Cashless transactions should be faster but instead they're not only slower, but much slower. The majority of US merchants don't support them. I'd be curious how Norway is getting a 97% adoption rate.
My POV from Sweden, where the adoption rate is roughly the same.
From the merchant's perspective:
- There is a law regarding cash registries, to prevent tax evasion by cash accepting businesses. The cost for getting a compliant cash register is probably at least as high as getting an online payment solution set up.
- Not handling cash decreases the risk of robbery.
- Adoption rate is high enough that not accepting cash payments won't lose you many sales, as long as you accept both card and app payments.
- Adoption rate is so high that only accepting cash payments will lose you a lot of sales. I.e. you need to get that online payment solution set up anyway.
- There are several online payment providers (for instance Klarna) which accept app payments.
From the customer's perspective:
- There's an authentication solution (BankID) which is almost used by everyone. You can use it to sign online payments, do your tax returns, and sign the payment app transactions. On your smartphone, this can be done with the fingerprint scanner. I.e. signing a payment isn't harder than unlocking your phone.
- The payment app (Swish) is supported by most Swedish banks and account transfers are instant and free. If I have your cell phone number, I can send you money instantly. This drove adoption amoung young people who already were attached to their phone 24/7.
- Contactless card payments in stores now have a reasonably high limit (400 SEK ~= $45-50), which makes it at least as fast as presenting cash and accepting change.
For me this is at a point where I can't even remember when I last payed with cash, and cash in my wallet is "gone" in the same way that those £25 in small change sitting in a drawer after the trip to the UK are.
I think US merchants don't support them to avoid 1) fees, and 2) properly reporting income tax. I doubt it has to do with transaction speed in most cases.
