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Comment by lathiat | Hacker News Reader

Australia is going along this path also. It's not quite as far as here, but ability to pay with card including contactless even for small transactions at smaller merchants is pretty common. Day to day I probably use cash about once a month on average.

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We're also forcing all our welfare recipients onto a cashless card (with, of course, the forced drug testing that invariably comes along with it.)

If you guessed that the party currently in control also has ties to the cashless card provider, you'd be right (but probably not surprised!)

https://theaimn.com/lnp-welfare-card-true-facts-exposed-corr...

Australia is a very corrupt country, run by criminal opportunists.

Depends a bit on where you are, in my experience. In Melbourne I had a few instances where they didn't take card (so I went somewhere else), whereas I've not yet had that in Brisbane (I paid $1.50 at a coffee shop on card this morning).

Probably the only place where I use cash now is Sunday markets, but even there, most places now take card.

Interestingly, there's also a few places here which are either cash or contactless card only, including the cinema.

Come to New Zealand, I haven't used cash this year. Everyone takes cards, though contactless isn't popular with merchants due to unregulated interchange fees.

Only reason I ever get cash out is to buy weed, honestly.

The only thing I use cash for here in New Zealand is the bus (I don't use it often enough to bother getting a card), and the farmers market, where half the stands actually take card anyway.

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