Cashless Society? Not Yet!

Just when you think we are all on the path towards a cashless society, up pops a story to remind you of the importance of cash in hand. Take a moment to read Bob Sullivan's morning posting on The Red Tape Chronicles blog and bask in the knowledge that currency still has a very important function in our daily lives.

Credit and Debit cards are great, but we all still carry a bit of cash in our wallets or purses, or at least we rely on access to cash through the handy corner ATM. Some may even rely on the ATM too heavily, especially during travel.

When I traveled to Costa Rica last year, most all of our group made use of an ATM at some point or another. Even some of the smaller towns had an ATM near the square. Over the Holidays my immediate family traveled to the Chicagoland area for extended family events and there too, when we ran short of cash, we scurried arround trying to locate an ATM.

If our card issuer had lowered withdrawal limits without notifying us in either of these instances, we would have been hard pressed to function. Some purchases would have been fine with use of a debit or credit cards, but try to buy a towel, shawl or shirt in an open air market in Costa Rica and see how far a piece of plastic will get you!

So, no matter how cute those Life Takes Visa perpetual motion commercials may be, let's not write cash off just yet. The world is no where near ready for a cashless society.