The Australian fifty dollar banknote has become our most popular item of currency. The strange thing is that they keep disappearing and the Reserve bank has needed to run the printing presses to avoid banknote shortages. Incredibly, 143 million more $50 dollar notes were needed in July than were in circulation in .February and that is despite the number of " tap and go " electronic transactions also increasing in frequency.
This seems to be related to the virus lockdown. There is a mood of uncertainty about the future and canny people are keeping their fortunes safely under the mattress rather than trusting the banks. The average wallet of today is unlikely to contain as many ten and five dollar notes as a year ago and the lack of any hundred dollar notes is because thev are shunned.
It is simply a fact of life that the fifty dollar note is accepted without question, while that hundred dollar bill is examined closely. It is not unusual for the receiver to hold the note up to the light to check its watermark and the fifty dollar note is more usual in day to day transactions. Whenever a drug bust becomes an item on the nightly news, footage of drugs and cash seized usually shows a predominance of fifty dollar notes.
It is not surprising that the limited number of cafes and restaurants still open during this lockdown contain a greater number than refuse cash payments. The old days when someone took the days takings to the bank and made a deposit are long gone. The number of bank branches has shrunk and they are no longer interested in counting notes and causing queue delays. Traders are obliged to use the services of mobile banking which collects the money, sort it into the correct denominations and bands it before delivering it to a central bank - and which charge for that service. The banking of coins today brings similar obstacles.
When we converted to decimal currency in 1966 we had one and two cent copper coins and a one dollar banknote. All three have been withdrawn from circulation, and our five cent coin looks likely to soon suffer a similar fate. Our entire monetary system is a holdover from the days when the only form of money was gold coins and silver and copper change. At that time, the humble penny was traded in half pennies and even farthings, but its purchasing power diminished to the point that it cost more to mint than it represented at face value.
There is no reason the abolition of coin currency should inflate prices. The decimal point is still valid in electronic transactions and allows a greater range of variations than the range of coins still in circulation, and there are now not many items priced singly below a dollar in value. From a hygiene point of view, the exchange of both banknotes and coins in change delivers an unnaceptable risk factor in spreading this virus which is strangling our economy.
It seems inevitable that eventually the government will institute a currency change to flush out that money that is salted away under mattresses. That has already happened in other overseas countries and residents are given a restricted time to change their holdings into legal tender. It has the advantage of creating consternation in the criminal fraternity while legitimate citizens suffer no harm.
We need to accept that this old method of paying for goods is as out of date as those one and two cents coins.
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