The ultimate goal of our financial leaders – both in government and in the private sector – is for our country to become a “cashless” society.
“Cashless society” means a society where banknotes and coins will finally become nothing more than collectors’ items, when all of our financial transactions – even day-to-day transactions such as making small purchases from sari-sari stores or paying for our commute – will be done online or mobile.
Yet a survey last February, as reported by the Philippine News Agency (PNA), noted that just one in three consumers, or 37 percent of the surveyed respondents, believes that the majority of Filipinos could be using cashless payments by 2030.
Sure, online and mobile payments have become very convenient for many of us who were stuck in our homes during the three months of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in 2020, as well as the uncertain period of the “new normal.”
But when pandemic restrictions were finally lifted in 2023 and the economy bounced back from the effects of the pandemic, that’s when I began to realize that we still haven’t solved many of the challenges that came with the explosion of cashless and digital payments.
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Just a few days ago, when I found myself strapped for cash, I was forced to use my mobile wallet to pay for lunch. Or, at least, attempted to buy lunch.
The first convenience store I went to had some issues with registering my payment, although the amount was deducted from my mobile wallet. Long story short, it took SOOOOOOOOO long that I was forced to cancel the transaction entirely.
And even though the store staff promised to pay me back the amount deducted, I had this sinking feeling, the feeling of being cheated.
The next convenience store I went to, well, the snag turned out to be the Internet signal on my phone, which meant I couldn’t connect to my mobile wallet app. After a frustrating attempt to even generate a QR code, I simply gave up.
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Think of it this way. True, as in my experience I’d mentioned above, there will be times when digital payments can be our savior if we’re strapped for cash – but what if it’s the other way around?
Like, you’ve got ready cash, but the store or outlet where you’re buying your goods for only accepts digital payments, and as it is, you don’t have your phone with you or you don’t even have a mobile banking account. What will you do now?
The notion that we’ll soon ditch cash for digital payments, to me, speaks of the arrogance and hubris of our tech giants – the same arrogance and hubris that made many predict of a “paperless” society.
True, cash can rot, cash can get stolen – but hey, hackers and “social engineers” can wipe out your digital account. (And what’s more frightening is that “artificial intelligence” has meant confidence tricksters can now imitate legitimate bank staff, even relatives, to scam money from their victims.)
Like paper, cash should never go out of style. I think that what we should be pushing for is not a “total” cashless society, but rather a society where cash and digital payments go hand-in-hand, like backup.
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