Coin collecting of the future

[KoRnholio]

Recently read an article where the Canadian government is seriously thinking of removing the penny from circulation. A few other countries (Australia for example) have already done this, but it got me thinking. With the increase in plastic gift cards, credit cards, debit cards, chip cards, etc, how long do you think it will be before there's no coins, or even paper money, circulating?

 

I think eventually it will have to happen. What will this do to coin collecting as a hobby though? Will a generation that has never used circulating coinage to pay for things see any interest in collecting coins? Could it even make them more valuable/sought after?

[Rhino]

Recently read an article where the Canadian government is seriously thinking of removing the penny from circulation. A few other countries (Australia for example) have already done this, but it got me thinking. With the increase in plastic gift cards, credit cards, debit cards, chip cards, etc, how long do you think it will be before there's no coins, or even paper money, circulating?

 

I think eventually it will have to happen. What will this do to coin collecting as a hobby though? Will a generation that has never used circulating coinage to pay for things see any interest in collecting coins? Could it even make them more valuable/sought after?

 

I disagree, I don't think that coins or banknotes will ever be taken out of circulation even if every person on Earth has a credit card. The only reason why I think that is because cash offers 1 thing that no card can do: anonymity. And there are many people in the world who like the fact that they can buy anything (or get a service or favor or whatever from anyone) with that anonymity in hand. So even when the entire public is moving on to cards and plastic, I know there are many who will still find comfort in and prefer to use those crispy bills.

[thedeadpoint]

Holograms and flying cars.

 

Great topic! I'll contribute later after I see some of the responses.

[ccg]

In a world without physical coins and notes, what would buskers and beggers do?

[hiho]

In a world without physical coins and notes, what would buskers and beggers do?

 

As long as there are illegal drugs people will use cash to buy them. Doubtful anyone will use Paypal to buy marijuana.

 

Maybe in California...

[thedeadpoint]

As long as there are illegal drugs people will use cash to buy them. Doubtful anyone will use Paypal to buy marijuana.

 

Maybe in California...

 

 

[KoRnholio]

As long as there are illegal drugs people will use cash to buy them. Doubtful anyone will use Paypal to buy marijuana.

 

Maybe in California...

 

There's already an app that allows you do turn your iphone into a debit machine for point of sale purchases. I think it's pretty much guaranteed that at some point, physical cash will no longer be used.

 

I ask again, what might this do to collecting? If people don't have some kind of connection to/history associated with the coins, I don't think there will be as much collector interest. Kind of like the US vs Ancient coin markets. There's really very few collectors of Ancients compared to US coins.

 

I don't know how the world coin markets are, but if someone could chime in on how/if the change to Euros has affected the collecting of the older currency, I've love to hear it.