As we reshape our lives, cash will bind us together

There was a time when my commute to work involved a car and then a ferry. At other times it involved a bus and then a train. In all cases whether I was working in Sydney, Australia's Central Business District or London's Financial District, as I neared my place of work, I stepped aside to withdraw cash. Not just to cover me for the day, but to have a little to spend in the evening and when the weekend came around.  If I had managed my spending well enough there was always the opportunity to watch a game of football, rugby, or cricket and to enjoy an adult beverage with friends.

It was early in my IT career and at the time computer programmers were paid very little. There was neither the glamor present today nor the entrepreneurial infrastructure that drives change. At best, we were considered a separate category of clerical workers. But today, so much has changed and with it the way we view cash.

We are today amidst a global pandemic none of us expected to witness in our lifetimes. As we practice social distancing as best as we can, cash is becoming a favored, go-to, payment option. We are witnessing a global rethink of the way we behave, even as it is reshaping our lives in ways we did not anticipate. We are all affected, no matter what our socioeconomic standing, and we all face a common denominator — to stay healthy, keep a roof over our heads and ensure there is food on the table. And this is the 21st century, no less. Our commute may have lessened as we work from home, but many of us caught looking out the window are wondering when we will see our business colleagues, friends and family. 

When it comes to innovation, there is no shortage of creative individuals looking at new products that can be introduced via ATMs. As I took a quick look at the web site of Diebold Nixdorf, for instance, a couple of items caught my eye. In presenting their self-service ATM solutions, they reference their efforts to make the interaction with their ATMs more personalized and more future-ready. What I liked here is that there is no question of wanting a more engaging, albeit consistent, "intersection of physical and digital channels" even as there is a need to be assured changing consumer demands will be accommodated. In fact, for many of us, the future has arrived and it's nothing like what we expected. 

Paradoxically, at a time when our attention was focused on participation in a cashless society and where transactions would be carried out via contactless and even wearable modes of identification, it is as if we have hit a pause button. Having choice always has its advantages of course, but what if you are a member of society with few options. What if you are in the service industry living paycheck to paycheck and lacking access to credit instruments? What about the underbanked and underserved?  It is times such as we face today with the COVID-19 pandemic that we start to think about the path we walk. Innovation is a powerful force but today, innovation is also a call to look more widely at ensuring cash is accessible at every socioeconomic level. 

In a May 7, 2020, a press release provided by the Consumer Choice in Payment Coalition, highlights the importance of access to cash by everyone. The release states, "The purpose of the coalition is to advocate for the continued availability of cash as a payment option for consumers throughout the U.S."

Cash needs to remain an option for all consumer purchases including those undertaken at a traditional brick-and-mortar store. "We believe it is critical to ensure cash remains a universally available payment option for consumers throughout the nation," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action, a national advocacy group and member of CCPC, in the release.

Of more significance and reflective of what we are seeing taking place today, this press release makes note that the "Availability of cash payments remains extremely important during times of natural disasters and other emergencies. It has proven essential during network system outages when electronic payments frequently are inoperable. American citizens also appreciate the privacy and personal freedoms and protection cash affords for their individual spending decisions and purchasing data." 

The demand for cash will ebb and flow across all levels of society depending on the prevailing conditions, but in times of natural disaster, the spotlight shines brightly on our need for cash and access to cash becomes paramount. It is not unreasonable to think that infrastructure could fail and our reliance on credit instruments could leave us wanting. But it will be cash that sees us through times of trouble, and it is cash that glues us together as a society. Everyone has a right to exercise choice. And no other financial instrument today provides more choice than cash.