When did Cash Stop Being Money?

by bigcajunman last updated on November 24, 2018

in Case Study, Cash, Family, Frugality, Money, Retail

I have said many times that Cash is King, but I may need to review this idea given the odd situation my wife ran into a week or so ago, where we had to ask, when did cash stop being money?

The Cash Tale

Our son’s Nursery School was running a Scholastic book fund-raising book service. My wife found a couple of books she figured my son would like, and she filled in the form. She gave the form in with the exact cash needed to pay for the order.

This is not money? What?!?

My wife has decided to see if she uses cash instead of cheques and direct withdrawal, if it will give her the “tactile feedback” she needs for budgeting (I applaud this idea). My wife’s plan is simple once the cash is gone, there is no more spending.

Mrs. C8j dropped off the order and thought no more about it. She was cornered by the mother who has volunteered to run the book order. The volunteer told my wife that Scholastic did not accept cash. A cheque was the only way to pay.

My wife then asked the woman, why didn’t the volunteer write a cheque on her own account and take the cash as a cash advance and the problem would be solved. The volunteer said she couldn’t do that. The volunteer told my wife that she must submit the order with a cheque or the order would be refused. My wife ended up writing a cheque to get the books.

Cash is not Money?

This incident leaves me scratching my head, asking the question, when did Cash stop being currency? I realize there are situations where cash shouldn’t be used (sending cash in the mail is a bad thing), but it seems more and more, society is frowning on the use of cash, or is making it very difficult to use cash.

This made me wonder what would happen if I did the following experiment: Buy a car and walk into the dealership with the entire payment for the car in cash, would the dealership take the money? I am curious to hear if anyone has actually done this.

With counterfeiting of Canadian $100 bills, most establishments do not accept bills over $50, and they don’t really like taking those bills either (try to pay for a $11.00 charge with a $50 bill and see the reaction of the cashier). How long will it be, before cash and bills in specific stop being accepted as currency?

Did Cash Stop Being Money ?

Canadian Money now is less counterfeited, but cash continues to lose traction as a method of payment.

originally published on November 24, 2008 { 3 comments }

Money Minder November 24, 2008, 3:32 PM

Some taxi drivers and delivery people won’t take cash at night anymore. My husband takes the train to work and if the station isn’t staffed you cannot pay cash to purchase a ticket. We are definitely moving away from being a cash based society

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Sammy November 24, 2008, 10:08 AM

I actually remember those little book order papers from elementary school.

Great story; I do think that cash is being used less and less everyday (financial crisis?) lately, and some people I know are having to make sure they’ve signed up with all the major credit card processing systems to prepare their businesses for the holiday season.

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Jenny November 24, 2008, 8:17 AM

Have you ever tried booking a hotel room without a credit card? And paying cash? You are taking your chances.
Banks have been trying for years to get rid of cash. The only thing stopping them is that they must do what the customer demands. Cash is expensive. Trucking it by armoured car, filling up ATMs, fees for depositing nnd withdrawing cash, bank tellers, etc. all involves real live people to work a cash economy. Businesses would love to get rid of cash and do everything electronically.
I still budget doing the envelope thing. When the cash in the envelope is gone, it’s gone and we stop spending. I would love for people to realize that when you use cash, you are creating jobs for people trying to feed their families.

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