​Will Cash Survive COVID 19?

COVID19 has led to speculation that the pandemic could be the catalyst for the arrival of the cashless society, but research suggest that our assumptions on how the pandemic is shaping payments may need revisiting.

Stay-at-home measures and pandemic fears have led to an increase in online shopping. At the same time, some brick and mortar merchants are refusing cash as a defense against germs. Nonetheless, consumers haven’t abandoned cash just yet. 
Rachel Huber, senior analyst in payments at Javelin Strategies and Research completed a study on the health of cash for ATM provider Cardtronics in late 2019. Given the pandemic, the company thought that she should do another survey to see how the pandemic changed things. 

To give you a sneak preview, it might be too soon to call it a day for cash payments just yet. And our assumptions about who is using cash and why may not be correct. In looking at cash in the context of other payments, Huber learned a few things about contactless adoption as well. 

You can hear about how things are playing out in the episode and find the complete study online. 

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

Listen to this episode now.