Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: The time is coming when there will be no cash for a quick deal

Linda Hall
By Linda Hall
LDR reporter - Hawke's Bay·Hawkes Bay Today·
14 Oct, 2021 12:43 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Are we fast heading for a cashless society? Photo / NZME

Are we fast heading for a cashless society? Photo / NZME

It's going to be a little difficult for drug dealers to carry around eftpos machines if New Zealand turns its back on cash.

How will they justify all the money suddenly being paid into their bank accounts?

There will be no more bags of cash hidden in walls and under mattresses. No more cash deals for big-ticket items such as Harleys and cars.

There will be people huddled on dark doorsteps trying to hit the right pin number.

Already, most people these days don't carry cash. A quick poll of the office found that about half of us had at least a little cash in our wallets but a few of them said they didn't usually carry it.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

My mother always kept cash in her purse. Every week she would draw out a certain amount and use it to pay the lawnmower man, buy bread and milk at the corner dairy or to pay her hairdresser.

However, it appears more Bay businesses are opting for saying no to cash, for security and sanitation reasons.

I understand the security reasons.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It would safeguard businesses from being the target of robbers and take temptation away from dishonest staff.

A cashless society seems inevitable when you think about the way we spend our money today compared with 1985 when Eftpos was first introduced to New Zealand through a pilot scheme with petrol stations.

I well remember being totally confused about this new way of paying for things and thinking I would never get my head around it.

Today, most retailers reach for the eftpos machine to ring your sale up before you have a chance to say "I have cash".

It will be hardest for those who still use cash to budget. They know once they have spent it there's no more until next payday.

Having money in hand is also a good way to teach children that there is not a never-ending supply of cash coming out of a hole in the wall. I've had more than one child tell me to go to the machine when I have said I don't have enough money for a toy that looks like it would last two minutes.

Covid has also played a hand in pushing us in the direction of a cashless society sooner than we all expected.

It will happen, but I don't think we are quite ready for it yet.

The Tooth Fairy and buskers are going to be well and truly out of pocket, as are charities that still rely on that loose change in your pocket.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And what about our Lotto winnings? That lovely little bit of cash passed over the counter every five years. I'll miss it.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride

Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride
Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride

Their journey starts in Uganda and ends in Zimbabwe, crossing five countries.

14 Jul 06:00 PM
Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner
Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

14 Jul 05:00 AM
Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

14 Jul 04:29 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP