. I believe that in the EU banks also can offer such services but as I've read even EU citizens pay a big commissions and fees and not all banks offer an online banking.
UK. I haven't used or carried cash here for about 3 years. Other than a really inconvenient time someone gave me some for one of my kids and I had to pay it in.
However, if one private person is selling something to another private person, and they don't know each other, then it's nearly always cash because most people aren't set up to receive digital payments, don't want the hassle of setting it up just for one odd item, and in any case wouldn't trust the technology and companies involved for a large sum so people quite frequently pay for a second-hand car in cash if it's a private sale.