‘We’ve had so much taken off us’: Backlash to the drift towards a cashless society

Sunday, 10 August 2025

Diane Cagney is concerned about losing the ability to pay by cash. (File photo)

The most common way to pay for everyday items in New Zealand is by Eftpos or debit card.

Yet around 6% of New Zealanders rely on cash.

And not everyone is able to take advantage of cashless payment systems.

Cash burning a hole in your pocket? Probably not. As more of us pay without cash, is a cashless society inevitable?

Diane Cagney fought hard to keep cheques as a form of payment. Now she is “really, really concerned” about the increasing trend towards a cashless society.

Banks are increasingly closing up shop in rural towns.

With cheques gone, Cagney uses phone banking to pay bills, but it is not straightforward to add new payees, she said.

“I will never do online banking, my computer’s old and it doesn’t work very well.”

But her main concern is falling prey to online scammers.

The most common way New Zealanders pay for everyday things is by Eftpos or debit cards.

Cagney’s concern is not just for herself, but for those who do not have a bank account or bank card, like former prisoners, bankrupts, those who cannot pay a bill electronically.

“I’ve got friends who only use cash, one’s always used cash, the other one said it’s a matter of budgeting. She draws her money out on pay day and when it’s gone it’s gone.

“We have had so much taken off us, and our lives have changed so much, I think they are pushing this digital thing far too quickly.”

The Reserve Bank’s June quarterly cash survey showed the most common way New Zealanders paid for everyday things was by Eftpos or debit cards, 79%, followed by cash at 45.8%, down only 1.1% from when the quarterly survey started in March 2022.

“Cash has its place,” says Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young.

Other common forms of payment for everyday things were: a one-off online bank payment (45.7%), credit card (40%), mobile phone (24.2%), other internet payment (21.7%), Paypal (18.6%), or public transport card (14.2%).

“Cash has its place, I don’t think it’s going to disappear any time soon,” said Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young.

Co-owners of Christchurch restaurant, Lillies, Will Lyons-Bowman and Liam Kelleher, which opened cashless in July 2024.

There’s no “one size fits all” payment solution, “it’s always evolving”, Young said.

In a recent survey, all Retail NZ members said they accept cash, and while the use of digital payments is increasing, there is a higher level of cash transactions in rural areas and more deprived areas, she said.

NZ First MP Jamie Arbuckle’s Cash Transactions Protection Bill seeks to require retailers to accept cash for goods sold.

“Small retailers feel they need to offer all types of payment in order to make a sale,” she said.

But there are costs and risks for businesses using cash, such as counterfeit notes and the time and cost involved with making sure cash balances at the end of the day, and in getting it to the bank, Young said.

For Christchurch restaurant owner Liam Kelleher, it wasn’t a big decision to make his restaurant, Lillies, cashless when it opened 18 months ago.

“It makes more and more sense to not take cash,” he said. “Every now and then a customer is surprised that they can’t pay by cash.”

If a customer only has cash, a way is worked out to pay, which often means that person gives their cash to their mate, Kelleher said.

But businesses might not have the option of going cashless if New Zealand First MP Jamie Arbuckle’s member’s bill becomes law.

The Cash Transactions Protection Bill seeks to require retailers to accept cash for goods sold for up to $500, and retailers of essential goods like food would be required to accept cash on even larger purchases.

Not everyone is able to take part in the electronic payment revolution anyway. According to the Reserve Bank, about 6% of the population relies on cash.

IHC senior advocate Shara Turner said banking in general is a huge difficulty for people with intellectual disability.

“A lot of people with intellectual disability can’t remember a pin, and you can't give your pin to someone else.”

Turner said IHC has asked banks to consider using fingerprint technology or a bank card where people with intellectual disability can share a pin number.

“It’s a fine line between making sure people can live independently and not be exploited.”

The ideal solution would be a Paywave debit card that is separate from other accounts and didn’t require online access, she said.

The Reserve Bank’s Money and Cash Directorate, Tari Moni Whai Taki, keeps up with New Zealanders’ use of cash and looks for improvements in our payment systems.

Trials are due to start later this year in six to nine small communities that have lost bank-provided cash services, where retailers will be paid for providing fee-free cash-outs to customers with or without a purchase.

For now, Reserve Bank figures show the amount of cash in circulation has remained around $8.5 billion over the past four years.

Currently, there are over 226 million notes in circulation. The most common denomination is $50 followed by $5 bills.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said there was around $8.5m of cash in circulation over the past four years, and 226,156 notes in circulation. (Amended: August 10, 2025, 8.27am)