Cashless society by 2020??

[autocoupler]

Growing up in Werris Creek I remember the railway pay bus would arrive at the station every second Wednesday. Not sure if they actually had cash on board, probably did, then a paymaster and one other (may have been security) would walk across the street to the Commercial Bank maybe to top up, and then saunter back without a care in the world. There was a huge workforce at the Creek in those days, so the amount of cash would have been considerable.

Reading Freds earlier posts brought back memories of living for a while in the early seventies at Pendle Hill with my sister and her family. Freds Toongabbie was the next suburb and remember frequenting the local car wrecker there (may have been Seven Hills) while scavenging parts for my old holden. It was just a 15 minute run / walk, via a short cut through paddocks and follow a creek, then jump a fence and cross the road into the wreckers. Then home the same way carrying my bits.

[serenitystan]

I remember a Fred Lever from Toonie who lived round Grantham/Seven Hills road and went to Mitchell high in the 60tees..

[fred lever]

My God! Not another Fred Lever!
Sadly, not me Stan. Went to high school at  Cleveland St in Sydney, but not for long, had to find a job or starve.
Auto, yes there were a bunch of wreckers between Parramatta and Blacktown.
Working all over Sydney I  found heaps of wreckers every where.
Whatever piece of rubbish I was driving needed a good supply of spares, if you could not find those in dumped cars by the side of the road.
There was  the big one at Blacktown, last time I went there was when I had a Camira, the yard had better ones junked,  than I was driving!
Those days are gone, the local wreckers are all gone now and I'm too old to crawl under cars.

I was still being payed cash money in the 80's and I put a lot of running sequence "unc with fold"  notes away from those pay packets.
After a nasty robbery the main joint I was working for  went to bank transfer, no cash money from Armagard any more.
Four hoods drove car right up to the front door of the office in a Valiant V8, burst in waving knives, grabbed the receptionist by the throat with a knife, screaming where's the dough (Armagard had just left) Accountant came running to see what the noise was, punches, give us the dough or she gets it, thrown the delivery bag, and gone in less than a minute.
Poor girl left work, never came back. Boss got every body together next day, from now on we go cashless. Union put on a blue of course, how can we trust bosses we want cash or strike.
 Had to take the union organiser out the back and set him straight. I knew the office girls very well and it even affected me.
Other places paid me with cheques, so from about 1990 i used cash very little, one of the first to use the internet to do money transfers or mail cheques, no cash.
That was about the same time as the beginning of on line selling and dial up internet that turned into eBay, Oztion etc.

Different days indeed.
Fred.

[jens coins]

Some ANZ branches no longer have cash over the counter.
I am glad I don't bank with ANZ.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/major-australian-bank-quietly-stops-handling-cash-at-some-branches/news-story/1eda8600723b60c1567828eb8f72186d

[serenitystan]

Gone are the days of the yellow pay packet with fresh crisp banknotes. Not happy with my Suncorp branch as there deposit machine has been (out of order) on three occasions where I had to line up with 11 people waiting for one teller. Gone are the days of 12 teller banks. Try withdrawing $5000.00 dollars and they look at you like your a Terrorist from ISIS..

[gweidion]

Less than impressed with Scumcorp. They closed our local branch so now I go to Cannon Hill or Capalaba. Capalaba is the WORST Scumcorp branch in existence. The disdain for customers is palpable. That was the branch they should have closed. I put in a formal complaint after waiting half an hour with only one teller working.
They don't want customers to come to branches, they have to work. I've had financial dealings with Scumcorp for 30 years, they are cheap to deal with, but that is the only advantage.
I'm seriously considering changing to Bendigo Bank.

[Mister T]

ANZ probably testing the waters - they might get away with it in the city but it'll probably push rural people to the smaller banks.

[autocoupler]

The CBA at Victoria Point closed a couple of weeks back, now all boarded up, not even a hole in the wall.

[gweidion]

That seems crazy, there is always a lot of traffic at Vic Point. Why would they close that branch? So what is the next nearest CBA from there?

[Goldseeker]

I received an email/notification from my local ANZ Bank located at Brimbank Central Shopping Cenrtre that the tellers will no longer count loose coin, process cash deposits or withdrawals but customers can use the hole in the wall for these transactions.
If this is case, I have a message for the branch - GOODBYE.

[autocoupler]

That seems crazy, there is always a lot of traffic at Vic Point. Why would they close that branch? So what is the next nearest CBA from there?

Cleveland and Capalaba, I think. There was a hole in the wall just up the road at Redland Bay, but it went years ago.

[nealeffendi]

Luckily we are not cashless yet. Drove up to Queensland Friday night, Saturday morning went to Bunnings to get timber for a renovation. Card declined. Blasted HSBC had flagged a payment to Status International as suspicious and blocked the card (and cancelled it). So here is me in another state, needing a few hundred for hardware, more to live on away from home and needing to fuel my car to get back on Monday.
But carirying $2500 emergency cash for the trip saved me. Now off to the bank tomorrow to organise a replacement card (days+ till that comes and is activated), and off to Status to pay cash for the payment. Then off to St George to put more cash in that account as I need to transfer my Linkt account to pay the Brisbane tolls. Plus more to cover 2 eBay purchases that I would have paid out of all the funds stuck in HSBC. And then another few grand payment to an investment property.
And it's only because I keep cash in various places and maintain accounts with multiple banks that stops me being in a mess. Meanwhile I know of many young people that maintain one account, pay everything by card (assuming that they know where the card is as they uploaded it to their phone) and wouldn't have more than a few dollars change in their sock drawer. When things get stuffed those people will learn why you need CASH put aside to cover a months expenses

[fred lever]

Well done Neal!
Yes guys, always keep some cash notes in the wallet.
$50 and $100 notes don't take up much room.
Cash is still legal tender in this country and for a  decent amount like a fuel bill at a servo they have to accept.
Of course, a $100 note for a $5 pie or a bus fare would be a bit rude.
Neal mentions the other horror, young trendy people conned into  using their phone or watch to do all transactions.
The least secure device in this world are things like phones and tablets working from the clouds.
You may as well just broadcast you PIN  and access numbers to all comers.
The banks have the hide to promote this nonsense in "banking" ads.
When the hackers deplete your bank account by infiltrating you phone or tablet, the banks will do ZERO to reclaim the money.
Personal experience there.
Keep cash in reserve like Neal.

Fred.

[Mister T]

I've been using cash a bit more lately because I'm sick of the card fees.

[gweidion]

I've been using cash a bit more lately because I'm sick of the card fees.

There are card fees? Thank god I don't use cards.