Impact Of Plastic On Metal?

I see people selling visa cards from the 80s on ebay. So it looks like plastic could be the new collectible money. Time to start an album on those?

Exactly what I mentioned earlier. It may well not be a joke soon. Now too imagine a credit card with the signature on the back of a president. Or the CEO of a large company. And then too credit or debit cards from now defunct organizations. And of course there could well be the Mint Error credit cards where the face is doubled.
The down side is how do you put those in a plstic roll?
And of course the new sizes in 2x2's. And don't forget the experation dates. So now what do we do with all the US Mint workers?
This is starting to sound to complicated so I'll just stick to coins for now.

Easy, just do it the same way they were done before the networked card machines became the norm. The last time I went to a restaurant where the power went out, they pulled this out and used it!

Your arguments are really futile, you know. It is sort of like saying the air in our country is poluted so I'll stop using it. Water bloats people so I'll stop using it. Cars kill people so I'll never use one.
Yes there is an expense added on to items but so what. If you don't use a credit card but everyone else does, the prices of all items are the same to you and them.
Or you coulc protest and never buy anything again. No food, clothing, etc.
With Bank of America temporary 5% cash back, I don't care who charges what for what as long as I get my 5% of it back.
I still think someday some little kid will be saying, "Hey grandpa, what was that stuff you people used to use to buy stuff called cash?"

Carl, who said anything about protesting..? I'm not arguing anything. Just stating a fact that most sheep aren't aware of.

Your anecdotal examples are lame at best.



So typical...

I think that we will, eventually, be living in a cashless society. Ever since the first credit card was introduced, it was inevitable. We could probably have an all-plastic system in place within five years, if we really wanted to.

But, I don't think it will happen for a while yet, at least in the US. If anyone were to float the notion of phasing out cash, there would be a protest saying that it would needlessly burden those who, for one reason or another, can't or won't use debit cards. Sure, you can get pre-paid cards, but those carry steep fees and also can sometimes be hard to obtain. Plus, some people worry that an all-cashless society could make it easier for someone to spend far more money than they should on frivolous things. I love coing to casinos, but I'd feel a lot safer just walking in there with a couple of twenty-dollar bills or some such than taking in my plastic (I always leave my wallet in my room when I got gambling and only take what I plan to lose). Others are afraid of having their bank accounts cleaned out due to identity theft/lost card/etc. Sure, there are means of protection out there against these problems, but the fact that they exist at all means that there will always be a portion of the population leery of plastic.

As for me personally, if I'm out on the road or something and I decide to stop and get some candy or a soda or some such from a vending machine, I'd much rather pay with coins than risk having my information copied by a device attached to a plastic-operated vending machine. You already have to watch for those at self-serve gas pumps, after all.

I use plastic every day, and for more transactions than I'd have ever imagined 10 years ago. But I think cash is here to stay, at least in my lifetime.

This talk of who pays for what...

Here's one nice thing about cash-- if I say forget my change on the counter of a store and then someone swipes it, I'm out that change...likely less than $20, since rarely is anything larger used on a typical transaction. But if the same thing happens with my credit card, someone might get a few hundred or even a couple thousand before I realize my card is missing.

Or, to expound on the thing mentioned above, if I use a vending machine that steals my money, I know immediately how much it stole, because I know how much I put in. And I know obviously not to put anymore in, because it is not working. With a card, the machine might work just fine-- and steal me blind later.

Or say I get mugged and my wallet taken. With cash, they get what I had. with a credit card, they might get hundreds or thousands... or they might get nothing if I report it quick enough.

With cash in any of the above scenarios, it's straightforward: I am out my money. I know how much I am out right away, because I know how much I had. With a credit card, the thief may get nothing if I report it quick enough, but if they do get something the bank likely picks up the tab as a part of their fraud protection.


But either way we "all" pay for it everyday, (those of us who have a credit card or use a bank) regardless of what the thief gets.

So, in a way, we are all paying for those who don't take the appropriate security protocols-- go through a bad part of town late at night, leave their card on the counter, use an ATM without scrutinizing it first, use a smartphone to pay for their latte, do their financial transactions over unencrypted wifi...