A consumer group is urgently calling on the federal government to follow other jurisdictions in the U.S and Europe and bring in legislation to stem the slide toward a cashless society.

Only 10 per cent of transactions in Canada today are done using cash, according to Carlos Castiblanco, an economist with the group Option Consommateurs.

“There is a need to protect cash right now before more merchants start refusing [it],” Castiblanco recently told CBC Radio’s Ontario Today.

It’s critical to act now, he added, before retailers begin removing all the infrastructure required to store and maintain physical money.

  • girlfreddyOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    2 days ago

    I used to carry cash all the time, mostly to have some to give away to those in need. But COVID pretty much shut that down … and now I’m barely making ends meet so don’t have the spare money to give anymore.

    • Nogami@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      I never give out cash. It will be misused most of the time. I donate to charities or food banks instead.

      • girlfreddyOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        I’ve lived on the streets. Cash allowed me to buy tampons and other things I needed.

        Besides who am I to judge what someone needs. They know better than I do.

        • Nogami@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          Oh. Guess you are the exception. Good on you for escaping. Now you can give your cash, I’ll never be giving mine out to other than charities.

          • girlfreddyOP
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            The minute money becomes more important than people, it’s a problem.