Barefoot investor Scott Pape has claimed Australia will not become a cashless society, as he made a surprise revelation that using banknotes could soon come with a fee.
Mr Pape made the surprising revelation in response to concerns that Australia would slowly but surely ditch coins and banknotes in favor of electronic payments.
Reader Lynn had asked the financial guru for his opinion on the matter and said she feared the country would become a cashless society.
“I have heard some talk lately about removing coins and then notes from the Australian monetary system,” she wrote.
Barefoot investor Scott Pape has claimed that Australia will not become a cashless society and that storing banknotes comes with its own costs
Reader Lynn had asked the financial guru for his opinion on the matter and said she feared the country would become a cashless society (stock image)
She claimed that trucking giant Linfox, the federal government and banks are considering turning coins into banknotes.
‘The discussion between Linfox, the government and the banks is all about how expensive it is to ‘move’ coins around the country for regional post offices, banks, convenience stores, etc.’
She claimed that this measure would reduce the weight of currency carried by the heavily armed vehicles.
Lynn added that the move would be “scary” because it would make it easier for the Australian Taxation Office to track cash payments.
Mr Pape agreed the cost of carrying cash is enormous, but said Australia will not go completely cashless.
“I don’t think so, as much as the ATO would like to think so,” he responded in a column The Daily Telegraph.
He argued that paying in cash should attract an additional fee because it is not often used as a means of payment.
“It’s always a mystery to me why paying for something with cash doesn’t have a surcharge like there does with cards,” he said.
Fewer Australians are using cash (pictured) to make payments and a report from the ABA shows cash makes up just 13 percent of customer payments in Australia
‘After all, there are enormous costs associated with taking cash: think of the store owners who have to walk into a bank with more money than a homie in a rap video.
“Or Armaguard, who has two guys with pistols driving around in an armored tank.”
Mr Pape added that he does not think coins and banknotes will be permanently removed.
He gave an example of countries like Norway, which are introducing laws giving citizens the right to use cash to make payments.
The Scandinavian country’s government has tabled a proposal to amend the Financial Contracts Act to allow people to use cash during transactions.
The move to change the legislation came after card terminals across Norway crashed on May 17, 2022.
After Australia, Norway is the only country that uses cash the least to make payments; only three percent of Norwegians use banknotes.
A customer trends report published by the ABA in 2023 found that Australians are the biggest users of cashless payments, with almost 99 percent of customers conducting their banking transactions online.
Cash now makes up just 13 percent of all total customer payments in Australia.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Linfox for comment.
