In the future, we will do away with tangible money for everyday transactions. We are already well on our way to heading there. I worked in high school in the service industry, at a family fun center. I did many different jobs there, and one was the register both up front, and in the concession stand. One thing both of them had in common was the lack of cash transactions.
It always surprised me that most people seemed more happy to hand over their credit or debit card for a 75 cent bag of chips, or $1.50 soft drink than they were fishing out a couple coins or bills. Of course, some people still did, but not many. There was an arcade too, it ran on tokens, which could be bought out of two machines.
These machines took $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills. In the past, this worked great, but just recently, they replaced them with machines that were equipped for cards as well. Why? well simply put they were tired of selling the majority of the tokens through the front because people wanted to use their cards, or the ATM machine running low from people having to withdraw cash, as they did not carry any on them.
Many vending machines now have the ability to accept cards. The vending Giants like Coke, and Pepsi, as well as food based machines have slots for cards. This just goes to show how our society is changing into a card based one. It has trickled down into even the smallest of applications.
Forget trying to use cash on an airline. Many announce that they are a “ cashless cabin” before you even board. This may pose a problem to someone without a card, but for the airline this is way better. It is safer for the flight attendants, and easier. Up in the air where things can change very quickly it is imperative they act just as quickly. Swiping a card is much easier than counting back change.
Even mom and pop businesses can accept cards. The invention of the smart phone insured that. All you need is a smart phone, and a subscription to the Square. The Square is a little pice of plastic that hooks into a phone, it allows people to be able to accept credit cards for their small business. It simply sends a text or email to the customer as a receipt. (https://squareup.com/) Is a website for one of these card readers.
Coins are clunky, and many people don't like to carry them, bills are breakable, and forgeable. In the future, all transactions will be over card. Eventually there will be a replacement to the card, but in the “near” future, the card will reign supreme.
