Cash sheds light on Target stores’ weekend power outage
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Customers across the US were greeted with back-to-back power outages this month while doing their weekend shopping run at US retail store Target, leaving stores unable to process credit or debit card payments, the NBC News reports.
It’s a headache we all want to avoid – moving through crowded aisles and queuing up in what could be very long lines – only to find out that the registerSee See-through register. More is down for the next two hours due to a system outage. Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, makes a valid point, “It’s just a reminder that we have to carry a nominal amount of cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More even if we have no plans to use it, because you just never know when you might be in a pinch”.
The 2018 report on the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, shows that cash is the most frequently used payment instrumentDevice, tool, procedure or system used to make a transaction or settle a debt. More and revealed how:
- Cash represents 30% of all transactions under US$10
- Consumers continue to use cash predominantly for smaller value transactions, with cash being used for 55% of payments under US$10 and for 32% of payments between US$10 and US$24.99.
- Debit and credit cards were generally used for larger transactions, with the average debit and credit transaction being US$46 and US$67, respectively.
It goes without saying that having cash at hand really comes in handy – especially when technology decides not to cooperate. In April this year, – showing us how cash plays a critical role in emergency situations. Moreover, more than 7 million people in the UK were unable to pay with their cards due to IT glitches last year, reports consumer group Which?. In their survey of more than 2,000 people, one in seven experienced difficulties that made it impossible to use their card over the course of 2018. To make matters worse, one in twenty people had it happen more than once.
Cash payments still hold many benefits. Plenty of companies emphasise putting the customer first as a prime consideration. In this digital age, we should still question whether taking away paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More options is truly customer-centric and whether, ultimately, it could cost the consumer more.
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