Cash is officially no longer king
Bottom Line: In our digitized world it was really only a matter of time before cash would no longer be the most common way we bought stuff. That time is officially now. A study by US Bank found that for the first time ever most Americans aren’t using cash to pay for purchases. Here are some of the key points...
- 30% almost never use cash for purchases
- 18% use almost all cash for purchases
So, among those who are highly inclined to either extreme, cash loses. But that's also true among the balance of the 52% of Americans that tend to use a mix of cash and cards.
- 76% of people who use cash carry less than $50
- 48% who use cash keep less than $20 on hand
The result is that for virtually every trip to the store, eating out, etc., plastic or digital payments are used. Cash is now only the most common form of payment when the transaction is under $20. For any businesses that haven’t adapted, this is probably the last chance to do so. Along those lines 10% of adults under the age of 35 will only use digital payment methods like Venmo, Paypal, Apple Pay, etc.