Cash, Covid, and the Medium Latte

25 November 2020

Zennan Green

Glory

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They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but in a moment of good fortune I did get a free coffee. But not today.

Today, I made my own coffee – as I do most days – and sat down to read the usual newsfeeds. There’s been a lot of good news recently regarding the global battle against Covid-19, with at least three new effective vaccines coming along, and almost daily reports of the rapidly growing understanding of the virus and how to deal with it.

But the headline that grabbed my attention today was that the Covid-19 risk from banknotes is low, based on the findings of a significant study by the Bank of England. As I read the study, and thought about it logically, I realised that this should not really be a surprise to anyone: as the BoE report notes, cash is typically secured in wallets, tills and safes. It is not exposed, to the same extent, to how we know the virus is transmitted – for example, through the aerosol droplets projected when people cough, talk or even just breathe. Neither is it handled as much, and by as many people, as the surfaces that we still touch as we go about our daily lives. Crucially, the risk of transmission from any banknotes that have become contaminated diminishes very rapidly and is at near trace levels in a matter of hours.

The report also looked at cash usage in the time of Covid, and there we see a paradox. On the one hand, there is a record value of banknotes in circulation in the UK; on the other, there has been a decline in cash payments. The demand for banknotes has increased, but cash use has declined. How does that make sense?

It so turns out that people are not as afraid of cash as the hype would have has us believe. The report suggests that one of the primary drivers for the increase in cash in circulation is people withdrawing and holding on to cash for contingency reasons. It’s a well-known role for cash – an effective budgeting tool. But why, though, is there a gap between cash in circulation and cash usage?

Well, back to that free cup of coffee. A couple of weeks ago, I went to get a coffee. There were signs around the coffee shop saying that cash was not currently being accepted, so I attempted to pay with my mobile – no luck. After a couple of attempts, I reverted to chip and PIN (those PIN pads, by the way, are a particularly nasty Covid transmission hotspot – be sure to use the hand-san afterwards…). Anyway, still no luck, so I offered to pay with cash. I know many retailers around me will accept cash albeit reluctantly, but not the coffee shop, it seemed. In the end, they let me have the medium latte free of charge as it had already been prepared.

So, could the problem be that retailers are more reluctant to accept cash, than consumers are to use it?

Perhaps. And I can sympathize with their position to some degree: they have a responsibility to implement Covid-secure practices in store to protect customers as well as staff. Against the backdrop of fear and uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic, decisions had to be made based on little evidence or understanding.

But as we know more and more about the virus from authoritative studies by respected organisations such as the Bank of England and others, it is time to re-visit cash acceptance as part of the transition to a new normal. And cash, too, can be a contactless payment method – GLORY has already deployed solutions to deliver this capability. Using proven cash automation solutions, physical distancing can be maintained between shop staff and customers.

And consider this: all of that cash held by consumers will, at some point, be spent or deposited back into the bank. Which retailer wouldn’t want some of it? Lost business, and lost sales.

I very much doubt my local coffee shop will want to keep handing out free lattes – especially as my next one will be an extra large.

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