The Roosters will win the comp this year….and

It’s time to forget about carrying cash

The first, of course, is a given. It’ll be the year of the Red White and Bluesters and come October we’ll be celebrating a Rooster premiership in the appropriate manner.

However, the second will mean a radical change in lifestyle. We’ve been carrying small amounts of cash for as long as we can remember. Cynics have suggested we still carry the first dollar we earned, but we will dismiss the criticism.

Yet a brief sabbatical in nearby New Zealand has convinced us that cash is on the way out. And if we don’t soon get on board we’ll miss the bus, to use a couple of cliches.

Among the things we noticed in the Land of the Long White Cloud, apart from the fact that there were no long white clouds, was the fact that no-one paid cash. Or at least very few. It’s all on cards.

Now, paying by card has always presented problems for us. We have painful memories of vast queues forming behind us as we’ve attempted to complete a transaction via a card. We could never work our which side to stick in the machine. 

And swiping a card was a total nightmare. A kindly lass at a local building society wasted a half an hour of her life trying to explain the swiping process to us a decade or so ago. In the end she gave up, completely shattered. It was a devastating experience. We did hear she’s still on stress leave.

However, it now appears this worry has been solved, for these days all it takes is a tap of the card and the deal is done. We really need one of those tap cards and the sooner the better.

We recall going into an establishment in NZ and purchasing a couple of the local brews. (Speights, it is called and a fine drop we can report. Not a bad tour of the brewery either, however, we’re deviating off the point here).

The bar attendant gave us a funny look when we handed over some money.

“That doesn’t happen much these days,’’ he said, giving us a suspicious look.

The suspicious look gave way to one of complete shock when we asked if there was an ATM nearby.

“It’s not 2004?’’ he said.

“No-one uses ATMs anymore. Get with the times.’’

We finally found one down the street. People stared as we took money out.

Since returning home we’ve noticed more and more punters are card tappers and not cash payers. So we’re jumping on the bandwagon. Cash will soon be out. It’s sooo passe anyway. Into the future we’ll boldly march, tap tapping away every time we make a purchase (which we must admit, isn't all that often).

Just hope we don’t get RSI.