A consumer group is urgently calling on the federal government to follow other jurisdictions in the U.S and Europe and bring in legislation to stem the slide toward a cashless society.

Only 10 per cent of transactions in Canada today are done using cash, according to Carlos Castiblanco, an economist with the group Option Consommateurs.

“There is a need to protect cash right now before more merchants start refusing [it],” Castiblanco recently told CBC Radio’s Ontario Today.

It’s critical to act now, he added, before retailers begin removing all the infrastructure required to store and maintain physical money.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    The main thing that concerns me about a fully cashless society is that the means of buying and selling stuff shifts fully into the hands of the for profit, private company payment processors.

    If cash is no longer an option, then ever increasing payment fees can become a growing profit center for those banks, credit card companies and payment processors as they gouge the public worse than they already are.

      • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        isn’t that partially why those who dont want minimum fees look for a credit union that doenst charge minimum fees?

    • brax@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Which is why we need to nationalize banks. Why the fuck are they private institutions when you literally can’t get by without a bank account?

    • Beaver@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      Yup. Mastercard, Visa and American Express are about to get much worse on consumers and merchants.

    • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      The main thing that concerns me about a fully cashless society is that the means of buying and selling stuff shifts fully into the hands of the for profit, private company payment processors.

      Not necessarily true. The federal government can and should roll out their own instant payment mechanism under the supervision of the central bank or federal reserve. For reference: the FedNow initiative in the US, FPS in Hong Kong, and PIX in Brazil.

      Interac is an aberration and it should be killed by a real public service.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 months ago

      And, y’know, you’ll never be able to buy anything illegal again, even if that’s just a book a la Fahrenheit 451.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    I carry cash and I give it to people in need, I don’t mind cashless payment being the default but at least some of the following things need to happen before we can fully move to that:

    • Canada Post needs to open a savings account/credit card so that it is not profit motivated and accessible to disadvantaged people. Most poor people can’t afford the annual fee for cards with decent benefits, and to get it waived you need to have significant deposits with your bank/credit union.
    • We need a public option compared to Visa/MC/Amex, even if it’s only usable domestically. Letting a handful of non-Canadian companies make a percentage of all Canadians’ transactions is ridiculous and if there was no cash then they would look to jack up rates to whatever they wanted.
    • We need regulations in how credit card companies can charge merchants and customers.
  • Gleddified@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    Credit cards are the issue for me. An unnecessary third party skimming money (not to mention data) out of every transaction we make.

    I can’t NOT use them though, since the cash back can be too good to pass up. If credit cards were regulated into irrelevance I’d be almost 100% on cash.

    • MacroCyclo@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      But on cash or debit? That’s the thing here. Interac is fine as far as I know and cashless. It’s the credit cards that are sketchy.

      • Gleddified@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Interac AFAIK used to be a nonprofit, but few years back became a for profit corporation. While I’m happy for the option, I’d stick with paper/metal where possible if CCs weren’t a thing.

    • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, with an okay card the cash backs are just too good to pass up on… literally a couple thousand a year we’d be spitting on between my wife and I just making the purchases we’d have done anyway. I wouldn’t give a crap about going back to cash if it wasn’t for that.

  • Questy@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I carry an emergency $50 with me and I haven’t had to use it in a few years. I do not miss change jangling in my pocket.

  • AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    The ONLY place I have used cash in the last year at least has been having a coin for my shopping cart and the local dump only takes cash.

    I get 2-3% back on every transaction my credit card and pay it off every month for zero fees.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 months ago

    I’m going to go against the grain here. I use cash for everything, because I avoid being trackable as much as humanly possible.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    You know who is the biggest anti-cashless advocates? Ultra Conservative religious weirdos.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      4 months ago

      Which is kind of surprising because 25 years ago it was the opposite, based on Revelation 13:16 – “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead” …

      which many took to indicate the use of mobile phones as the only way to purchase anything.

      I guess they changed their minds. /s

  • T (they/she)@beehaw.org
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    4 months ago

    I find very interesting how Canada doesn’t have a bank controlled by the government that can provide affordable services.

    E-transfer is also something I think should be maintained by the government like Brazil’s Pix. I’d happily welcome Open Finance as well, but that might be harder.

  • Nogami@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Can’t stand using cash. I’d be fine with an unregulated crypto currency that doesn’t need for profit companies, but never want to carry cash again.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      4 months ago

      I used to carry cash all the time, mostly to have some to give away to those in need. But COVID pretty much shut that down … and now I’m barely making ends meet so don’t have the spare money to give anymore.

      • Nogami@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I never give out cash. It will be misused most of the time. I donate to charities or food banks instead.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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          4 months ago

          I’ve lived on the streets. Cash allowed me to buy tampons and other things I needed.

          Besides who am I to judge what someone needs. They know better than I do.

          • Nogami@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Oh. Guess you are the exception. Good on you for escaping. Now you can give your cash, I’ll never be giving mine out to other than charities.