I thought I had escaped the pandemic…I really did. Moving from a mid-sized town to a bigger city with a major University was supposed to remedy the problem; not only a major research university, but also national research labs were here. Surely such an advanced area would be free from the re-animated dead. But alas, it was not to be so….
The trees lived again…..
What I am talking about is the exclusive usage of tree-corpses to facilitate transactions. that’s right: paper money and checks.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly acceptable for businesses to accept the dead – they are, in fact, legal tender. But some of us prefer to keep the sap off our hands, and need a plastic or digital option. Actually, when it comes to Millennials, most of us prefer alternative options. Only 26% of Millennials use cash. There are many reasons for this preference: tracking (ironically, non-paper payment creates a paper trail), accessibility, ease-of-use, security, convenience. But one of the greatest impacts is that, by and large, we live in a cash-less society. We are paid digitally, purchase digitally, pay bills digitally, and even send money to one another digitally. It is, by and large, entirely inconvenient for a Millennial to get cash, much less carry it regularly.
In a world of ever-increasing marketplace competition, the refusal to accept digital forms of payment may very well be what causes Millennial business to go elsewhere. Actually, that seems inaccurate. Digital payment processing is table stakes now – Millennials won’t even engage if that is not an option.
By insisting on only using digital forms of payment (basically eschewing cash) you are forfeiting meaningful interactions with a huge segment of the population. Kind of goes against your previous post where you suggested integrating rather than replacing. Really can’t have it both ways Sam. Happy Birthday.
Uncle Mike
Uncle Mike,
In my research, I do look for ways to integrate rather than replace wherever possible. But this is much more about a societal trend than it is individual interactions. The Millennials are the largest generational group in US, and just aren’t using paper-based forms of payment (I tend to be one myself). And it’s often not that I wouldn’t under any circumstances, but I never have cash or a checkbook, so my purchase habits are generally forced towards digital, even if that weren’t my preference. But it may be an opportunity for new payment-process innovation.