Scanning your phone or swiping your credit card makes purchasing things a lot easier. It doesn’t require counting cash and allows you to buy anytime and anywhere. Cashless transactions dramatically increased especially during this pandemic, making purchases more convenient, safe, and secure. Both customers and businesses benefit from this setup since it’s more seamless, fast, and reliable.
This pandemic also brought lots of technological improvements when it comes to purchases. While it’s possible that the world will soon move towards having cashless transactions, it’s important to know what are the benefits that it will bring to everyone.
Here are some advantages of having a cashless society:
5 Advantages of Moving Into a Cashless Society
- Reduced theft in businesses
There’s always a higher risk of theft every time you carry cash. Once stolen, it might be hard to track and recover. Businesses that start to eliminate cash will make their transactions easier, reduce the risk of theft and potential break-ins. However, if you don’t have cash on store premises, it helps reduce theft in external and internal robberies.
Most robberies happen in convenience stores, gas stations, or other commercial residences. Implementing a cashless system will make your monetary systems more secure. Although you can block a credit card remotely if stolen, usually it’s impossible to get the cashback.
Digital payment methods are secured with different levels of encryption and authentication. Most of them have two-factor authentication enabled as an extra layer of security. For customers, it’s easier and more convenient to carry a smartphone than huge amounts of cash.
- Transaction speed
Some businesses choose to go cashless so there will be increased efficiency and faster transactions like payroll processing, deliveries and logistics or even something specific to an industry like payment options for automotive sales. If your business has faster, real-time transactions, you’ll get increased revenue, lesser errors, and improved customer satisfaction.
Businesses that usually have heavy queues during peak hours opt to go cashless to speed up the check-out process. It also helps your accounting process by reducing human error and having more accuracy.
For customers, cashless payments are an advantage since it’s faster and you don’t need to wait for banking hours – you can place payments or transfer funds anytime, anywhere in just a few minutes.
- Fewer germ transmission
Cash has a lot of microbes and germs present, and can also carry bacteria and viruses. Switching to a cashless society is a very popular topic right now especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lots of establishments and online stores offered cashless payment methods to avoid the spread of the virus through passing around cash.
Through different apps and software, contactless payment solutions are more hygienic. Touchscreens and other equipment are much easier to clean and disinfect than money itself. Some governments opted to use cashless payment options to minimize human interaction. For businesses, it’s actually more efficient and increases profitability. You’ll be able to prevent the spread of the virus while being beneficial for your business.
Aside from contactless payments, there are also self-service kiosks to ensure physical distancing. These kiosks offer more convenient reloading of cards and checking of balances without the need for someone behind the counter.
- Reduced financial crime
A cashless society is not only fast and convenient but it can also lower financial crime rates. One of the primary reasons is there will be no money to steal or tax to evade as there will be an audit trail for digital transactions.
Electronic transactions will be much easier to track. Money laundering can be caught through an automatic paper trail. Also, there will be less time and cost in terms of storing, handling, and depositing paper money.
- Removal of the middleman.
One of the concepts of a cashless society is to require the government to have a total exchange of value without losses – making it a state-backed utility. There will be no processing costs and the money saved can be used to help those in need. It can also help financially depressed areas.
Everyone will also have access to capital in a cashless society. Worldwide financial inclusion will be achieved through the last mile of banking, money transfers, and payments. With digital payments, there will be more lending from banks and businesses will increase their investments. It will also encourage people to invest and lend instead of amassing money.
Although moving to a fully cashless society can be many years away, major technological advancements might shorten the wait. Constant improvements will eventually let us experience more secure and transparent cashless payment solutions. The factors above will define if it will really benefit us, especially in this difficult time.
