This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Something strange happened the other day. Five years ago, it wouldn't have noteworthy at all. But last week, it felt as if I'd stepped back in time.
I paid cash.
The $20 bill had sat in my wallet for so long, I forget how it got there. But when I picked up a single avocado at the local supermarket, it occurred to me I'd be slugged a small fee for a card tap - not worth it for a $2.50 transaction.
So out came the lobster and back in went the change - the $5 bill still bearing the face of the late Queen Elizabeth. It felt retro, like making a call on a push-button handset or sending a fax. We've become so conditioned to paying electronically that cash itself is becoming an endangered species.
In 2007, about 70 per cent of all transactions were settled in cash. These days, it's 13 per cent. And while it seems convenient and more hygienic to wave the plastic over the eftpos machine, we forget that businesses are entitled to extract a surcharge - and many more are doing just that as money gets tighter. The rules state that they mustn't charge more than it costs them to process the transaction. And businesses are obliged to display a notice telling you of the surcharge.
The surcharges are small - between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent for each transaction - but add them up over time and you could be spending significant amounts to spend your money. Eight cents on top of the fiver you pay for your latte. Seventeen cents on your $11 pint at the pub.
Over a year, paying for a coffee a day during the working week could end up costing you $20.80 - slightly more than the lobster I fished out of my wallet.
![The $20 bill had sat in my wallet for so long. Picture Shutterstock The $20 bill had sat in my wallet for so long. Picture Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3BUUzmFAhrhLyX9rFCubPq5/65878136-f32b-463c-82ea-313d31877374.jpg/r0_309_6048_3709_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The move towards a cashless economy seems inevitable but resistance is growing. Back in April a social media campaign urged Australians to draw out cash from ATMs as a protest against cashless transactions. But they struggled to find ATMs owned by their banks - like cash itself, they've been in steep decline too.
The issue has caught the eye of Andrew Gee, former National now independent federal MP. At the beginning of June he introduced a private member's bill which would make it unlawful for businesses not to accept cash payments. The bill's chances of success are remote. Only a handful of private members bills have ever become law.
For all their ease, electronic payments become theoretical when the power goes out, as it did over large swathes of NSW and Victoria during the Black Summer fires. And eftpos is patchy in some regional and rural areas still struggling under the sticky tape and string National Broadband Network rolled out by the Turnbull government.
We're not talking the back of Bourke here. The pet resort my dog goes to when I travel - a five-minute drive from a large coastal town - only accepts cash because it has no internet access or mobile signal.
Cash may no longer be king but it's not dead yet, nor should it be. And all of us pay waving should pause occasionally and ask ourselves how much the convenience is costing.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you gone completely cashless? Do you avoid businesses that don't accept cash? Or businesses that don't offer card payments? Do you keep a stash of cash for emergencies? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Tech giant Meta is playing a game of chicken with the Australian government, an inquiry has heard, by refusing to do deals with local media outlets and "daring" regulators to force it to the negotiating table.
- Treasury Secretary Stephen Kennedy says the lack of a bipartisan energy and climate policy in Australia is hurting the nation's chances of meeting its emission reduction targets.
- Western Australia's opposition leader has denied bullying a fellow Nationals MP, who resigned from the party during a tearful address to parliament. Member for the state's southwest, Louise Kingston, accused Shane Love of "relentless bullying and harassment" during an address to the state's Legislative Council on Thursday afternoon.
THEY SAID IT: "When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is." - Oscar Wilde
YOU SAID IT: Australia used to be a country of volunteers but not any more. Garry suggested community work or a form of national service could be made tax deductible or counted against HECS debts.
"I think that the compulsory public service for those 18 after HSC is a good idea but it shouldn't for military forces," writes Sue. "When I was in Israel the most arrogant and potentially dangerous people were the young defence force officers and look how that has turned out with Gaza."
Julie writes: "After I retired I did some volunteering for both local and federal organisations but I gave it away as it became obvious I was doing all the work and the people being paid to do the work withdrew to rest at their desks with their feet up. This has become a widely used accepted trend that would of been unheard of in the 20th century."
"Volunteers are now extensively covered by the Workplace Health and Safety Act, which means that they now have to undergo training in the potential hazards and risk amelioration consistent with the act," writes Phil. "Safety equipment must comply with the relevant standards, training must be documented, risk assessment must be documented and reviewed at regular intervals, safe work practices must be implemented and enforced, adequate workers compensation insurance must be acquired and a safety committee must be established, trained and documented. Only then can you fire up the temperature calibrated barbie to sell a snag to raise a buck for the Scouts. Death by regulation."
"I received the Young Citizen of the Year Australia Day Award in the Shoalhaven last year," writes Bridget, 18. "I was grateful, but also confused, because my nomination was largely based on my volunteer work. I should not be a standout in my community simply for offering to umpire a couple of netball games, be on the school student council, and take part in any opportunity I am offered. My advice for every teenager is to volunteer, just because you want to, and giving back is so rewarding in ways most people don't realise."
"Well said, Garry," writes Anita. "I'm a staunch defender of the process of volunteering my labour as opposed to money which may or may not do the job intended. My voluntary donations include courses run for via the U3A organisation and past services teaching english as a second language via the Smith Family. As for conscription? A better course would include instruction on 'getting along with our neighbours' and 'mutual respect'. Conscription costs a bomb in our price obsessed age. People cite domestic skills such as 'making the bed' as one of the benefits. Puh-lease! That skill takes half a day to master with time remaining learning how to kill people! Are these the invaluable skills we want taught to our young?"