INDIANA – (WTWO/WAWV) – With the convenience of services like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Venmo, you may find yourself as one of the many people who hardly carries cash.
Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari made the decision to go cashless starting this year.
“Whenever you have a cash transaction versus a credit card transaction, that cash transaction takes a lot longer, and when you’re feeding 10,000 [to] 15,000 people in a single day at lunch between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., every second you can find counts,” Leah Koch-Blumhardt, Director of Marketing for Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari, said.
Joe Fitter, Finance Professor at Indiana University, said the shift of moving to cashless has been happening for the last 25-30 years.
He said the main driver, is the convenience factor.
“If you think about it, today you get your paycheck, maybe [directly] deposited into your bank account. But you have to go to the bank or an ATM to withdraw money and then you have that cash and of course, no one wanted to touch money because it’s dirty and it’s been through lots of different hands,” Fitter said.
Fitter explained that being able to pay with your phone instantly has almost completely eliminated the need for cash on hand.
He said not only does it make it easier for consumers, but it can be just as beneficial for businesses.
“Merchants love cashless systems. Not only because of the reduced fraud risk and so forth, they also love the data they can capture on their customers,” Fitter said.
Bo Turner, founder of The Truck Stop in 12 Points, said one of the most asked questions on their social media pages is if they accept cards.
She said around 75% of the food trucks currently offer some sort of cashless option.
“I would also say cash is a security measurement, especially with the food trucks here being mostly by themselves or just not a lot of people or security around, having cash is a really big risk,” Turner said.
Although it seems to be the direction the world is moving in, Fitter said he does not see cash being eliminated completely.
“I think that these convenience factors of being able to send a transaction and an amount of money to someone else and instantly, you have it available to you. It’s a fundamental concept of finance, the time value of money,” Fitter said.
Fitter said it can be beneficial to have some cash on you in case of an emergency.
