I recently went shopping. At the register, I handed the cashier a $20 bill. She grimaced at me and gingerly pinched the corner of it like it was a paper bag filled with dog poop.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. National sentiment about paper money is changing. Some stores, such as Whole Foods, have recently gone as far as to stop accepting cash. Why?
There is a growing (misguided) perception that COVID-19 can live on banknotes for days and infect anyone that touches it. No question that paper money is full of germs, but I think those fears are overblown.
The Bank of International Settlements had this to say:
Scientists note that the probability of transmission via banknotes is low when compared with other frequently touched objects. To date, there are no known cases of COVID-19 transmission via banknotes or coins.
There are a lot of organizations, including many governments around the world, that would love for you to ditch cash and use digital payment devices/services to pay for 100% of your purchases.
Have You Heard of the Better Than Cash Alliance?
Probably not, but it is backed by some of the most powerful groups in the world, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Citicorp (NYSE: C, Rated “C”), Visa (NYSE: V, Rated “B-”), Mastercard (NYSE: MA, Rated “B-”), the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. government.
The Better Than Cash Alliance has been slowly, quietly and effectively lobbying governments all around the world for cash to be abolished and replaced with digital currencies.
Credit card companies and banks have been bombarding their customers with physical mail, emails and internet marketing campaigns, all telling their customers that cash is dirty. According to them, contactless credit cards and mobile payment solutions are safe, clean ways to pay for purchases.
Visa, for example, announced a new Cashless Challenge program, which offers restaurants up to a $10,000 payment to transition to digital payments only.
But it’s just not the banks and credit card companies driving this transformation. There are hundreds of data specialists that are drooling over the prospect of harvesting your purchasing behavior data and selling it.
Remember, every time you pay for something with digital money, your purchase history is being archived by your credit card company. Without cash, your bank account becomes a complete log of your financial life.
And big brother — aka the government — would use that data to keep watch over you. That surveillance power could be used in very invasive ways ... and that scares me.
That’s why I prefer to pay with cash, even if the cashier at my local coffee shop doesn’t like it.
By the way, I keep a stockpile of emergency cash — as well as food, water, medical supplies, toiletries and weapons — in case of emergency or natural disaster. If the electrical grid goes down, you may not be able to access any of your money and old-fashioned cash may be the only way to pay for purchases.
I keep a combination of $1, $5, $20 and $100 bills for such emergencies. You should too.
Best wishes,
Tony Sagami
