You know, one of the key issues that we should confront is the economic benefit of managing our society without cash.

I know that there are numerous people out there that love nothing more than to carry coins in their wallets/purses.  I personally don’t get it, but I understand that it happens. Furthermore, there are people that want ‘notes on hand’ to make sure they are quarantined from that awful predicament of being destitute at the point of sale – not being able to pay for goods, in cash, on demand.

But seriously, do we not contemplate the costs on the merchant of carrying the cash to support these efforts?  Have we never thought that demanding cash as a currency is causing the merchant serious costs, and mostly hidden costs?

Let us pause to consider what a merchant has to manage with the range of cash on its premises:

1. Security of cash management
2. Loss and theft from employees at point of sale
3. Reconciliation costs for cash registers, including additional persons to provide a separate point of control for cash counting
4. Personnel management and training of impacted staff

These are but a few of the business overheads that are required to mange cash and protect staff exposed to cash handling.

So the costs are considerable … and the benefits are?