Canada ranks number 1 in embracing a cashless culture

[Vapo]

Thats great and all, when they start accepting any other kind of cards than "canadian credit cards" then let me know.. until then have to have cash with you.

[Deleted]

Canada, Sweden, Uk you say? What does this remind me of?
Just missing France I guess...

[Endus]

Ah, pro-cashless folks. Not content with simply practicing it themselves, they demand nothing less than full buy-in, ultimately embracing the concept of government ultimately having full control over what you spend money on and where, if deemed necessary.

In before "that'd never happen", of course. One can only assume that some black market currency would gain fairly mass appeal if this were to happen anyhow.

Either you use banks, in which case your physical money is just as easy for the government to seize as anything else, or all your savings are stuffed into the equivalent of your mattress.

[Doctor Funkenstein]

Ah, pro-cashless folks. Not content with simply practicing it themselves, they demand nothing less than full buy-in, ultimately embracing the concept of government ultimately having full control over what you spend money on and where, if deemed necessary.

The best part is that they don't realize that they've been brainwashed into thinking that's the best way to go. "Hey, let's pay money and accrue needless debt in order to spend our own money, YEAH!!! And in doing so, let's sell everything about us to the banks because they don't already have enough power over our lives! WOOO!!!"

Even better is that they think they're intellectually superior for embracing it, too. And then there's the hilarity of them trying to talk down how bad cash is, like the whole change thing on the first page. Or "flat out losing it" and shit. XD

[Masark]

How's acceptance? Do most merchants take contactless now?

AFAIK, most places that don't sell major things accept it. It's been a standard feature on the terminals for about 3 or 4 years and the fee is the same as a regular transaction, so there's no reason not to unless most of what you you sell is over the limit. There's a $100 transaction limit and a $200 cumulative limit before you have to stick the chip in, to limit fraud.

- - - Updated - - -

"Hey, let's pay money and accrue needless debt in order to spend our own money, YEAH!!! And in doing so, let's sell everything about us to the banks because they don't already have enough power over our lives! WOOO!!!"

How are we accruing debt if it's all debit transactions?

"paying money" doesn't apply when the fees are cheaper than the cost (cash out, taking the money to the bank, etc.) of dealing with cash.

[Mormolyce]

AFAIK, most places that don't sell major things accept it. It's been a standard feature on the terminals for about 3 or 4 years and the fee is the same as a regular transaction, so there's no reason not to unless most of what you you sell is over the limit. There's a $100 transaction limit and a $200 cumulative limit before you have to stick the chip in, to limit fraud.

We have the $100 limit but no cumulative limit.

Is it the norm over there to charge fees for card use?

[Deleted]

And the government can tax - or disspossess for that matter - you with a mouseclick. Brave new world.

[Masark]

We have the $100 limit but no cumulative limit.

Is it the norm over there to charge fees for card use?

Yes. The fee is paid by the merchant and is small, 2-3.5 cents per transaction (depends on merchant type and transaction volume), and is a hell of a lot better than the 1.5%+ Visa and Mastercard want.

[Trifle]

NZ isn't big enough to have been included in the study, but I found an old 2013 article that says about 2/3 of all spending is done electronically (EFT-POS & credit cards). I think EFT-POS is technically a debit card, but New Zealand is a bit unique in its uptake and usage of it.

The big banks basically chipped in together to run a financial network, so any terminal retailers rent out over here to process electronic payments will automatically handle credit cards & EFT-POS. EFT-POS will take money out of your bank account directly (typically chequeing account) and because it doesn't go through any 3rd parties there's no transaction fees for retailers. Because of this it's accepted basically everywhere in the country, even on small transactions that retailers might not want you to use a credit card on.

I do still carry a bit of cash for emergencies, but I basically never use it.

[Mormolyce]

Yes. The fee is paid by the merchant and is small, 2-3.5 cents per transaction (depends on merchant type and transaction volume), and is a hell of a lot better than the 1.5%+ Visa and Mastercard want.

Wait, do they charge the fee to the buyer? Over here there is a merchant service fee, but it's paid by the merchant. Some merchants surcharge customers for using credit (fairly rare and generally discouraged these days) or for using certain premium credit cards (typically American Express, which charges a larger fee, although lately I think most merchants just don't accept AmEx at all).

[Masark]

Wait, do they charge the fee to the buyer? Over here there is a merchant service fee, but it's paid by the merchant.

No, it's exactly as you just said, a fee paid by the merchant.

[melodramocracy]

No, it's exactly as you just said, a fee paid by the merchant.

Baked into the price of whatever you're buying.

[Mormolyce]

No, it's exactly as you just said, a fee paid by the merchant.

Ah gotcha.

Baked into the price of whatever you're buying.

Mmm, well unless they surchage you for using credit there's no additional cost. Although you could argue that all of their prices are higher than they would be if they didn't take credit at all, because they need to make up for the additional cost of the MSF by incrementally raising all their prices.

However I think the idea is usually that by accepting credit card payments they're increasing their market and the additional custom that drives makes up for any cost in MSF.

[Rudkobing]

Trust you me. you don't want a purely cashless society. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204993/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[Forogil]

Canada, Sweden, Uk you say? What does this remind me of?
Just missing France I guess...

France is fourth place in this phony rating.

To show the ridiculousness of it France have 0.1 credit cards per capita (compared to Canada's 2.16), and still do more non-cash payments than Canada.

http://www.bankingtech.com/1018552/i...ess-countries/

[shadowmouse]

ie you could use WeChat or Kakaopay or Applepay or Samsungpay or whatever without a credit card from a bank or other traditional financial institution - you'd effectively be getting a virtual credit card from Apple or someone else. But I think it's still early stages.[

That's roughly the way WeChat works now. I can associate a bank card with it, but I carried a balance before I ever did that. My pay went to my WeChat balance rather than passing through a bank card. When I transferred that to 2.1 to cover the next three months of rent, it went directly from my WeChat account to hers -- again with no bank involved.

Even when using an app with an associated bank card, I'm free from juggling plastic and using a wallet that will protect me from RFID skimmers. The study in OP specifically downgraded China in part for not using *cards* "While the Asian superpower has strong scores for many metrics, it is let down by a lack of credit card usage". Since they failed to address something as common as the phone apps (CNN Money article shows $1.65 trillion spent through QR codes alone) I question their other figures.

[lonely zergling]

Cash equals freedom. Any country which seeks to remove cash is removing freedom.

[Shakadam]

Fixed title:

"Canada ranks first in embracing a cashless culture among the 20 countries chosen for the study"

[Deleted]

I get why corporations and the State promote a cashless society it is almost 100% to their benefit.

I don't get why individuals promote it, it holds zero benefits to them.

I like the government snooping around in everything i do.

[Deleted]

Yay banks dont know how to make enough money so now they Can investigate what youre spending absolutely all your money on and sell that Intel or decide to not give you à loan based on it
Its litterally the debate between privacy and security , except for some fools who cant be bothered carrying cents . how will you tip? How will you buy weed ? Do you realize digitalizing it will make you spend more ? What will you do with all those poor pockets manufacturers