How Will a Cashless Society Effect Numismatics?

[jackson64]

I recently read a post about the impending demise of the 1 Cent coin after the Lincoln commems in 2009.....

 

I started thinking of how quickly we are becoming a cashless society--(I personally rarely use cash for anything)---if/when it becomes official, how do you see a cashless society affecting numismatics?

 

Will the mint continue to produce commems and collector coins?

 

Will your attitude toward coins change..especially towards moderns...if they really have no monetary value other than as a collectible?.......I know this is several questions...but I'm interested in opinions and thoughts on any of these similar issues...

[pendragon1998]

I don't think we can ever become a cashless society, at least until the transaction devices become virtually free and disposable. There are too many situations where an electrical device just won't work for a transaction or isn't efficient. Yard sales? Bake sales? Flea Markets? All the hundreds of small, informal transactions that take place on a day to day basis just require a little cash and change.

 

I think the mint will continue to produce coins (albeit on a smaller scale) as we move to a more electronic exchange medium.

[bsshog40]

I agree with Michael Here. There are too many things that rely on cash. Most banks require credit checks to even open accounts anymore. There are a lot of people with bad credit that can't even open bank accounts and have to resort to still using cash.

[jackson64]

hmmmm....I hadn't considered the bake sale aspect....not to mention the street corner drug dealers, the hookers and try getting a lap dance or sticking an electronic transaction into a garter of an exotic dancer...

[bsshog40]

the hookers and try getting a lap dance or sticking an electronic transaction into a garter of an exotic dancer...

 

Those will probably be robots by then and all you will have to do is press a button on thier leg and it will automatically be withdrawn from your checking.

[Conder101]

try getting a lap dance or sticking an electronic transaction into a garter of an exotic dancer...

Miniature card reader on her bracelet that transmits to the main device. Lets them take plastic, and steal your card number from the over the air transmission at the same time.

[cladking]

A penny isn't real money. It is much more a nuisance. A defining characteristic of money is probably that it has value and the fact that these cost more to count and handle than face value removes it from being money.

 

It will probably be many years until coins are no longer made but it will be the death knell for the hobby. It won't come immediately but within a couple generations coin collecting will be mostly only something for museums and specialists.

[CHABSENTIA]

Aren't several if not most of those Commeratives made of Silver? If this is the case then they will have at least the value of the Commodity and perhaps go higher if there is a demand for the Commodity.

 

There has to be some sort of a uniform medium of exchange,If everbody that went to the Doctor wanted to give a different item for Barter if there was no uniform medium of exchange then what would he do? He could hire somebody that would assess the different values of the items but what could he do if he had no use for the items? He would then have to find somebody else that wanted the items that he did not want.

 

Suppose a person was a Security Guard and the only thing that he/she could offer was Protection as they had no other skills? Does that mean that they could only take services from people that needed Security?What if they needed a service where the provider did not want his/her service?

 

 

[jesbroken]

Hmmm, Bobby,

Maybe they won't follow you home or ask for gifts! You could be on to something.

[Architecht]

the hookers and try getting a lap dance or sticking an electronic transaction into a garter of an exotic dancer...

 

Those will probably be robots by then and all you will have to do is press a button on thier leg and it will automatically be withdrawn from your checking.

 

HUAR!

[jackson64]

there have already been trials of a cashless system in certain areas (small towns) within the US.... each persons wages are directly deposited into their account and to make any purchase, all one need do is swipe an assigned card or id chip to have it automatically deducted....

 

They have even invented the technology whereby a small chip could be subcutaneously implanted within the skin and that way they could eliminate the physical theft of the cards...there are some wild ideas also to use a "registered genetic database" and simply rubbing your hand across a scanner will leave enough epitheleal tissues from the basale lucidum to instantly identify a person

 

Sounds crazy and far in the future but.....100 years ago there were less than 200 miles of paved roads in the US............80 years ago the leading causes of death in the US were the Flu, Tuberculorosis, and diarhea (true) ........60 years ago there was no TV....40 years ago going to the moon was still a dream........20 years ago there were no laptops or World Wide Web.......10 years ago we had not mapped the human genome and could not test mitochondrial DNA

 

Where might we be in another 100 years.....or even 50

 

 

[ibyandsellsmith]

there have already been trials of a cashless system in certain areas (small towns) within the US.... each persons wages are directly deposited into their account and to make any purchase, all one need do is swipe an assigned card or id chip to have it automatically deducted....

 

They have even invented the technology whereby a small chip could be subcutaneously implanted within the skin and that way they could eliminate the physical theft of the cards...there are some wild ideas also to use a "registered genetic database" and simply rubbing your hand across a scanner will leave enough epitheleal tissues from the basale lucidum to instantly identify a person

 

Sounds crazy and far in the future but.....100 years ago there were less than 200 miles of paved roads in the US............80 years ago the leading causes of death in the US were the Flu, Tuberculorosis, and diarhea (true) ........60 years ago there was no TV....40 years ago going to the moon was still a dream........20 years ago there were no laptops or World Wide Web.......10 years ago we had not mapped the human genome and could not test mitochondrial DNA

 

Where might we be in another 100 years.....or even 50

 

When this happens be prepared for the end of the world, better be right with God, so to speak.

[physics-fan3.14]

there have already been trials of a cashless system in certain areas (small towns) within the US.... each persons wages are directly deposited into their account and to make any purchase, all one need do is swipe an assigned card or id chip to have it automatically deducted....

 

They have even invented the technology whereby a small chip could be subcutaneously implanted within the skin and that way they could eliminate the physical theft of the cards...there are some wild ideas also to use a "registered genetic database" and simply rubbing your hand across a scanner will leave enough epitheleal tissues from the basale lucidum to instantly identify a person

 

When this happens be prepared for the end of the world, better be right with God, so to speak.

 

Yeah, that sounds pretty scary in an end of the world sort of way... Now we just need to wait for a certain treaty between two certain parties...

[astrostu]

I think as the world continues to move towards electronic transfers of funds, the Mint will continue to make less coinage because there will be less demand. I don't see a completely physical cash-less society happening, though for at least another century because I believe it would require nearly the entire world to move to the electronic means, which I don't see happening any time soon.

 

I think coins and currency will still be valuable as a collectors' item, but I think the hobby will be smaller because young would-be collectors won't be exposed to the medium any more. This may lead to a lessening of relative values as the number of collectors shrinks relative to the amount of available coins, but I think the metal will still retain its relative value. Precious metals have been used as an exchange medium for thousands of years, and I don't expect that to change over the next few centuries, regardless of whether a physical or electronic monetary system dominates at that time.

[BillJones]

A totally cashless economy will make the new stuff we collect even less relevant. If coins have not a place in the market place, their place in history will be considerably reduced.

 

I’m also not looking forward to the cashless economy because it will mean that Big Brother will have an endless stream of data to use to scrutinize our lives. People argue that tax cheats make taxes higher for those who are honest, but I really question that. There really is such a thing as government greed, and government greed, at least among a certain segment of our voting public, is an unrecognizable concept. This group includes mega rich ultra liberals, who can now afford to become socialists, and the lower classes who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

 

[rbrown4]

Kind of a sidetrack here, but just wanted to interject. My dad not only collected coins but also Antique Incandescent Lamps (light bulbs) and many times he would use the barter system, trading between other dealers. I am sure at times there may have been some additional cash compensation, but I remember him boxing up items to send in direct exchange for others. In those days, unfortunately, I believe folks in general were more honest and trustworthy overall, not to knock anyone, but that was before we had Ebay and other avenues of deception. Ah, the good old days.

 

Rey

 

 

[BillJones]

Does anyone still collect beer cans?

 

It was my understanding that those who collected them years ago most traded them. Selling made no sense because the idea was to collect odd an unusual cans. What good is money in that case?

[jackson64]

I have to disagree with the idea that the entire world would have to adopt an electronic system before we could go cashless......there are next to no cash transactions made on the international level...for practical purposes, in the import/export businesses cash is almost just useless paper..trading and commodity ownership transfer is all done electronically...the currency is automatically changed also...heck, even money is a commodity of sorts as foreign countries buy up American dollars and debts and trade them among eachother...

 

And Bill, it has already gotten scary concerning Big Brother...because I use a debit card for almost all transactions...there is an electronic database on me that tells, what I eat/buy at the grocery, what movies I've rented, what books I've bought to read...etc etc...and if they have their way, a complete record of every website I visit...big brother is alive and well...

[astrostu]

I have to disagree with the idea that the entire world would have to adopt an electronic system before we could go cashless......there are next to no cash transactions made on the international level...for practical purposes, in the import/export businesses cash is almost just useless paper..trading and commodity ownership transfer is all done electronically...the currency is automatically changed also...heck, even money is a commodity of sorts as foreign countries buy up American dollars and debts and trade them among eachother...

 

I'm referring more to tourism, like to Africa, former Soviet states, etc.

[jackson64]

gotcha...that's a good point..

[michael]

there will always be cash me thinks

 

look at the presicent set even in the future i mean look at hundreds of years in the future the feringi !!

 

they pay no taxes and only deal in cash.................. gold pressed latinum

 

as the exchange rate just think of usa dollars as the gold pressed latinum

 

 

[Houston Investor]

Cash is king - if you don't believe it try going to a Gentlemen's Club without it. Fortunately almost all of them have ATM's. My modus operindi for setting up at shows is to sell my coins (or buy it right) on Saturday, go to a club Saturday nite, and buy coins on Sunday with the leftover cash. Going to coin shows (especially out of town) isn't just always about coins.

 

If anything we need to get rid of the cent and nickel and print $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills. Then we would be at least re-aligned with US Currency in 1934 considering the decline of purchaing power (and individual freedom) since then. I don't believe the government will do this in the foreseeable future.

 

Numismatics, like any other collectible should retain its value in a cashless society if god forbid we ever come to that.