Warning cashless Australia 'inevitable' after Gen Z cash question: 'Can't be serious?'

A young Aussie has highlighted her generation's problem with cash and how much simpler it is to do things digitally. An overwhelming majority of Aussies prefer to pay for things with their card, phone or watch these days, but there is a vocal minority who are desperate to keep cash alive.

Jazmin Hermione recently had $10 cash in her hands following a Facebook Marketplace sale, but she was quickly confronted with the issue of what to do with it. The 20-year-old told Yahoo Finance cash has been virtually nonexistent in her life up until now.

"My friends and I never use cash," she said.

"The only people I know who actively have cash on them are those who get paid in cash, or they have the loose coin here or there.

"The only cash I ever receive is from [Facebook] Marketplace or birthday and Christmas presents."

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'You can't be serious?': Aussies stumped over cash question

She posted a video about her $10 conundrum where she asked people on the internet what she was supposed to do next.

"Honest talk now, what are we doing with cash?" she said. "Where do I put it, should I save it, spend it? Do I deposit it? Someone tell me what I should do because I never use cash ever."

The video was flooded with dozens of comments, with many shocked the young Aussie didn't know what to do.

"You know you can buy things with cash, right??" said one.

"You can’t be serious?" asked another.

"Here is the end... once a generation has to ask what to do with cash, you can be confident a cashless society will happen... I can think of all sorts of things to do with that 10 bucks," wrote a third.

But there were also plenty of people who had more supportive and helpful suggestions and told her to either squirrel it away in a piggy bank or buy a coffee.

"I was actually quite surprised with the comments because I think, for my age at least, no one uses cash and often my friends have the same problem," she said.

If Jazmin's approach to cash is representative of her generation, then the advocates desperate to keep physical money alive have a lot of education on their hands.

Cash might be burdensome but Jazmin found a solution

As for the wallet, purse or bag suggestion for somewhere to put her cash, Hermione said that was outdated for her.

"I only ever carry a phone on me," she told Yahoo Finance. "I think I own probably one wallet and I could not tell you where that is.

"I use ApplePay always, so my card is on my phone, so there is no need for me to carry a wallet or even a bag with me."

She said only very occasionally has she put $10 in the back of her phone case, but she finds it's "not worth the trouble".

However, the Gold Coast resident has resorted to putting $40 cash in her car in the event of an emergency.

As for the $10 she got from Facebook Marketplace, she decided to chuck it in a money tin for a rainy day.

"I am not too sure what the money tin will be used for yet, perhaps the holiday I’m planning on taking next year, all I know is it’s something fun," she said.

"I do enough budgeting and saving for boring things like a house that it’s good to have a fun saving goal too."

Young Aussies happy to cop surcharge as cost skyrockets to $4B

Hermione also exposed a little-known outlook amongst her generation when it comes to one of the biggest downsides to the cashless revolution.

Aussies forked out a jaw-dropping $4 billion in card surcharges last year. It might only be a few cents per transaction but it adds up over time and cost the average Aussie around $140 in 2023.

Australia is one of the world’s biggest users of cashless payments, with around 98.9 per cent of all bank transactions done online, according to the Australian Banking Association (ABA). The number of payment cards that have been added to mobile phone wallets has jumped from just two million in 2018, to 15.3 million in 2022.

Card surcharges range from 0.5 per cent to more than 2 per cent depending on where, what and how you pay.

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It's a frustrating reality that seems almost avoidable in this digital age but the 20-year-old doesn't mind too much because she doesn't know any different.

"I’ve only ever used card the majority of my spending life so I don’t even realise the surcharges when they do come," she told Yahoo Finance.

"Plus it’s so much easier, I get paid to my card so I use my card. Going to get cash out would just add another thing of my already long to-do list."

While she isn't fazed by it, these surcharges could see a resurgence in cash over the coming months and years.

Professor Steve Worthington told Yahoo Finance the writing is on the wall for physical money to become more popular.

"I've seen in other countries ... as the cost of living reverberates, a lot more people will take cash out of ATMs and be use cash, more so than they have in the past," the Swinburne School of Business and Law professor said.

"It has been in decline but I think it's about to bounce back."