Mobile wallets, cardless transactions and person-to-person payment technology get a lot of attention, but at the end of the day, some people – and especially millennials – would rather just use cash, according to a new study by ATM servicer Cardtronics.
Investors have plowed billions into technologies and companies striving to disrupt the world of payments, but Cardtronics found cash use actually increased over the past year for 37% of the 1,015 adults surveyed between Nov. 10 and 12, 2015.
“Cash is king for many consumers, even in today's expanding universe of digital payment options,” Cardtronics Chief Marketing Officer Tom Pierce said. “Our survey data clearly shows that in a competitive payments environment, cash is a predominant payment form and sits atop multiple spending categories.”
Perhaps more surprising is that millennials appear to be increasingly attracted to cash use.
“While more than half (57%) of millennials reported using a greater variety of payment methods than before, nearly half (45%) of that group also said that they're more likely to pay more with cash now than they did a few years ago,” Cardtronics reported. “In fact, millennials report increased cash usage at the greatest clip compared with all other survey respondents.”
Overall, cash was the preferred payment method in several scenarios, the report found. Four out of five consumers used cash to pay someone back (another 18% wrote a check). Cash was also used for convenience store purchases (63%) and buying snacks away from home (67%); the debit card was the next most popular method both times.
About half of the respondents (52%) said they've used cash at the grocery store, and 49% used cash at small businesses. Restaurants were another popular spot for cash, at 53%. Eight in 10 respondents (78%) said they left cash tips in the last year. Women were more likely than men (39% versus 29%) to use cash to stay on budget, the study also found.
“There is a myth in the marketplace that millennials have abandoned cash in favor of mobile and other digital payments. It's simply not true,” Pierce said.
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