A new poll by the UK’s leading discount voucher codes website of 1,938 people has found that almost three quarters of respondents prefer to pay for items on their card rather than using cash, suggesting that less people are carrying money on them.
The study by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk found that only 14% of the total respondents ‘prefer’ paying for items using cash, whilst the remaining 15% said they didn’t really think too much about it.
36% of the people that took part in the poll said they ‘rarely’ carried cash around with them. http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk further questioned the people that said they prefer paying by card when shopping in-store, asking them to explain ‘why?’.
47% said they felt safer without cash on them and 82% agreed it was ‘easier’ just to carry a card around. The fact that almost half were concerned about safety didn’t prevent 6% admitting that they also carried their pin around with them, written either on a piece of paper or in their phone.
Further findings of the study included more than half, 52%, of the total respondents agreeing that notes and coins ‘could be obsolete’ by 2030. 83% of respondents claimed that they had not used a cheque in the past 5 years.
When these people were asked ‘what method of payment do you think people will use in 2030?’ 11% agreed that using some kind of iris recognition scanner that links to their bank account could be a possibility.
Farhad Farhadi, personal finance expert at http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings;
“I think it is quite possible that notes and coins could be obsolete within the next twenty years, as debit cards were only introduced in the mid-70s and since then paying by plastic has drastically increased in popularity. I wouldn’t rule out the idea that in a couple of decade’s time, we won’t use cash anymore.
“Cheques were once a hugely popular method of payment in the UK, but that is already something that is now phasing out. By 2018, it is thought cheques could be made obsolete if adequate alternatives are developed.
“I’m not surprised that such a high number of respondents said that they preferred paying by card when shopping in store, as I very much agree that it’s the easier option. I think people get tired of carrying a bulky purse or wallet around and, added to the fact that you end up with lots of coppers in change, this makes it easy to see why people are not choosing cards over coins.”
LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk
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For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email shannon@10yetis.co.uk
Editors notes
Mark Pearson, MD of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.
http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year
Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.
MyVoucherCodes is the UKs most popular discount site.
