Many people believe that eventually, and sometime in the not so distant future, no one will carry cash in their pockets, and everything will be purchased using plastic. And there are some that believe cash will only be truly redundant when flying cars are the norm and we all have slave robots. However in modern society it is possible even now to forget your cash on a daily basis.

Just think for a moment. When you get gas, almost every gas station has a pay at the pump option. Grocery stores, department stores and almost any place where there is a retail cash register can accept credit or debit cards, and you can even pay your waiters a tip from your card when dining at the restaurant. There are even card terminals at the windows of drive thru fast food places. So, if a person truly wanted to stop carrying cash all together, it would just about be possible by using debit cards, prepaid credit cards or regular credit cards to handle all of your financial transactions.

But with most things, each system, cash and card, have advantages and disadvantages. To use cash, you need to be at the retail cash register terminal for the transaction to go through. Cash cannot be used to buy items over the phone or the internet and once it is stolen you cannot claim it back. However you do have the advantage of anonymity with cash whereas some of your personal details are given to the vendor when you pay with card. Privacy is a concern, and using plastic means there is a chance for fraud or identity theft.

Over-spending is one of the biggest problems people have with their credit card. When you do not physically give your cash to someone, it is easier to buy more expensive things.

Deciding whether to carry cash or go “cashless” is a personal decision for now, as we still have the ability to use both. One cannot say for definite if we will ever be forced to stop using cash but the credit card companies enjoy the fact that we use them more and more in society. Before a cashless society occurs, you can decide which you want o use based on personal preferences.