Already 25 years since the year 2000. Duty takes us back to a quarter of a century marked by significant events and new trends that still shape our society. In this article: the rise of digital payments and the disappearance of money.
Every weekend, it’s the same story. Noémie Martin withdraws 20 dollars from the bank. Arms full of bags of clothes, she then heads to the local laundry room. She takes out her bill and clumsily inserts it into the coin machine to transform it into small dollar and quarter coins. “I’m still having trouble telling them apart,” she half-jokes, staring at the loot in her hands before heading to the first available washer.
When she left her family cocoon this fall to settle in Montreal, the 19-year-old student didn’t think that washing her laundry would become such an epic event. “Going out to do my laundry is okay. The problem is above all that I never have cash on me, and unfortunately, my laundry room has not yet arrived in the modern world,” she says sarcastically.
Aside from her new laundry routine, she could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’s had to pay in cash. “I have always used my credit and debit cards, or my cell phone. […] It makes no sense to be forced to pay cash Today. »
With the development of digital payment methods, the use of notes and money has declined at great speed in recent years in consumer habits. In 2009, cash transactions still represented about 54% of total transaction volume in Canada, according to Bank of Canada data. In 2023, this proportion will barely reach 20%. Contactless credit card transactions — technology known as paypass — have conversely exploded, going from 1% of the total volume of transactions in 2009 to 33% in 2023. It is today the means of payment most used by Canadians.
Easier by card
“People prefer to pay by card or with their cell phone because it’s simpler and faster. You just have to tap on the machine rather than starting to count your money in the hope of having enough and not having to withdraw at the counter,” explains Philippe Goulet Coulombe, professor of economics at UQAM.
According to him, if the trend was already there since the early 2000s, it has only accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Worried about transmission of the virus through the exchange of money and notes, many Canadians naturally abandoned this means of payment during the health crisis, preferring the technology of paypass. Many businesses that had not yet gone digital had to equip themselves with a terminal to reassure consumers.
Few places still require payment only in cash. The opposite is happening: businesses and restaurants are now refusing cash. This is the case of the David’s Tea chain, or even the Jack & Jones brand. In Montreal, the Fugazzi pizzeria, the Time Out market – the Eaton Center food fair – and Le Central, at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Sainte-Catherine Street, also refuse cash.
“We underestimate the complexity in accounting of having cash in store and having to count your cash register at the start and end of the day. It takes time and a certain skill that is not given to everyone,” explains Damien Silès, general director of the Conseil québécois du commerce de commerce. Not having cash in the store also avoids the risk of theft, according to him.
Towards the end of currency?
“The trend is strong, I can’t imagine a going backwards. We are clearly heading towards the disappearance of money,” he believes.
Philippe Goulet Coulombe agrees. “Everyone goes to the same place, but the speed is different from country to country. There are countries in the world where the card is not yet accepted for everyday transactions, and in others, like Sweden, there is even less cash circulating than here. »
Will money completely disappear? “We won’t have any more one day, but it may still take some time,” believes Professor Goulet Coulombe.
However, according to the latest survey from the Bank of Canada, 80% of Canadians do not plan to stop using cash. Only 13% said they no longer use it and nearly 7% are considering it in the short or medium term.
“As soon as the system breaks down, it’s a disaster, we find ourselves completely helpless,” recognizes Damien Silès. Technology will always have flaws. It’s good to always have some cash aside, if ever. »
