Cash is still Australia's favourite way to pay

Today Commonwealth Bank has issued media information suggesting that mobile wallets will  soon overtake contactless cards as a favoured way to pay for goods and services. 

Commonwealth Bank says the dollar value of their total digital wallet transactions rose from $1.0 billion per month to $2.1 billion between March 2020 and March 2021.

Commonwealth Bank say they represent about 40 per cent of the card and mobile wallet transaction market. Cash is not included in the Commbank analysis.

Total retail spending in Australia in March 2021 was $30.7 billion according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Woolworths recently began accepting cash again at its Metro supermarkets after a consumer boycott.

"No matter what the spin from banks and card companies, consumers still want to be able to pay with cash if they choose,"  said Jason Bryce, finance journalist and spokesperson for the CashWelcome.ORG campaign.

"Cash is still the favourite way to pay in Australia."

"People do not want to be herded into a cashless society where every move is tracked and every transaction is potentially open to be surcharged."

"More people still carry actual wallets and actual physical purses than mobile wallets, some Australians will never hold a mobile wallet or even know what that means."

"Australians do not want to be forced into giving up the freedom of choosing how they pay for essential goods and services."

"Cash is clearly the most reliable payment system, is just as safe as card and phone payments, private and surcharge-free."

Recent outages have hurt the cashless payment providers and busted the myth of an impending cashless economy.

 Jason Bryce 
0428 777 727
media@cashwelcome.org

CashWelcome.ORG is a campaign giving a voice to the millions of Australians who trust and rely on cash, supported by the cash industry.