Due to the recent pandemic that strikes everyone by storm, the fear of having physical transactions has been rampant. That includes paying our bills. Thus cashless transaction is being encouraged nowadays.
Though some are skeptical about switching to digital transactions. The majority of the population embraced it processing cashless transactions wholeheartedly.
Looking at the list below, we can discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages of going cashless.
Health as you will not be handling the cash anymore that might bring the COVID virus.
This has been the main selling point of doing cashless transactions. As some people reported that they acquired the Coronavirus by handling banknotes. Some supermarkets are encouraging people to perform cashless transactions.
Discounts and Cashbacks
Who doesn't want to get some discounts? By using the store's partner mobile application you get some discounts on certain items. Sometimes I am getting 1% on each transaction. I also enjoy getting cashback privileges. On every successful payment, a corresponding amount was instantly transferred back to my wallet. I do remember doing our grocery the last time and we spent around a thousand pesos / $20.00 and got a rebate of 10 pesos which is around $0.25. The rebate amount might be a small spare change but it is still a savings as you will not be getting any if you pay with hard cash.Spendings are easy to track.
By using the mobile wallet, you can easily check how much is the amount that you have spent in the history tab. You can determine what are you spending most and make some actions after reflecting on your balance.
For the disadvantages.
- Lower Risk but a Higher chance of having cases of identity stealing.
By switching to digital transactions, your money stored is saved in your bank or mobile wallet in case of theft. If you are a clutz like me who lost multiple wallets inside the jeepney (I lost them while I am sleeping in the public vehicle) I find this benefit as a huge help. Some wallets are offering passcodes and biometrics to make sure that you are the only one who can access it. But you are prone to hacking. One famous case is phishing wherein "banks" would say that you will need to update your information and once you logged in to their software all of your information would be stolen including the money saved in your bank account.
- Difficulty with the technology-challenged folks.
Going cashless needs a strong internet connection and being in a rural area or even a place with a weak internet connection this option is not plausible. I do remember an instance wherein we went to a supermarket without any cash-on-hand. Little that we know that the mobile data is terrible thus we withdraw some cash to the near ATM.
The elderly have a challenge with this method as some information is too technical. Plus the user interface is not that helpful especially the steps that are written in English. Though the majority of the elderly in our area can read and speak English that is not the case in the rest of the country.
As of writing, I am still using cash for payment though we have some digital funds, Coins.ph, online banking, etc. Around 60% of our funds are still in the cash method simply because it is quite easier for us to manage it that way and some of the merchants that we are interacting with including the rent, water, and electricity is paid via cash. Our landlord is a boomer and he wants it that way.
Thank you for reading my blog post. I would appreciate it if you can answer my question below?
Do you think you can be in a 100% cashless state?