The widening prevalence of integrating the transaction into the experience, such as with using the Lyft ride service, or when remotely prestaging a transaction, such as buying movie tickets in advance with Fandango, the practicality of being purely cash and carry is more difficult. Electronic payment is the sole way of conducting these commercial endeavors. If the transaction aspect of an “event” has already been taken care of, or is being handled in the context of the situation, the opportunities to use cash are been limited, leading to less need to carry cash.
Overall, 50 percent of respondents said they carry cash with them less than half of the time they are out. When they do carry it, 76 percent say they keep less than $50 on hand and nearly half say they keep less than $20.
But cash will still fill a vital role as it acts as a hedge against the unforeseen opportunity or the emergency. Electronic payment availability is not ubiquitous. And there are situations where folks conduct person to person transactions with people they have just met where cash may be preferred. If folks are carrying less cash, as the study indicates, being able to access cash when needed will be important to these same people. Please see our upcoming 2017 ATM Benchmark report for further discussion.
Overview by Joseph Walent, Associate Director, Customer Interactions Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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