An Australian woman has won the support of thousands of Australians for her tirade about the dangers of a cashless society, claiming that cash “makes life simpler”.
Julie Christensen, from Blackburn North in Melbourne, detailed the benefits of carrying and paying cash in a letter to The Age titled ‘note on logic’.
In the letter, published in the newspaper’s print edition on June 18, Christensen explains why it is better to carry a $50 bill than to use digital finance.
‘If some people want to rely solely on digital financial transactions, let them. But don’t take cash from the rest of us,” Ms. Christensen wrote.
‘My $50 bill cannot be hacked. If I get robbed, I lose $50, not my life savings. If my $50 bill is accidentally submerged in water, it still works.’
Blackburn North resident Julie Christensen wrote a letter to The Age titled ‘note on logic’. Ms. Christensen takes aim at digital banking and explains why it’s better to carry a $50 bill
The cash carry advocate then points to the failures of digital banking and using a phone to pay.
“My $50 bill doesn’t need batteries, can’t be ‘out of reach’, and won’t break if dropped,” he wrote.
‘If the system doesn’t work, I can still use my note. My $50 bill can be put in a charity box or given to a homeless person.’
Ms. Christensen ended the letter by admitting that she uses a card for some purchases, but claims that using cash “makes life easier.”
‘Sure, sometimes I use a card for large purchases, but for everything else, leave me the cash option. It simplifies life,’ she wrote.
A photo of the letter was posted on Facebook and quickly went viral with nearly 10,000 people sharing it on their profiles.
Thousands of Australians echoed Ms Christensen’s sentiments, with many commenting “well put” and “agree totally”.
‘Listen, listen… kids can’t make pocket money with a cashless system,’ one person commented.
‘How do we teach our grandchildren the importance of money? It’s good for them to have ‘real’ money to watch and hold and watch it grow and then put it in the bank,” he wrote a second.
A third intervened: ‘As we saw in the massive floods in the north, when there is no electricity, there is no EFTPOS, there are no ATMs, there are no open banks. You can’t pay with bluddy pebbles! Going cashless is ridiculous.
A protest movement to use cash only for all payments for a week has gained momentum on social media.
Those who defend the use of physical ATMs to the fact that there are fees associated with electronic payments.
Australians across the country are protesting the move to a cashless society and have called for people to pay with notes or coins in the first week of July.
He The ‘Pay Cash Only’ call went out via Facebook and Twitter urging Australians to stop using electronic payments from July 3-10.
“Pay cash only as much as you can from July 3-10,” the protest ad reads. ‘Please be a part of this. Get behind the cash-only movement.
‘If everyone is cash only, it can only benefit the rabble of society.
It is our deserved!!! Stop paying fees and charges imposed on us by large corporations. Start asking for better cash deals!’
The flyer promises ‘small steps’ will lead to ‘big wins for all of us’
It’s unclear who organized the protest, but a Pay Cash Only Movement is circulating on Facebook, which is global in nature.
On Monday, Daily Mail Australia reported that an ANZ customer closed his bank account after being told by the branch that he could not withdraw cash from the ATM.
Brisbane woman Taryn Comptyn was left in shock after visiting a local ANZ Bank branch to withdraw $3,500 over the counter for a renewal payment as she did not have her bank card with her.
“I thought ‘okay,’ I’ll just go to the ATM,'” he said in an online video.
‘The teller proceeds to tell me that they don’t have cash in the bank anymore, you can only get it through the ATM, but she said ‘don’t worry, I’ll set you up with a card so you can touch it’ instead of her card.’
However, when Ms Comptyn tried her temporary card at the ATM, an error message repeatedly appeared.
TikToker Taryn Comptyn was so angry that her bank couldn’t deliver cash from her account that she closed it.
“She (the cashier) said, ‘I’m so sorry, there’s nothing we can do,'” Ms Comptyn said.
Ms Comptyn said she closed her account on the spot after the teller told her they were out of cash at the branch. “The world has gone crazy,” she said.
In March, ANZ announced that some of its outlets in Victoria would stop distributing cash.
ANZ said only eight percent of its customers use branches to access their money, with the vast majority switching to internet banking.
