tim's experiment

Funny how some predictions do well quietly and some come noisily to nothing. The paperless office, which has been confidently expected for some 30 years, still glimmers on the horizon like one of those legendary mirages which lure desert travellers to their doom. The cashless society, on the other hand, which was often predicted in the 80s and hardly mentioned since, has crept up on us very successfully.

I noticed this the other day because I found a two dollar coin floating around on my desk at home. “I’ll spend it,” I said. “If you can,” replied my wife. And indeed on further reflection I am having some difficulty in working out when I shall get rid of the thing. Until quite recently we made most of our minor purchases in cash. For the big things we might use plastic. Some retailers had their own cards, but they were not very popular, except with employers of domestic helpers. The Octopus was for public transport.

Nowadays at least half of us seem to use Octopus for all the minor stuff. I do not personally like the idea of an Octopus that feeds itself from my bank account, so I do occasionally have to take some money out of the bank. But this comes in big notes – my Octopus is a wrist-watch so I am quite happy to fill it with $500 at a time. I also need notes occasionally to feed the Octopus-like card issued by my favourite coffee shop. I suppose people who drink still probably pay cash in bars, though the more upmarket places will let you run up a bill and then pay with a card. The wet market still runs on a cash basis but how many of us go there often? The only other people still holding out are taxi drivers.

Now my views on taxi drivers are coloured by the fact that at one time long ago I was one of them. This was not a career choice – the newspapers were on strike so I needed a job for a few weeks. Fortunately I was working in Blackpool – to drive a taxi in London you have to pass an examination in local geography called “the knowledge”. It takes as long as a degree and is much more demanding. In Blackpool you were allowed to keep a map in the glove box.  I understand the local objection to Octopus is that it will hit the tips. Taxi drivers feel that most riders will simply wipe the card on the gadget without adding a bit extra, even if this is technically possible. This is a serious matter because taxi driving does not pay very well and the tips, being shared with neither the employer nor the tax man, are an important item. I understand the Octopus people, in a desperate effort to get their machinery into taxis, are proposing to pay $2 a ride themselves for the first two years in lieu of the lost tips. Observers of the local taxi scene think this will work … for two years. The drawback is that if we all know Octopus is tipping on our behalf we will, I suppose, get out of the habit entirely, and even if the drivers revert to cash they will not longer get that little bit extra. Anyway those of us who wish to be kind to taxi drivers will still have a use for a bit of change.

Another possibility is restaurants. I know a lot of people add a tip to the number on the credit card. But I understand a lot of restaurants just treat this as corporate income and do not separate it for donation to the staff. So if you want to tip it is better to give cash and I always do.

So this is what it has come to. Coins are almost only used when you need a small present. When I was a kid it was customary to hide some sixpenny pieces (which were very small and supposedly silver) in the Christmas pudding as a small present for consumers. Little did we know that this sort of use for coins was one day going to be the only one.