Cashless society

[farmerge]

I still receive cheques from time to time, dividends from trading shares i am not registered with yet, etc
Last one was a house insurance reimbursement after change of premium $20 or so
Put it in a cba atm, was scanned and automatically read, appeared immediately but amount not available, credited fully the following day
D+1 if i remember well
We can still use cheque efficiently if required.
But yes, i have not written one for years

We still write out cheques each month for the agri business account and all vehicle registrations. No fees tacked onto the cheques as is with credit card payments.

 

[Value Collector]

We still write out cheques each month for the agri business account and all vehicle registrations. No fees tacked onto the cheques as is with credit card payments.

So you do enjoy cashless transactions, we are agreeing more and more .

But Again, checks are not always charged fees because the check processing costs are subsidised by the bank, so you are free loading a bit, where as you would be paying your way using the credit card, but with some company accounts you do pay check deposit fees if you deposit more than 10 checks a month.

But as I explained before, the credit card fee is normally lower than the benefits you receive through points and having the cash in your bank longer, so be sure to do the math before avoiding card payments.

 

[Value Collector]

@farmerge @qldfrog

Also, a point of note is that cheques are being phased out in Australia by 2030, due to increasing costs per transaction caused by check usage dropping by over 90%.

Maybe if they did charge you a fee to write a cheque @farmerge they wouldn’t be phasing the system out.

It’s the same concept of cash, neither cheques or cash are “free” to use, both have huge costs, and the people paying to run those systems aren’t earning anything to keep it going, so as the usage continues to plummet it gets very hard to keep the system going just to keep a few backward people happy. At some point we have to say it’s time to move with the times people.

 

[SirRumpole]

I haven't written a cheque for years. Can't see the point with BPay.

You have to go to the PO and line up to get a stamp to post your cheque, whereas you can do it in seconds online.

Also the recipient knows that your BPay isn't going to bounce because you have the money in your account.

 

[JohnDe]

Went to Coles late yesterday afternoon to pick up a couple of things that I ran out of while preparing Monday night's family dinner.

Handed over my cash, and as I was turning the young man behind me said to the checkout person, "this lot and cash out please".

How wonderful is that I paid with cash and the next person paid with digital means and withdrew cash at the same time, probably getting some of my notes.

No ATM, no bank. Shopping done and cash withdrawal all in one transaction.

Governor of the RBA Michele Bullock "Maintaining access to cash. We also remain focused on access to cash for Australians.
cash remains an important means of payment for some people and is widely held for precautionary or store-of-wealth purposes. Cash is also an important backup method of payment during system outages or natural disasters, when electronic payments might be unavailable.
For these reasons, the RBA places a high priority on the community continuing to have reasonable access to cash withdrawal and deposit services."

 

[JohnDe]

I haven't written a cheque for years. Can't see the point with BPay.

You have to go to the PO and line up to get a stamp to post your cheque, whereas you can do it in seconds online.

Also the recipient knows that your BPay isn't going to bounce because you have the money in your account.

A cheque is really just a promissory note, a lot of trust and honesty required. When they were commonly used, we would not release anything until the cheque was cleared, or we knew and trusted the payee.

I still have a cheque book for my business but haven't used it about 2 years.

Refusal to Pay
There are a number of reasons why a bank may refuse to make payment on a cheque:

• there are insufficient funds to cover the amount of the cheque (sometimes cheques payable to the payer's account have not been cleared);
• the cheque is not completed properly e.g. it is not dated;
• there is a discrepancy between the amount of the written sum and the figures e.g. "two hundred and ten dollars" and "$201-00" the cheque is post-dated and the cheque is presented before that date;
• the payer has stopped the cheque; there is reason to believe the payer does not have the mental capacity to write the cheque; the payer is subject to a bankruptcy petition.

What is a cheque?

Although not used as much as in the past due to the widespread use of the internet and credit cards, cheques still remain the method of choice for many people when paying bills.

www.smh.com.au

 

[farmerge]

A cheque is really just a promissory note, a lot of trust and honesty required. When they were commonly used, we would not release anything until the cheque was cleared, or we knew and trusted the payee.

I still have a cheque book for my business but haven't used it about 2 years.

We are still using the cheque book but only for payment for veh registrations and agri account, as these do not hit us with a percentage surcharge.

 

[Value Collector]

We are still using the cheque book but only for payment for veh registrations and agri account, as these do not hit us with a percentage surcharge.

I wonder if cheque users actually had to cover the costs and were not subsidised, what the charge per check would be.

 

[Bellcose]

I haven't written a cheque for years.

Same.

As for a surcharge for paying bills such as car rego, etc, it probably depends on which state or territory you are in. In Canberra there isn't one if you pay by a CC.

The oddest, and very unfortunate, "surcharge" is the one which some charities use. They can outsource the online donations to a third party who whack on a handling fee irrespective of whether it is a debit or credit card. I've always removed that but now I donate over the phone and have never been asked to include a handling fee for processing.

As for cash v digital, I use what suits me. What others do is up to them. Fronting the barricades and yelling at clouds won't change the situation. Gives people something to do by drafting letters to the editor of the SMH or putting a comment to an article (using ironically digital for communication) so I guess you could call it useful in a way.

 

[farmerge]

I wonder if cheque users actually had to cover the costs and were not subsidised, what the charge per check would be.

Couldn't give a toss as mine are FREE

 

[JohnDe]

Same.

As for a surcharge for paying bills such as car rego, etc, it probably depends on which state or territory you are in. In Canberra there isn't one if you pay by a CC.

The oddest, and very unfortunate, "surcharge" is the one which some charities use.

Yes, since digital payments have overtaken cash, it has been extremely easy for every large organisation to introduce a fee or surcharge.

Anyone that thinks that banks give fee free digital transaction are a little gullible. Nothing given that costs something is free. there are hidden fees somewhere and someone is paying.

Earning interest on your deposit, do you really think that the bank is giving you every cent that they have earnt from that deposit?

Sadly, a lot of consumers have been hoodwinked by financial institutions and are using them to cry and accuse cash users of not being charged a fee. When the opposite is true. It is the profits from cash users that have allowed digital monetary system to be developed and integrated into everyday life. And cash users continue to pay their share by allowing banks to use their savings.

 

[Bellcose]

Yes, since digital payments have overtaken cash, it has been extremely easy for every large organisation to introduce a fee or surcharge.

This is the platform charities can use for fundraising.

Plans and pricing

about.givenow.com.au

 

[Value Hunter]

very hard to keep the system going just to keep a few backward people happy. At some point we have to say it’s time to move with the times people.

None of the anti cash people like you explained how things work in a cashless system when the system is temporarily down (internet outage, power outage, EFTPOS terminal down, apple pay gets hacked, etc). The old manual backup systems for processing credit cards are clunky and inferior to cash for a number of reasons. Plus what if you want privacy for a transaction. Cash gives you far more privacy than anything else.

 

[Value Hunter]

Governor of the RBA Michele Bullock "Maintaining access to cash. We also remain focused on access to cash for Australians.
cash remains an important means of payment for some people and is widely held for precautionary or store-of-wealth purposes. Cash is also an important backup method of payment during system outages or natural disasters, when electronic payments might be unavailable.
For these reasons, the RBA places a high priority on the community continuing to have reasonable access to cash withdrawal and deposit services."

Do you have an answer for that Value Collector?

 

[wayneL]

None of the anti cash people like you explained how things work in a cashless system when the system is temporarily down (internet outage, power outage, EFTPOS terminal down, apple pay gets hacked, etc). The old manual backup systems for processing credit cards are clunky and inferior to cash for a number of reasons. Plus what if you want privacy for a transaction. Cash gives you far more privacy than anything else.

"Backwards people"... Notice how the ideologically possessed always resort to ad hominem?

 

[investtrader]

"store-of-wealth purposes" Really?

 

[divs4ever]

"store-of-wealth purposes" Really?

well i prefer tangible commodities , but each their own ( wealth isn't so useful to corpses )

 

[JohnDe]

"store-of-wealth purposes" Really?

For people like you and me, we earn more in interest than we lose in fees.

There are people with very little savings, receiving small deposits in the form of a pay packet or pension, and so on, that have expenses that eat up almost all their input. Due to the small amount of savings and the regular withdrawals they are charged bank fees to service their account. Those people may feel better to have a few hundred dollars in their pocket or hidden in a jar, than to lose a few percentages in fees.

 

[Value Collector]

None of the anti cash people like you explained how things work in a cashless system when the system is temporarily down (internet outage, power outage, EFTPOS terminal down, apple pay gets hacked, etc). The old manual backup systems for processing credit cards are clunky and inferior to cash for a number of reasons. Plus what if you want privacy for a transaction. Cash gives you far more privacy than anything else.

I have explained that.

Almost all Eftpos machines are capable of processing offline transactions, just like the old manual clunky system you described, but digital. The business just has to have that set up in the machine settings.

Years ago when I had my business I noticed the transactions I was processing were printing “offline transaction” at the bottom of the receipt, before I even realised the phone lines were down. Then when the phone lines came back on they all got sent through.

Modern systems can even switch between land line and mobile.

 

[Value Collector]

Couldn't give a toss as mine are FREE

Yep, that’s why the system is being canned though. Can’t really complain when it does.

It’s not that your cheque system is intrinsically lower cost, it would be actually more expensive than processing card transactions, it’s just you currently get to free load, atleast until 2028 anyway.