Helen Nugent

Is the cashless society a good thing? Definitely not

On a quiet news day, not much happens if you’re a reporter. It’s tempting to sit back, surf the internet, check your social media profiles and mull over dinner prospects. Then there’s the lure of online shopping sites: ASOS, Amazon, you name it, they’re there at the click of a button.

Ordering online can be dangerous. It doesn’t really feel like spending money, particularly if you have a debit or credit card set up already. All it takes is a few seconds to spend hundreds of pounds. I know because I’ve done it.

Now comes the news that we are moving ever closer to becoming a cashless society. According to Payments UK, which represents the major banks, building societies and payment providers, 2015 was the first year that cash was used for less than half of all payments by consumers. The organisation believes that cash usage will be eclipsed by debit cards and contactless payments by 2021.

Consider this: in 2015 cash made up 45.1 per cent of payments, compared with 64 per cent in 2005, and is expected to fall to just a quarter by 2025. It will largely be replaced with payments by contactless cards, which have soared in popularity.

As the technological revolution moves on apace, so does the increased convenience of shopping without cash or cheques. There’s even a dog which takes contactless payments (Smudge, a five-year-old labrador from South London, is collecting donations for the pet charity, Blue Cross).

But convenience can equate to carelessness. Following yesterday’s study by Payments UK comes research from Gocompare. The price comparison website says that 15 per cent of survey respondents were concerned that new digital payment systems encouraged them to spend more than they should, and 7 per cent didn’t connect their spending in this way with ‘real money’.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in