Why You Should Send Us All Your Cash

September 14, 2013 in Daily Bulletin

Tim Fernholz hates cash – though our requests for him to send us his have gone unanswered. Here’s his rationale:

  • Cash encourages robbery – since stealing that is more or less untraceable while stolen credit cards will eventually be tracked. About $500 million in cash is robbed each year.
  • Cash also spreads disease through all the different people that handle it.
  • People lose 5.6 hours a year trying to withdraw cash – and spend $8 billion in ATM fees in the process.
  • Cash hurts poor people the most since they use it the most and have to pay the most to withdraw and manage it.
  • Businesses have to sort cash and securely transport it to banks. This costs $40 billion a year – or 1% of total revenues.
  • Since cash is difficult to trace the government loses up to $500 billion in tax revenue each year. It also spends $1.5 billion printing and distributing currency.
  • Ultimately the use of cash costs each household, on average, $1,739 in the United States.

Check out the effects that cash has on monetary policy, how European governments are cracking down on cash and more over here.

Source: Quartz