Overheard a banker say "cash is dying" at a diner last week and I almost choked on my coffee

I was sitting at a booth in a little diner near my job site in Tulsa, and this guy in a suit was telling his friend that physical cash will be gone within 5 years. He claimed the Fed is basically pushing for it behind the scenes to track every dollar. I get that digital payments are convenient, but what about folks who can't get bank accounts or live in rural areas with spotty internet? My uncle runs a small hardware store and half his customers still pay with crumpled twenties. Is anyone else seeing pushback against a cashless system where you live?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_jones6d ago

Whoa, your uncle's customers still using crumpled twenties?! That's exactly the kind of thing the big bank guys don't see from their fancy suits.

blair_taylor326d ago

Has anyone thought about what happens when those crumpled bills get deposited? The bank tellers literally have to flatten and sort them by hand, that's real labor the algorithm can't do. Meanwhile the digital transactions just zoom through invisible, no one touching them. @ruby_jones your uncle's shop is basically running a handmade cash system that keeps someone employed on the backend too. Wonder if the big bank guys know their perfect digital world still depends on people counting dirty wrinkled paper.