What If There's No Cash?

It would cause a large crash in the prices, much like stamp collecting which is not what it used to be once apon a time.

Don't worry though, people aren't quite as silly as they look, they would never accept a cashless society as it would be a complete surrender of civil liberty being reliant on a third party to make a purchase.

I'm finding the same thing. I'm using cards when shopping. I have about £2 in change in case I need it, and haven't been to an ATM for over a month. A couple of days ago I needed some milk and walked to my local convenience store. They are still taking cash.

I am starting to worry about the possibility of A Bank Bail In .
Maybe time to empty the account and hold cash in a safe guarded by a python and a German Shepherd .
One of our branches is locked tight and we cannot access our SD box .
Our Credit union with our business account has been closed for a month .
Our US bank is also locked tighter than a drum .
Scary times are on their way .

I think the pandemic will hasten the death of cash. People have always feared physical money as a potential vector for disease transmission during a plague (even back in the dark ages when people had no idea that diseases were caused by bacteria and viruses), but this is the first global pandemic where refraining from using physical cash is actually possible - back in 1918, it wasn't an option as most money was still physical and still tied to precious metals.

Using electronic money is simply easier and more convenient than using cash. People all over the world who have never used electronic money before, or who (like me) prefer to use cash when possible, are being forced to abandon cash and learn to use e-payments. After using a more convenient form of money for at least several months, are people going to be willing to go back to using a more inconvenient form of money? I would say a great many people will not.

As for what that means for coin collecting, I agree with some of the sentiments above. Short-term, as prices flatline, investors will dump out, creating a glut. Longer term, both the supply and demand will drop as the hobby recedes into the same obscurity currently enjoyed by the collectors of swords and olive-oil lamps, but the drop in demand from being fewer and fewer new collectors will be the long-term killer of the hobby.

The following was copied from a health article:

"Cash is not a good vehicle to transport respiratory viruses, however, cards have a little bit more potential," said Dr. Susan Whittier, a clinical microbiologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center."

Also, is stamp collecting really dead? I just typed "Newfoundland stamp" in ebay and found that there are more than 6,000 individual items. Prices are pretty low but maybe with a little imagination and research there are decent opportunities?

In person, I prefer to use my phone. All I have to do is unlock it and get it near the terminal.

For delivery, takeout, or groceries we order and pay in the appropriate app. I never have to touch my physical card, let alone let someone else handle it.

The Times They Are a-Changin'...

People still collect all those things, just maybe not as many people. I think that most people when they decry the possible decline in the number of collectors, they are really worried about the number of collectors, they are worried about the possible decline in the value of their holdings. Because fewer collectors means lower prices. (Which means those who do collect can buy MORE!) There are 33,000 listing on ebay right now for cigarette cards, and 11,000 for matchbox labels. yes prices are low, but there is still a collector base.