Washington embraces cash-free living — but at what cost?

• October 31 2018
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/washington-embraces-cash-_148249

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — As the US capital traded stifling summer heat for cool autumn breezes, signs began appearing at bus stops, asking Washington commuters: what do you think about buses going cash-free?

Salad lunch spot Sweetgreen doesn't take greenbacks. Neither do certain vendors at Nationals Park like Ben's Chili Bowl, a local eatery popular with baseball fans.

Slowly, DC businesses are ditching paper money for plastic, embracing a trend gaining traction nationwide.

“I'm all for the cash-free system” on buses, Rogers Ferguson, a 52-year-old Washington native and Navy veteran, told AFP.

“I do a lot of travelling abroad so I'm very acclimated to not carrying cash.”

The 2018 World Payments Report, released this month by consultancy Capgemini and banking giant BNP Paribas, indicates a global cash-free boom.

In 2015-2016, 483 billion transactions were cashless. That number is expected to rise at a 13 per cent compound annual rate through 2021, according to the report.